A group of 151 parents were screened with the Child Abuse Potential (CAP) Inventory. Parents who scored high (166 points) on the CAP abuse scale were included in the at-risk subject pool. Parents who scored below the median norm abuse scores were included in a low-risk subject pool. Fifteen of the at-risk parents were individually matched with 15 low-risk parents on gender, ethnic background, age, marital status, and number of children. The four types of non-child-related stressors applied to the two groups were a cold pressor, a stressful film that depicted industrial accidents, unsolvable anagrams, and an aversive car horn. Compared to low-risk mothers, at-risk mothers had greater and more prolonged sympathetic activation during presentations of the cold pressor and the stressful film, the stimuli rated as the most stressful. These data, combined with previous findings, support the view that generalized sympathetic activation to both child and non-child-related stressors may serve as a mediator of physical child abuse. 2 tables, 3 figures, 29 references, and summaries in French and Spanish