Abstract
Fourteen mother-child dyads who had sought psychological help for severe interaction problems took part in a study that investigated the relationship between maternal social interactions with adults outside the family and mother-child interactions in the home. Social interactions outside the family were based on maternal self-reports; mother-child interactions in the home were based on direct observations and included both base-rate and sequential measures. Results indicated that mothers were significantly more aversive toward their children on days in which they had themselves experienced a high proportion of aversive interactions with adults than on days in which they had not. This higher level of aversiveness was evident in their responses to both aversive and nonaversive child behavior and could not be attributed to any corresponding change in child behavior. Implications for research and clinical practice are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allison, P. D., & Liker, J. K. (1982). Analyzing sequential categorical data on dyadic interaction: A comment on Gottman.Psychological Bulletin, 91, 393–403.
Barker, R. G. (1968).Ecological psychology. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Barkley, R. A. (1981). The use of psychopharmacology to study reciprocal influences in parentchild interaction.Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 9, 303–310.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979).The ecology of human development. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Burgess, R. L., & Conger, R. D. (1978). Family interaction in abusive, neglectful and normal families.Child Development, 49, 1163–1173.
Dumas, J. E. (1984a). Interactional correlates of treatment outcome in behavioral parent training.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 52, 946–954.
Dumas, J. E. (1984b). Indiscriminate mothering: Empirical findings and theoretical speculations.Advances in Behaviour Research and Therapy, 6, 13–27.
Dumas, J. E., & Wahler, R. G. (1985). Indiscriminate mothering as a contextual factor in aggressive-oppositional child behavior: “Damned if you do, damned if you don't.”Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 13, 1–17.
Gardner, W., & Hartmann, D. P. (1984). On Markov dependence in the analysis of social interaction.Behavioral Assessment, 6, 229–236.
Guilford, J. P., & Fruchter, B. (1978).Fundamental statistics in psychology and education (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Hartmann, D. P. (1977). Considerations in the choice of interobserver reliability estimates.Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 10, 103–116.
Hartup, W. W. (1978). Perspectives on child and family interaction: Past, present, and future. In R. M. Lerner & G. B. Spanier (Eds.),Child influences on marital and family interaction. A life-span perspective (pp. 23–46). New York: Academic Press.
Hartup, W. W. (1979). Levels of analysis in the study of social interaction: A historical perspective. In M. E. Lamb, S. J. Suomi, & G. R. Stephenson (Eds.),Social interaction analysis: Methodological issues (pp. 11–32). Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Hetherington, E. M. (1979). Divorce: A child's perspective.American Psychologist, 34, 851–858.
Hubert, L. (1977). Kappa revisited.Psychological Bulletin, 84, 289–297.
Kantor, J. R. (1959).Interbehavioral psychology. Granville, Ohio: Principia Press.
Lamb, M. E. (1977). Father-infant and mother-infant interaction in the first year of life.Child Development, 48, 167–181.
Lamb, M. E. (1979). The effects of the social context on dyadic social interaction. In M. E. Lamb, S. J. Suomi, & G. R. Stephenson (Eds.),Social interaction analysis: Methodological issues (pp. 253–268). Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Lobitz, W. C., & Johnson, S. M. (1975). Parental manipulation of the behavior of normal and deviant children.Child Development, 46, 719–726.
Mash, E. J., & Johnston, C. (1982). A comparison of the mother-child interactions of younger and older hyperactive and normal children.Child Development, 53, 1371–1381.
McCall, R. B. (1977). Challenges to a science of developmental psychology.Child Development, 48, 333–344.
Patterson, G. R. (1976). The aggressive child: Victim and architect of a coercive system. In E. J. Mash, L. A. Hamerlynck, & L. C. Handy (Eds.),Behavior modification and families. 1. Theory and research (pp. 267–316). New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Patterson, G. R. (1980). Mothers: The unacknowledged victims.Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development,45(5, Serial No. 186).
Reid, J. B., Taplin, P. S., & Lorber, R. (1981). A social interactional approach to the treatment of abusive families. In R. B. Stuart (Ed.),Violent behavior: Social learning approaches to prediction, management, and treatment (pp. 83–101). New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Rutter, M. (1983). Stress, coping, and development: Some issues and some questions. In N. Garmezy & M. Rutter (Eds.),Stress, coping, and development in children (pp. 1–41). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Snyder, J. J. (1977). A reinforcement analysis of intervention in problem and nonproblem children.Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 86, 528–535.
Wahler, R. G. (1980). The insular mother: Her problems in parent-child treatment.Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 13, 207–219.
Wahler, R. G., & Cormier, W. H. (1970). The ecological interview: A first step in out-patient child behavior therapy.Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 1, 293–303.
Wahler, R. G., & Dumas, J. E. (in press a). Stimulus class determinants of mother-child coercive interchanges in multidistressed families: Assessment and intervention. In J. D. Burchard & S. Burchard (Eds.),The prevention of delinquent behavior. Beverley Hills, CA: Sage.
Wahler, R. G., & Dumas, J. E. (in press b). Family factors in childhood psychopathology: Toward a coercion-neglect model. In T. Jacob (Ed.),Family interaction and psychopathology. New York: Plenum Press.
Wahler, R. G., House, A. E., & Stambaugh, E. E. (1976).Ecological assessment of child problem behavior. A clinical package for home, school, and institutional settings. New York: Pergamon Press.
Wahler, R. G., Leske, G., & Rogers, E. S. (1979). The insular family: A deviance support system for oppositional children. In L. A. Hamerlynck (Ed.),Behavioral systems for the developmentally disabled: 1. School and family environments (pp. 102–127). New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Winer, B. J. (1971).Statistical principles in experimental design. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dumas, J.E. Indirect influence of maternal social contacts on mother-child interactions: A setting event analysis. J Abnorm Child Psychol 14, 205–216 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00915441
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00915441