Mothers' responses to preschoolers' relational and physical aggression

Abstract

This study focused on mothers' affective and behavioral responses to hypothetical displays of preschoolers' relational and physical aggression. We hypothesized that lower levels of negative affect and a lower likelihood of intervening in conflicts would occur for relational aggression than for physical aggression. We also expected significant differences in the qualities of mothers' proposed intervention strategies as a function of the form of aggression. 87 mothers of preschool children read hypothetical stories involving their child engaging in relational and physical aggression in preschool. 27 mothers also read stories depicting reactive and proactive displays of relational and physical aggression. Mothers reported their feelings and what they would do or say if they witnessed the events in each story. Results provided support for hypotheses and suggest that mothers hold different beliefs about relational versus physical aggression. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed in relation to current models of parental influences on children's social competence.

Introduction

The primary purpose of this study was to examine one potential source of influence on preschoolers' relational aggression—mothers' emotional responses and direct intervention strategies. Relational aggression, defined as behaviors that inflict intentional harm on others by damaging or manipulating peer relationships and feelings of social inclusion (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995) has been shown to be highly normative across childhood and adolescence, particularly in girls' peer groups (Crick et al., 1997, Ostrov and Keating, 2004, Tomada and Schneider, 1997). Recent studies also indicate that girls and boys view relational aggression as a more acceptable response to peer provocation compared to verbal and physical aggression in early childhood (Goldstein, Tisak, & Boxer, 2002) and middle childhood (Werner & Hill, unpublished). Importantly, a growing body of literature indicates that children who are involved in relationally aggressive peer conflicts, either as perpetrators or targets, experience significant social and psychological adjustment difficulties (e.g., Crick and Grotpeter, 1996, Prinstein et al., 2001, Tomada and Schneider, 1997, Werner and Crick, 1999).

In recent years, investigations of relational aggression have increasingly focused on the early childhood period. These studies have revealed that relational aggression can be identified in children as young as 3 years old by teachers, peers, and independent observers (e.g., Bonica et al., 2003, Crick et al., 1999, McNeilly-Choque et al., 1996, Ostrov et al., 2004, Sebanc, 2003). Further, longitudinal studies reveal that individual differences in relational aggression remain moderately stable across early and middle childhood (Ostrov, Burr, Jansen, Cullerton-Sen, & Crick, 2004) and that engagement in relational aggression predicts increases in maladjustment over time (Crick, Ostrov, & Werner, in press).

Interest in the origins of relationally aggressive behavior, coupled with evidence of its emergence early in children's development, has led some researchers to focus on familial influences. Specifically, what role does parental socialization play in young children's engagement in relational aggression? The present study draws on models of parental influence on children's social competence that emphasize the importance of specific parenting practices, as opposed to general parenting styles, in an initial attempt to understand how parenting during early childhood may be associated with children's use of relational aggression.

Current models of parental influences on children's social competence propose that parents influence children's peer relationships in both indirect and direct ways (Ladd & Pettit, 2002). Indirect influences operate when behaviors and relationship patterns learned in the context of the family are transferred to the peer context. One type of indirect influence that has been widely studied involves parenting styles, which refer to broad collections of behaviors that characterize parent–child interactions across situations and over time (Darling & Steinberg, 1993). A large body of research points to the significant influence of parenting styles, particularly authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive styles, on children's social development (Maccoby & Martin, 1983). For example, mothers who are warm and responsive and who use low levels of coercion (dimensions of authoritative parenting) tend to have children who are more socially competent and less aggressive with peers (Harrist et al., 1994, McFadyen-Ketchum et al., 1996, Mize and Pettit, 1997).

Direct parental influences, on the other hand, refer to parenting practices that are aimed at meeting specific socialization goals, such as promoting a child's academic or social competence. With respect to the peer domain, parents can impact children's competence by designing (i.e., selecting physical environments that facilitate peer interactions), mediating (e.g., arranging for formal or informal peer contacts), supervising (e.g., monitoring and intervening in play with peers), and consulting (i.e., providing information and advice on how to interact with peers) (Ladd & Pettit, 2002). Several studies conducted in the last decade have shown that parents who engage in these activities have children who are more socially competent (Bhavnagri and Parke, 1991, Finnie and Russell, 1988, Laird et al., 1994, Russell and Finnie, 1990). In the present study, we were particularly interested in the mothers' role of supervisor and their proposed strategies for intervening in children's aggressive conflicts with peers.

Few studies to date have examined the family relationships of relationally aggressive children. Empirical research on this topic has primarily explored the linkages between parenting styles and relationally aggressive behavior. Hart, Nelson, Robinson, Olsen, and McNeilly-Choque (1998) studied the associations among parental responsiveness, coercion, and psychological control and preschoolers' relational and overt aggression in a sample of Russian families. Low levels of maternal and paternal responsiveness, and high levels of maternal coercion, were significantly associated with teacher reports of relational aggression. In another study of preschoolers, Casas (2003) found that fathers' reports of permissive parenting and the use of guilt induction (a component of psychological control) were correlated with children's relationally aggressive behavior. Three studies conducted with elementary school age children yielded conflicting results. Campbell (1999) found associations between mothers' negative interaction style and inconsistent discipline and relational aggression, whereas McNeill (2002) failed to find that parental discipline practices were predictive of children's use of relational aggression. Finally, in a study of highly aggressive third graders and their parents, Nelson and Crick (2002) found evidence that fathers' use of psychological control was associated with daughters' relationally aggressive behavior.

In general, reported linkages between parenting styles and children's relational aggression are similar to those found for overt forms of aggression (e.g., physical aggression). That is, ineffective parenting styles appear to be generally associated with relationally and overtly aggressive behavior. Existing studies, however, have not yet elucidated the unique mechanisms through which parents may socialize relationally aggressive behavior in their children. One hypothesis is that parenting practices (i.e., direct parental influences) play a more central role in the development of relational aggression during early childhood than parenting styles. In particular, investigation into parents' emotional responses to relational aggression, and their proposed strategies for intervening in children's relationally aggressive behavior, may provide important information about the unique context in which relational aggression is learned and promoted in early childhood.

Several studies have explored mothers' emotional and behavioral intervention reactions to socially unskilled behavior in preschool aged children. Mills and Rubin (1990) presented mothers of 4-year-olds with hypothetical situations depicting their child engaging in aggressive and socially withdrawn behavior and asked them to report how they would feel and what they would do about the behaviors. They found significant differences in maternal responses as a function of the type of social behavior portrayed and the sex of the child. Specifically, mothers reported more negative emotions in response to aggression (i.e., higher levels of concern, anger and disappointment), and they indicated that they would be likely to use moderate power assertive strategies to deal with their child's aggression (e.g., requests, reasoning). In contrast, mothers indicated that they would feel more concerned, puzzled, and surprised about socially withdrawn behavior, and that they would be more likely to use low power assertive intervention strategies (e.g., asking child what was wrong). In addition, mothers of girls reported more negative emotional responses to aggression compared to mothers of boys, and this sex difference was found to increase with children's age in a longitudinal follow-up of the sample (Mills & Rubin, 1992). Finally, Mills and Rubin found that mothers said they would utilize lower power assertive intervention strategies when children were 6 years old, compared to when the same children were four, suggesting that age related factors are also involved in mothers' responses.

Colwell, Mize, Pettit, and Laird (2002) also investigated mothers' peer supervisory behavior. Specifically, they were interested in whether mothers' direct intervention strategies in their preschoolers' peer interactions would vary as a function of the type of peer interaction (i.e., involving aggression, peer rebuff, or initiating play), the role played by the target child in the situation (actor or target) and child sex. Once again, mothers were presented with hypothetical situations involving their child and asked what they would do or say in response to the event. Mothers in the study reported that they would engage in more discussion with their child in situations involving aggression, and that they would use more power assertive intervention strategies when their child was an actor in aggression situations than when their child was a target of another child's aggression.

The above studies suggest at least three important generalizations about mothers' responses to children's social behavior. First, mothers of preschoolers view aggression more negatively than social withdrawal. Second, child characteristics, particularly sex and age, appear to influence mother's responses. Finally, the strategies parents report using in response to children's social behavior are sensitive to specific features of the social context, particularly to the type of behavior being displayed and the role of their child in the social situation. It is unclear, however, whether mothers feel or respond differently as a function of the form of aggression used by their child.

The first aim of the present study was to examine maternal affective reactions to preschoolers' hypothetical displays of relational and physical aggression. Although no previous work has addressed this issue directly with young children, one study found that mothers of school aged children perceived physical aggression as more hurtful than relational aggression (Risser, 2004). Another study reported that parents were more likely to view physical aggression than social exclusion (a relationally aggressive behavior) as “bullying” behavior (Stockdale, Haungaduambo, Duys, Larson, & Sarvela, 2002). Based on these findings, we hypothesized that mothers would report more negative emotional responses to physical aggression than to relational aggression in the current study.

The second aim of this study was to determine whether mothers' proposed intervention strategies differ according to the form of aggression being displayed by their child. Toward this aim, we explored several specific questions. First, we were interested in whether mothers would be more, less, or equally likely to indicate they would intervene at all when their child engaged in relational versus physical aggression. Although no prior studies have specifically examined mothers' behavioral responses to relational aggression, the results of Colwell et al. (2002) provide some important clues. Two of the hypothetical situations presented to mothers in this study involved a child being rebuffed by peers as he/she attempts to gain entry into their play. To the extent that the peers in these stories actively excluded another child, it can be argued that these stories described incidences of relational aggression. These researchers found that mothers were less likely to intervene when their child rebuffed a peer (relational aggression) than when the child engaged in (physical) aggression against a peer. Risser (2004) found results consistent with this pattern in that mothers reported that they would make fewer attempts to stop (or intervene in) relational aggression, as compared to physical aggression. Thus, in the current study we hypothesized that mothers would be more likely to say they would “do nothing” in response to their child's relationally aggressive behavior than their physically aggressive behavior.

We were also interested in whether the dimensions or qualities of intervention strategies mothers proposed would differ for displays of relational and physical aggression. The Colwell et al. (2002) study found that mothers reported the intention to use strategies that were more power assertive (e.g., punishment, prohibitions, removal/distraction) and that employed higher levels of discussion (e.g., appeal to feelings, explanation, problem solving) in situations involving physical aggression compared to situations involving peer rebuff. In contrast, mothers' intervention strategies in peer rebuff situations, as compared to physical aggression situations, involved higher levels of encouragement (e.g., facilitating play, direct involvement in children's play). These results suggest a pattern by which mothers feel compelled to intervene when their child behaves in a physically aggressive manner, and to do so in a way that involves using parental authority and verbally inductive strategies to change the child's behavior to be more socially competent. Mothers' strategies in situations in which their child actively rejects or excludes a peer (relationally aggressive behavior), on the other hand, appear to involve more subtle attempts to alter children's behavior, with the central goal being to encourage continued interaction between the children.

In the present study, we drew on Colwell et al.'s (2002) work to formulate hypotheses concerning the qualities of mothers' intervention strategies in relational and physical aggression situations. We predicted that mothers would report the intention to use higher power assertive strategies and higher levels of discussion when responding to their child's physically aggressive behavior than to their child's relationally aggressive behavior, whereas we expected mothers to generate strategies that incorporated higher levels of encouragement in response to relational aggression.

In addition to the above-mentioned qualities, we were also interested in an intervention dimension we refer to as rule violation. This dimension was coded to capture the degree to which mothers communicate to children through words or actions that their aggressive behavior violated a social or moral convention. Levels of rule violation were expected to correlate with the other intervention dimensions; we nonetheless anticipated that this dimension would identify a unique socialization process. For example, a mother who said she would respond to a conflict with suggestions for how the children can play together in a positive way (high in discussion and encouragement) may not communicate in an explicit way that the child's aggressive behavior was hurtful to the target and unacceptable (strategies that capture rule violation). In light of evidence that child physical aggression elicits stronger negative emotional reactions and more severe discipline responses in parents compared to other forms of child misbehavior (Dix et al., 1989, Mills and Rubin, 1990, Mills and Rubin, 1992), we hypothesized that mothers would utilize strategies in physically aggressive situations that were higher in rule violation compared to their interventions in relational aggression situations.

In all of our analyses, we explored whether mothers' emotional and behavioral intervention responses varied as a function of the sex and age of their child. Only a few studies have explored these issues, and existing data present a conflicting picture. For example, Mills and Rubin, 1990, Mills and Rubin, 1992 found that mothers' emotional reactions to daughters' hypothetical displays of physical aggression were more negative than to sons' aggression, and that this sex difference increased with age. In contrast, Colwell et al. (2002) found that child sex had little influence on mothers' proposed direct intervention strategies. In yet another study, Susser and Keating (1990) found that college students with traditional sex role orientations viewed boys' physically aggressive behavior as more intentional and deserving of more severe reprimand than they viewed girls' similar behaviors. In this study, we hypothesized that the gender normative versus non-normative nature of the child's behavior would impact mothers' responses. Available research has demonstrated that in early childhood relational aggression is more normative in girls' peer interactions compared to boys', whereas physical aggression is more typical in boys' interactions (Crick et al., 1997, Ostrov and Keating, 2004, Ostrov et al., 2004). Thus, we expected that gender non-normative behaviors (physical aggression in girls; relational aggression in boys) would elicit more negative emotional responses and higher levels of power assertion and rule violation from mothers compared to gender normative behaviors.

Similar to findings pertaining to child sex, prior studies investigating age differences in mothers' responses have yielded mixed results. In their longitudinal study, Mills and Rubin (1992) found that mothers favored using lower power assertive intervention strategies with children as they aged. In contrast, Dix et al. (1989) found that mothers of older children reported using higher levels of power assertion compared to mothers of younger children. Colwell et al. (2002) found no main effects of child age on mothers' proposed intervention strategies. Consistent with Dix et al., it is likely that mothers' expectations that children refrain from using aggression, particularly physical aggression, increase across early childhood. Given this assumption, we hypothesized that when older children violate such expectations, mothers' emotional and behavioral responses would be more negative and severe.

We were also interested in examining the relations between mothers' affective and behavioral responses to child aggression. Research by Dix et al. has demonstrated that parents who experience negative affect in the face of child misbehavior are more likely to use power assertive discipline responses (Dix, 1993, Dix and Grusec, 1983, Dix et al., 1986). Thus, we expected levels of upset, anger, and sadness to be positively correlated with the use of power assertion and rule violation. No predictions were made regarding the associations between negative affect and levels of discussion and encouragement.

Our final aim was to examine the associations between the qualities of mothers' proposed intervention strategies and children's social behavior in the preschool context. Prior research has shown that parents who skillfully supervise children's peer interactions have children who are more socially competent (Bhavnagri and Parke, 1991, Finnie and Russell, 1988, Laird et al., 1994, Russell and Finnie, 1990). Furthermore, available evidence suggests that parents' use of power assertive, harsh and inconsistent discipline is associated with child physical aggression and peer difficulties (e.g., Nix et al., 1999, Pettit et al., 1997). In contrast, inductive discipline, which is characterized by discussion of the consequences of children's negative behavior on others and encouragement of positive behavior, is associated with child social competence (e.g., Hart et al., 1992, Hart et al., 1990). Drawing on these findings, we hypothesized that nonintervention in aggressive conflicts, to the extent that it may communicate implicit endorsement of the behavior, would be associated with relatively higher levels of peer aggression and low levels of prosocial behavior. In addition, we expected that children whose mothers propose strategies that are lower in power assertion and higher in discussion, encouragement, and rule violation would be described as more socially competent in the classroom. Although the direction of such effects cannot be determined from correlational designs, finding direct associations between mothers' proposed strategies and children's behavior outside of the home would provide support for models positing direct parental influences on children's social competence.

In sum, the present study explored mothers' affective and proposed behavioral intervention responses to children's engagement in hypothetical displays of relational and physical aggression; the associations between mothers' direct intervention strategies and children's social behavior in the preschool context were also investigated. This research represents an important step towards further elucidating the maternal socialization processes that may contribute to children's use of relational aggression.