A Protective Process Model of Parent-Child Affective Quality and Child Mastery Effects on Oppositional Behaviors
Abstract This article examines a model of the effects of parent-child affective quality and young adolescent sense of mastery on young adolescent oppositional behaviors. In addition to a direct effect of sense of mastery on oppositional behaviors, the model includes direct and indirect effects of parent-child affective quality on those behaviors, as well as across-time effects of oppositional behaviors on affective quality. Because the data were obtained from family competency-building intervention studies, the model controls for family attendance in the intervention. Results from covariance structure modeling, using data from a sample of families participating in an initial intervention study ( n = 171), generally supported the hypothesized model. The model was then tested with an independent sample of 361 families. Results from the second sample were consistent with results from the initial model test.