Data reported are part of a larger study investigating the antecedents of abuse and, more generally, parent-child interaction. Various personality and attitudinal variables were assessed prenatally and 3 months after the birth of the first child of 267 high-risk mothers. Four consistent factors emerged, two relating to personality variables, one relating to specific adjustment to pregnancy and motherhood, and one relating to an understanding of the psychological complexity of the mother's relationship to her child and level of ego functioning. These factors and various constructs, rationally derived from sets of variables, were analyzed for discriminatory power. While all four types of factors and several of the constructs seemed relevant in differentiating subsamples of mothers offering excellent care, inadequate care, and a random group, the Level of Personal Integration construct yields the strongest differentiation, suggesting this as an appropriate area for exploration in intervention in disturbance of child-rearing. In general, findings indicate that mothers who are young, lacking in understanding and awareness of the infant and their relationship to the infant, and who have a negative reaction to pregnancy and negative expectations regarding the infant are certainly at-risk for disturbances in caretaking. When increased anxiety and fear along with a suspicious and hostile nature are added to this complex the mother is at even greater risk for abuse and neglect. Ten pages of statistical tables are appended. (Author/MS)