This study aims to test discriminant ability of the Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAP) in a sample of 641 Portuguese parents. Thirty-seven percent of the sample is composed by abusive parents reported to the Comissions for the Protection of Children and Young People and evaluated by an assessment questionnaire of maltreatment, neglect and sexual abuse. Abusive parents showed significantly higher scores on the Abuse Scale and in all of its dimensions. Considering the discriminant analysis, the Abuse Scale correctly classified 79.9% of the cases and the function of sub dimensions correctly classified 83.3% of the cases. These results reveal the capacity of CAP in identifying cases of potential child abuse in the Portuguese context.
Discriminant ability; Child Abuse Potential Inventory; maltreatment