Assessing the Child Abuse Potential of Public and Private High School Teachers

Abstract

Assessing the teacher’s mental health as the most important indicator of his personality competence, has a significant role in students’ mental health and is an undeniable necessity. Using psychometric tools to identify child abuse potential can help identify high-risk individuals in this area. The sample group was stratified randomly selected and the Brief Child Abuse Potential Inventory (BCAPI) was used to measure child abuse potential. The inventories were scored according to the instructions after collection. Then, the inventories that were invalid in terms of the two credit scales of the test were excluded from the analysis process and finally 481 inventories were analyzed. Data were analyzed using t-test, correlation and ANOVA. The child abuse potential score in 42% of the surveyed teachers was higher than the average. Examination of the mean difference between male and female teachers showed that the score of child abuse potential inventory in male teachers was significantly (P <0.05) higher than female teachers. There was a significant negative relationship (P≥0.01) between child abuse potential and age. The child abuse potential score of public school teachers was significantly (p≥0.01) higher than that of non-public school teachers. Considering that according to the results of our study, 42% of teachers scored higher than average in the test of child abuse potential, and this group is mostly engaged in public schools, it is necessary to take preventive and therapeutic measures to reduce the risk factors of child abuse more seriously in the education organization.