Maternal directiveness : its relation to developmentally delayed children's competence and interactional behavior

Ward Caines, Barbara (1991) Maternal directiveness : its relation to developmentally delayed children's competence and interactional behavior. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[English] PDF (Migrated (PDF/A Conversion) from original format: (application/pdf)) - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Download (17MB) [English] PDF - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. (Original Version)

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to first examine the relationship among the four types of directiveness (response control, topic control, turntaking control, and inhibitive control) that mothers of developmentally delayed children exhibit, and second, to determine how these directive behaviors relate to the child's interactional behavior and developmental characteristics. Interactions between 25 mothers and their developmentally delayed children during 15 minutes of free-play and three minutes of an instructional task were coded independently using a behavior count system and a global rating scale (Multi-Pass Coding System). The correlational analyses indicated that a relationship exists among the four subtypes of directiveness and further suggested that maternal directive behaviors vary as a function of the child's on-line (interactional) behavior and developmental characteristics. In addition, the intercorrelations among maternal behaviors indicated that directiveness and warmth and sensitivity are not incompatible characteristics of maternal behavior. Finally, the results provided evidence to suggest there are notable individual differences in interaction patterns of mothers and their developmentally delayed children. -- This study concludes with a discussion of the findings and a set of recommendations.

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