Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Family adjustment, parental attitudes, and social desirability

  • Published:
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study examines the role of social desirability response set on the report of marital adjustment, child adjustment, and parenting attitudes. Results from 69 married couples closely replicate previous self-report findings suggesting that the more positive the report of marital adjustment, the fewer the number of child problem behaviors endorsed by parents (r=− .19(69), p < .05). When social desirability is controlled, however, the marital-child adjustment relationship is nonsignificant. Previous reports of a global relationship between marital and child adjustment may have been inflated by individual differences in willingness to endorse problems on self-report measures. Parenting attitudes are not associated with social desirability or marital adjustment. Warmth, but not authoritarianism, is negatively correlated with child behavior problems in the home (r=− .25(69), p < .01). The authors propose that family interaction research use a multimethod strategy to focus on circumscribed variables that influence marital and parenting behavior.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Reference note

  1. Linehan, M. M.Demographic data sheet. Unpublished manuscript, University of Washington, 1979.

References

  1. Becker, W. C., & Krug, R. S. The parent attitude research instrument: A research review.Child Development, 1965,36, 329–365.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Bennett, I.Delinquent and neurotic children: A comparative study. New York: Basic Books, 1960.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Crowne, D. P., & Marlowe, D. A new scale of social desirability independent of psychopathology.Journal of Consulting Psychology, 1960,24, 349–354.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Edwards, A. L. The relationship between the judged desirability of a trait and the probability the trait will be endorsed.Journal of Applied Psychology, 1953,37, 90–93.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Edwards, A. L.The measurement of personality traits by scales and inventories. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1970.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Ferguson, L. R., & Allen, D. R. Congruence of parental perception, marital satisfaction, and child adjustment.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1978,46, 345–346.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Glueck, S., & Glueck, E. T.Unraveling juvenile delinquency. New York: Commonwealth Fund, 1950.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Jacob, T. Family interaction in disturbed and normal families: A methodological and substantive review.Psychological Bulletin, 1975,82, 33–65.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Johnson, S. M., & Lobitz, G. K. The personal and marital adjustment of parents as related to observed child deviance and parenting behaviors.Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 1974,2, 192–207.

    Google Scholar 

  10. McCord, W., McCord, W., & Gudeman, J.Origins of alcoholism. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 1960.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Miller, L. C.Louisville behavior checklist. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services, 1977.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Robinson, E. A., Eyberg, S. M., & Ross, A. W. The standardization of an inventory of child conduct problem behaviors.Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 1980,9, 22–29.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Rutter, M. Parent-child separation: Psychological effects on the children.Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 1971,12, 223–260.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Schafer, E. S., & Bell, R. Q. Development of a parental attitude research instrument.Child Development, 1958,29, 339–361.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Spanier, G. B. Measuring dyadic adjustment: New scales for assessing the quality of marriage and similar dyads.Journal of Marriage and the Family, 1976,38, 15–28.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Wills, T. A., Weiss, R. L., & Patterson, G. R. A behavioral analysis of the determinants of marital satisfaction.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1974,42, 802–811.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Universtiy of Washington, 98195, Seattle, Washington

    Elizabeth A. Robinson & Linda L. Anderson

Authors
  1. Elizabeth A. Robinson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Linda L. Anderson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

The authors wish to thank R. L. Weiss for his permission to use the Spouse Observation Checklist, Nancy Bologna for her assistance in the early phases of this study, and Catherine Iiams for her help in preparing the manuscript. The research was supported by a grant from the Child Development Research Fund, University of Washington, and the paper was presented, in part, at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles, 1981.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Robinson, E.A., Anderson, L.L. Family adjustment, parental attitudes, and social desirability. J Abnorm Child Psychol 11, 247–256 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00912089

Download citation

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00912089

Keywords

Search

Navigation