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Cognitive Response Repertoires to Child Noncompliance by Mothers of Aggressive Boys

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Abstract

Cognitive response repertoires to videotaped child noncompliance episodes were examined in mothers of aggressive (MAs) and nonaggressive 4–6-year-old boys. Mothers provided open-ended solutions to three subtypes of child noncompliance under conditions of time pressure, or after they waited for 15 s to consider alternatives. Solutions were coded as assistance/facilitation, coercion, deference, or explanation/clarification. Compared with controls, MAs offered fewer explanation/clarification responses, more coercive responses, and fewer unique solutions during pressured responding. Two to 6 weeks later, mothers were videotaped while participating with their sons in a challenging block-building task. Maternal responses to the vignettes predicted conflict escalation during block building, even after rates of concurrent and past child noncompliance were partialled out. Implications for parent-training models are considered.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

    Theodore P. Beauchaine, Zvi Strassberg, Michelle R. Kees & Deborah A. G. Drabick

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  1. Theodore P. Beauchaine
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Beauchaine, T.P., Strassberg, Z., Kees, M.R. et al. Cognitive Response Repertoires to Child Noncompliance by Mothers of Aggressive Boys. J Abnorm Child Psychol 30, 89–101 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014287217012

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