Abusive Head Trauma (AHT): Relationship between Knowledge of Parents, Child Abuse Potential and Family Socioeconomic Status

Abstract

Describes the relationship between knowledge on Abusive Head Trauma, socioeconomic status and child abuse potential. 19 parents and 61 mothers filled out the following instruments: Attitudes Towards Infant Crying Scale, Child Abuse Potential Inventory and Socioeconomic Questionnaire. Spearman's correlation found significant results: schooling and income showed correlation with beliefs about infant care (r = 0,32, p = 0,004; r = 0,22, p = 0,05 respectively), purchasing power and schooling correlated with knowledge on infant crying (r = -0,40, p<0,001; r = -0,22, p = 0,05 respectively), number of children correlated with strategies for coping with baby crying (r = -0,29, p = 0,01) and rigidity with consequences of shaking a baby and beliefs (r = -0,29, p = 0,008; r = -0,36, p = 0,001 respectively). It is important to target interventions to the needs of each population and to work with parental flexibility to reduce the incidence of AHT.