Elsevier

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

Volume 30, Issue 6, November–December 2009, Pages 724-737
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

Effects of maternal childhood aggression and social withdrawal on maternal request strategies and child compliance and noncompliance

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2009.02.001Get rights and content

Abstract

This prospective, intergenerational study investigated the influences of maternal histories of childhood aggression and social withdrawal on maternal request strategies and child compliance and noncompliance. Seventy-four women from the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project, who were rated during childhood using peer nomination measures of aggression and social withdrawal, played with their 2–6 year-old children in three naturalistic conditions. Videotaped interactions were coded for mothers' requests and children's compliance/noncompliance. The results revealed that mothers who were socially withdrawn during childhood were more likely to employ intrusive requests (i.e., physical interventions, repetitions, and requests without opportunity to comply), which subsequently predicted children's noncompliant behaviour. In addition, mothers who were aggressive during childhood were more likely to repeat their requests, which also predicted children's noncompliance. Furthermore, the findings replicated previous research indicating that children demonstrate more sophisticated forms of noncompliance with age. Taken together, results from this study elucidate the trajectories of childhood aggression and social withdrawal, and provide evidence for possible pathways by which problematic behaviour is transferred from mother to child in vulnerable populations. This research has implications for the design of preventative interventions for at-risk families.

Introduction

The ability to comply with maternal demands represents a key milestone in children's social and cognitive development (Feldman and Klein, 2003, Kopp, 1982). During the preschool years, compliance with maternal requests serves as an important index of children's ability to regulate their own behaviour, and to observe general standards of conduct (Dix et al., 2007, Kochanska and Aksan, 1995, Kopp, 1982). Compliance often refers to the acknowledgment of maternal teaching strategies, cooperation with maternal suggestions and requests, and obedience to maternal directives (Dix et al., 2007, Schneider-Rosen and Wenz-Gross, 1990), reflecting the large amount of time preschoolers spend interacting with their mothers (Bornstein, 1989, Weinfield et al., 2002). From a developmental perspective, the notion of compliance is couched within the larger, more complex construct of self-regulation, which can be conceptualized as the emerging ability to comply with maternal commands and to monitor and exert voluntary control over one's own behaviour accordingly (González et al., 2001, Kopp, 1982). Thus, self-regulation, and compliance in particular, are vital to the understanding of normative and aberrant social development.

Generally, young children comply immediately with 60 to 80% of parental requests (Kuczynski, 2003). In moderation, noncompliant behaviour can be viewed as a means for children to employ active strategies to influence their parents, and persuade them to drop or modify their requests (Dix et al., 2007, Kuczynski et al., 1987); however, in excess, noncompliance can be indicative of behaviour problems (Campbell, 1997, Cole et al., 1996, Degnan et al., 2008). Extreme noncompliance during the preschool years has been associated with poor peer relationships, inferior academic performance, delinquency, and other difficulties later in life (O'Leary et al., 1999, Patterson et al., 1989). Investigations of the development of compliance and other early indicators of social competence are particularly useful in at-risk samples (e.g., individuals living with socio-economic disadvantage, histories of maladaptive behaviour, and psychopathology), where the likelihood of developing psychosocial problems (e.g., depression, anxiety) is high (Boyle and Lipman, 2002, Koenig et al., 2000, Shaw et al., 1998). Furthermore, at-risk mothers may be contributing to these problems by using ineffective strategies in order to elicit their children's compliance. To date, however, little is known about the effects of maternal psychosocial risk factors on maternal request strategies and children's patterns of compliance and noncompliance.

Compliance with maternal requests is first observed between the ages of 9 and 12 months (Kaler and Kopp, 1990, Kopp, 1982). Provided that children comprehend what is being asked of them, infants show age-related increases in the frequency of compliance from 12 to 18 months of age (Kaler and Kopp, 1990, Kochanska et al., 2001, Kochanska et al., 1998). After 18 months, children's responses to maternal requests continue to change; as compliance increases in frequency, so does noncompliance (Dix et al., 2007, Vaughn et al., 1984). Toddlers' developing autonomy begins to surface during the second and third years of life (Crockenberg and Litman, 1990, Donovan et al., 2000); during the “terrible twos”, children are armed with relatively sophisticated cognitive and language skills, and are as likely to use these abilities to comply with maternal requests as they are not to comply (Dix et al., 2007, Laible and Thompson, 2002, Vaughn et al., 1984).

Across development, preschoolers' noncompliance behaviours, or strategies, vary in quality and skill (Kuczynski et al., 1987, Degnan et al., 2008). Primitive noncompliant responses to maternal requests lack skill and tend to be experienced as overtly offensive (e.g., temper tantrums and ignoring, or direct defiance and passive noncompliance, respectively). However, as children grow, they acquire more sophisticated and competent ways of asserting their autonomy (e.g., simple refusal, requesting explanations, and bargaining), reflecting increased social proficiency (Donovan et al., 2000, Kuczynski and Kochanska, 1990). During the preschool years, the frequency with which children employ primitive noncompliance strategies decreases, while self-assertive strategies increase (e.g., Kuczynski and Kochanska, 1990, Kuczynski et al., 1987, Landry et al., 2000, Power et al., 1994).

Given that children's social conduct is largely influenced by the quality and style of maternal control (Baumrind, 1989, Degnan et al., 2008; Dishion et al., 1994, Williams and Forehand, 1984), mothers can employ various strategies in order to elicit their children's compliance. Maternal control can be conceptualized in terms of the degree to which mothers assert their power over their children (e.g., Crockenberg and Litman, 1990, Donovan et al., 2000, Kochanska et al., 2003, Kuczynski et al., 1987). “Guidance” strategies (i.e., low power-assertion) include suggestions, explanations, and indirect requests. “Control” strategies (i.e., moderate power-assertion), typically in the imperative tense, denote clear directives. “Negative control” strategies (i.e., high power-assertion) include criticism, physical intervention, and negative affect (Crockenberg & Litman, 1990). Observational studies of mother–child interactions have shown that child compliance is correlated with lower power assertion strategies, while self-assertion and defiance are associated with guidance and negative control strategies, respectively (e.g., Crockenberg and Litman, 1990, Donovan et al., 2000, Kuczynski et al., 1987).

Request–compliance interactions can also be influenced by mothers' behavioural styles (Degnan et al., 2008). Having a maladaptive behavioural style increases the likelihood that people will face challenges adapting to important life transitions, such as parenthood (Saltaris, Serbin, Stack, Karp, Schwartzman, & Ledingham, 2004). Furthermore, behavioural problems that are long-term can have cumulative negative effects on the way women adjust to motherhood and interact with their children. Aggression and social withdrawal are two stable patterns of behaviour that can lead to lifelong challenges and maladaptive outcomes, especially in the context of parenting.

Aggression has been consistently shown to be stable across the lifespan (e.g., Cairns et al., 1998, Hops et al., 2003, Patterson, 1982, Patterson et al., 1989, Serbin et al., 1998, Serbin et al., 2004, Warman and Cohen, 2000). Moreover, women with histories of peer-related aggression in childhood have been shown to demonstrate hostility during mother–child interactions (Bentley, 2002, Serbin et al., 1998). By modelling hostile behaviours in the context of mother–child interactions (e.g., power-assertive requests), aggressive mothers may inadvertently fuel noncompliance and exacerbate conflict (Campbell, 1997, Katz and Woodin, 2002), as well as train their children to respond coercively in future interactions, both in and outside of the family environment (Dishion et al., 1994, O'Leary et al., 1999, Patterson, 2002, Snyder et al., 2003).

The processes by which withdrawal negatively impacts request–compliance exchanges are rather different, and possibly less direct than those implicated in aggressive interactions. During childhood, withdrawn women may have removed themselves from social interactions, thus hindering their developing social competence and leading to dissatisfaction. Given that the stability of social withdrawal has been established, at least through to late adolescence (Moskowitz et al., 1985, Rubin, 1993, Rubin et al., 2002, Rubin and Coplan, 2004), this combination of poor social skills and discontent is likely to impinge on the quality of the mother–child relationship. Furthermore, withdrawn mothers may contribute to their children's behavioural development either by modeling their maladaptive behavioural styles or by using inappropriate or ineffective parenting strategies, especially in the context of request–compliance exchanges (Serbin et al., 1998, Stack et al., 2006, Stack et al., 2005). These women, as a result of their socially-limited experiences, may not have learned appropriate techniques or strategies for getting their needs met. Furthermore, research has shown that parents of withdrawn children are more likely to adhere to overcontrolling, coercive, and power-assertive styles of parenting (Rubin et al., 2002, Rubin et al., 1995). This experience of parental overcontrol has been shown to exacerbate any existing social deficits in children (Rubin et al., 2002).

Taken together, girls who demonstrate aggressive or withdrawn behaviours have been shown to be at risk for life-long difficulties (Ladd and Burgess, 1999, De Genna et al., 2006, Schwartzman et al., 1995, Serbin et al., 1996, Serbin et al., 1998, Stack et al., 2005). During mother–child interactions, histories of maternal aggression and withdrawal can serve to influence both mothers' request strategies as well as children's compliant and noncompliant responses, thereby placing children at risk for developing similar problems to their parents, and thus perpetuating the cycle of maladaptive behaviour (Caspi and Moffitt, 1995, Saltaris et al., 2004, Serbin et al., 2004).

Recent studies examining the impact of high-risk mothers' histories on the child-rearing environments provided to their children have made it possible to assess the probability that these children will also experience psychosocial, developmental, or health problems (e.g., Cairns et al., 1998, Capaldi et al., 2003, Chapman and Scott, 2001, Serbin and Karp, 2003, Serbin and Stack, 1998). One such study is the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project, an ongoing prospective, inter-generational investigation of families at psychosocial risk (Serbin et al., 2004, Stack et al., 2005, Stack et al., 2006). In this project, risk is a two-fold construct defined by socio-economic disadvantage as well as psychosocial difficulty. Beginning in 1976, a community-based research sample of children from disadvantaged neighbourhoods was assessed for aggression and social withdrawal (Ledingham, 1981, Schwartzman et al., 1985). Now in their 30s, many of these original participants have since had children of their own, providing the unique opportunity to study the continuity of risk across generations. Results to date strongly suggest that psychosocial risk may be transferred from parent to offspring through the behaviour, functioning, health, environment, and socio-economic circumstances of the participants as they raise families of their own (Serbin et al., 2004, Stack et al., 2005, Stack et al., 2005). For example, higher rates of high school dropout and teen pregnancy were predicted by the women's childhood behaviour. Furthermore, the children of women observed to be aggressive or withdrawn in childhood were more likely to display behavioural difficulties, such as aggression, themselves (Serbin et al., 1998). Prospective longitudinal designs allow for the investigation of possible mechanisms that underlie the intergenerational transfer of risk as it unfolds, without having to rely on retrospective accounts that may be subject to informant and memory biases (e.g., Conger et al., 2003, Hops et al., 2003, Serbin and Karp, 2003). Examining specific processes associated with the intergenerational transfer of risk, such as request–compliance interactions, facilitates the identification of patterns of maladaptive parenting that are central to children's cognitive and behavioural development.

While an abundance of literature exists on responses to maternal requests in typically-developing children, only a minority of studies have examined this phenomenon in specific at-risk populations, and no studies have examined compliance and noncompliance in low socioeconomic neighbourhoods where mothers have childhood histories of aggression and withdrawal. This gap in the literature is particularly noteworthy given the high rates of behaviour problems found in disadvantaged families (Boyle & Lipman, 2002). The Concordia Project offers the unique opportunity to explore the effects of maternal histories of childhood aggression and social withdrawal on request–compliance exchanges across two generations at high psychosocial risk.

The present study investigated whether mothers' and children's behaviours could be predicted by maternal histories of childhood aggression and social withdrawal in a sample of mother–child dyads from the Concordia Project. According to the initial publications of the Concordia Project (e.g., Moskowitz et al., 1985, Schwartzman et al., 1985), aggression was intended to capture externalizing behaviours, such as attention-seeking, disruptive, and physically aggressive behaviours, including those captured by the construct of Conduct Disorder. Withdrawal was intended to capture overcontrolled and internalizing behaviours embodied in fearful, timid, and seclusive behaviour. Because aggression has been shown to be a stable trait associated with hostility during mother–child interactions (Bentley, 2002, Serbin et al., 1998), we hypothesized that mothers with histories of aggression would be more likely to employ intrusive strategies that leave children little opportunity to comply (e.g., physical intervention). We also expected mothers with histories of withdrawal to show a similar style of behaviour due to recent findings suggesting poor social skills (Rubin et al., 2002) and maladaptive mother–child interaction patterns in these women (Perez et al., 2005). More specifically, due to limited experiences in negotiating and asserting their needs, as well as research suggesting that parents of withdrawn children tend to exhibit an intrusive style of parenting, we expected that mothers with histories of social withdrawal would also be more likely to use intrusive request strategies that limit children's opportunities to comply. Finally, because research has shown that children's behaviour is largely influenced by interactions with their parents and that maladaptive parenting behaviours play an important role in the maintenance of children's problem behaviour (Calzada, Eyberg, Rich, & Querido, 2004), we anticipated that children of women with childhood histories of aggression or withdrawal would display lower levels of compliance and higher levels of defiance.

Section snippets

Participants

The participants in this study represent a subsample of the Concordia Project. This project originated in 1976, when 4109 students in grades 1, 4, and 7 were recruited from French language public schools in inner-city, low socio-economic neighbourhoods in Quebec, Canada (Ledingham, 1981, Schwartzman et al., 1985). 1774 children (864 boys; 910 girls) who met inclusion criteria were screened for aggression and social withdrawal by means of a French translation of the Pupil Evaluation Inventory

Results

Hierarchical multiple regressions were used to evaluate the contributions of maternal childhood histories of aggression and withdrawal to the prediction of maternal requests. Regressions were also used to evaluate the contributions of maternal childhood histories of aggression and withdrawal, and maternal request strategies, to the prediction of child compliance and noncompliance. Maternal education, as well as child age and sex, were included as predictors in order to control for the effects

Discussion

The current study examined a high-risk sample of women interacting with their preschool-aged children in order to investigate the effects of mothers' childhood histories of aggression and social withdrawal on current measures of mothers' request strategies and their children's compliance and noncompliance. The results partially supported the hypotheses and provided evidence linking mothers' histories of childhood aggression and social withdrawal to children's noncompliance. The relationships

Acknowledgements

Naomi Grunzeweig, Dale M. Stack, Lisa A. Serbin, and Alex E. Schwartzman conducted this research at the Centre for Research in Human Development and Department of Psychology, Concordia University. Jane Ledingham is at the School of Psychology, University of Ottawa. The research described in this paper was partially supported by grants from Child & Youth Mental Health and Well-being (Health Canada), Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC), and the Social Sciences and

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