The investigation is concerned with the measurement and conceptualization of parental control of children's behavior. This study is part of a series of investigations, the basic research paradigm for which is described in Annual Report MH 02144-01. Children's misbehaviors and mother's discipline and control techniques are observed during a series of half-day sessions in a laboratory setting that simulates a home environment. Data on discipline will be based on naturally occurring controls placed on children in the laboratory setting as well as experimentally elicited disciplinary interactions. The range of control techniques used by mothers, the effects of these techniques on children's behavior and the role of children in influencing the kinds of discipline used by parents are investigated. Another focus is on the relationship between specific kinds of misbehaviors and the kinds of controls elicited by them. Do different kinds of misbehaviors elicit different characteristic patterns of control techniques in the same parents? Finally, the acquisition of specific aspects of self-control over time and parents' reactions to reoccurrences of the same misbehaviors will be documented.
NIH ExPorter
NIH ExPorter