Systemic cohesion and flexibility: Family correlates of physical child abuse potential

Family functioning variables, such as systemic interactions, are believed to be at the core of the ontogenetics of physical child abuse, and such variables may serve as fundamental elements in future prevention efforts. However, there is a paucity of theoretically-based research addressing the relationship between variables of family functioning and the risk for physical child abuse. The Circumplex Model of family functioning (1979) is a model encompassing three core interactional dimensions of familial functioning: cohesion, flexibility, and communication. Using the Circumplex Model of family functioning, the current study examined families at high- and low-risk for physical child abuse (PCA). The goal of this study was to pinpoint systemic variables associated with child abuse potential by measuring the shared variance with variables of family functioning, so that future research may eventually move toward interventions based on the Circumplex Model for families at risk for child abuse. The sample included 84 parent and adolescent (age 12--18) pairs presenting at an urban mental health clinic in Richmond, Virginia. Subjects were family dyads, including adolescents and their parents or caregivers. Data obtained via questionnaires completed by parents and adolescents included: Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES-II), Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale (PACS), Family Inventory of Life Events and Changes (FILE), and Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAPI; completed by parents only). A clinician-report of family functioning, the Clinical Rating Scale (CRS) was also obtained yielding information on the family's cohesion, flexibility, overall family functioning, and communication. The study purported that families at high risk for PCA would present with more dysfunctional interactional patterns as defined by the Circumplex Model of family functioning. Results suggest that several measures of the Circumplex Model and the CAPI share a small to moderate, but significant, amount of variance. While consistent and significant relationships emerged between these two measures utilizing parent-report, indicating that families at high-risk for child abuse were more likely to describe dysfunctional interactional patterns, adolescent-report of family functioning yielded few significant results. These preliminary findings serve to begin the building of a foundation for a family systems perspective to understanding child abuse.