INVESTIGATION OF PARENTAL PERCEPTIONS OF THE BEHAVIORAL COMPONENTS OF EASINESS/DIFFICULTNESS IN THEIR SIX AND 13-MONTH-OLD INFANTS

NANCY CATHERINE HUBERT, Purdue University

Abstract

The present study was designed to explore parental perceptions of the behavioral components of easiness/difficultness in their young infants. This concept as defined in the New York Longitudinal Study (NYLS) includes temperament categories of Regularity, Approach, Adaptability, Mood, and Intensity. Group differences in behavioral components as a function of the variables parent sex, child age, child sex, and parity, as well as the extent to which parent generated data coincide with those obtained in the NYLS were also the focus of study. Subjects include 142 parents (96 mothers, 46 fathers) of six-month-old or 13-month-old infants. Parents were asked to rate their infant in terms of easiness/difficultness and subsequently generate behavioral cues upon which they felt this global perception was based. A hierarchical category system was developed based on the content of cues. Categorization of cues resulted in frequency distributions for comparison groups. The data resulted in a category system containing six major categories (Physical Characteristics, Development and Learning, Response to the Physical Environments, Response to People, Behavior Related to Caretaking Situations, and Personality Characteristics), and 121 categories total. A remarkable similarity was found between mothers and fathers in the distribution of cues across major categories, with greatest emphasis by both groups placed on behaviors exhibited in very specific caretaking situations and more globally defined trait-like characteristics. More specifically, the child's compliance with feeding and sleeping procedures, sleep schedule characteristics, mood, sociability, and independence were regarded as most salient. Low to moderate agreement occurred between spouses in the content of cues generated. In general, comparisons within parent groups as a function of child age, child sex, and parity yielded non-significant findings. Approximately 50 percent of the cues generated by parents were assigned to NYLS categories, 80 percent of which described the child's Adaptability and Mood. These results were discussed with particular consideration given to validation of findings, reconceptualization of the current concept of easiness/difficultness, and the potential significance of parental perceptions of salient child behavior for both parent-child interactions and developmental outcome.

Degree

Ph.D.

Subject Area

Psychotherapy

COinS