[Validation of a Spanish version of the Child Abuse Potential Inventory administered in Spain]

A translation into Spanish of the Child Abuse Potential Inventory was administered to a group of perpetrators of maltreatment and physical abuse (n = 66) and to a demographically representative sample (n = 829) of the general population of the País Vasco (Spain). Results were studied with item analysis, regression, factorial analysis with the total sample so as to determine the descriptive characteristic of the Spanish version. Since this inventory is designed specifically for the detection of physical maltreatment, similar analyses were carried out with a subgroup of physical child abuse perpetrators (n = 24) and with a similar comparison group (n = 156). For the total number of perpetrators and the representative comparative group a differential analysis indicated that 91.7% had correct classification. For the group of physical child abuse perpetrators and the similar comparative group, the percentage was 98.3%. For these two comparative groups, the variance for the total of items in the abuse scale was 64.8%. Factorial analysis revealed that both English and Spanish versions of this inventory have a similar factorial structure. This preliminary data sustained the idea of working in the development and validation of a Spanish version of this inventory for the detection of physical maltreatment.