2016 Volume 53 Issue 2 Pages 17-27
There have been researches regarding unrealistic expectations of abusive parents on abused children. Data in child guidance centers were collected and were classified into four groups: (1) maltreated children rated by their abusive parents (Mal-Pr), (2) maltreated children rated by careworkers (Mal-Cw), (3) non-maltreated comparisons rated by their parents (Non-Pr), and (4) non-maltreated comparisons rated by careworkers (Non-Cw). Both the Social Maturity scale and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-fourth edition had been administered. A discrepancy between the social quotient and intelligence quotient was defined operationally as an unrealistic expectation of raters. Linear mixed model was applied to analyze a group difference with age factor set as a random effect and thus showed that the discrepancy of the Mal-Pr group was higher than that of the Non-Pr group significantly, F[3, 126.3]=4.54, p=0.005. Cognitive biases were discussed as possible factors to occur the unrealistic expectation in abusive parents. The author concludes that the findings that revealed the presence of the unrealistic expectation suggest an effective clue for support and train the abusive parents in child guidance centers.
