Children with disabilities had a significant physical, cognitive, sensory, communication, and/or emotional/behavioral difference from the average child to the extent that special early intervention programming was necessary. Multiple measures were used to assess various aspects of several constructs. The multidimensional nature of the collection of instruments used showed the complexity of the phenomenon of child abuse by measuring a variety of aspects of a particular variable and several of the mediating variables. Individual instruments were chosen on the basis of their theoretical relevance to the study of abusive parents and parents with high levels of child abuse potential, the instrument's excellent psychometric properties, and their previous successful use in studies of child abuse or child abuse potential. Statistically and practically significant relationships were found. Stress in family functioning apparently is an important predictor of child abuse potential. Interventions might be designed to target related features of family functioning. 6 tables and 41 references