Home > Child Abuse & Neglect > Risk & Protective Factors > Factors that Contribute to Child Abuse and Neglect > Parent or Caregiver Factors > Personality Characteristics/Mental Health

Personality Characteristics/Mental Health

No consistent set of characteristics or personality traits has been associated with parents or caregivers who maltreat. However, some characteristics identified in those who are physically abusive or neglectful may include low self-esteem, belief that events are determined by chance or outside forces beyond one's personal control, poor impulse control, depression, anxiety, and antisocial behavior.¹

Child Abuse and Parental Mental Health
Reder & Duncan (2000)
In Family Matters: Interfaces Between Child and Adult Mental Health
View Abstract
Explores the effect of psychiatric disorders on parenting behaviors and the relationship between child maltreatment and parental mental illness.

Psychiatric Diagnoses of Self Reported Child Abusers
Dinwiddie & Bucholz
Child Abuse and Neglect, 17(4), 1993
View Abstract
Investigates the psychiatric diagnoses and prevalence of dissocial behaviors among self-reported child abusers.

The Relationship Between Parental Psychiatric Disorder and Child Physical and Sexual Abuse: Findings From the Ontario Health Supplement
Walsh, MacMillan, & Jamieson
Child Abuse and Neglect, 26(1), 2002
View Abstract
Investigates the link between parental psychiatric disorders and child abuse.

¹ Adapted from J. Goldman, M. K. Salus, D. Wolcott, and K. Y. Kennedy. (2003). A coordinated response to child abuse and neglect: The foundation for practice. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved June 2006 from http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/usermanuals/foundation/foundatione.cfm back

Updated on March 1, 2010