Empathy and Locus of Control in Child Abusers

Empathy and locus of control were studied in a group of abusing and non-abusing parents. Two groups of thirty-two abusing and non-abusing mothers were given the Hogan Empathy and Nowicki Strickland Internal-External Locus of Control Scales. Abusers reflected significantly less empathic ability and an external locus of control orientation as compared to non-abusers. The data suggest that empathy and locus of control may be significant variables upon which social workers might focus their interventions with abusive parents.