THE EFFECT ON THE FAMILY OF A LIMITATION IN COPING ABILITY IN THE CHILD: A RESEARCH APPROACH AND A FINDING

The possibility of children affecting parent behavior has been almost completely neglected in current theories of socialization. A res approach has been advocated which involves contrasting groups of fam 's differing in whether the fam unit includes a child with a congenital disorder. This appr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 1964-04, Vol.10 (2), p.129-142
Main Author: Bell, Richard Q.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Child behavior disorders
Child rearing
Child/Children/Childhood
Children
Congenital heart defects
Current Research in Infant Development
Disorders
Family/Families
Genetic disorders
Infants
Mothers
Parents
Siblings
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Summary:The possibility of children affecting parent behavior has been almost completely neglected in current theories of socialization. A res approach has been advocated which involves contrasting groups of fam 's differing in whether the fam unit includes a child with a congenital disorder. This approach makes it possible to ascribe diff's between groups to the effects of a limitation in coping ability in one affected member. The limitation in coping behavior is associated with the congenital disorder. Certain requirements must be met in matching fam units in contrast groups. It is also necessary that congenital disorders selected for study not show signifintrafam incidence. This makes it unlikely that diff's between contrast groups are due to parent characteristics originally exerting an effect through the occurrence of the congenital condition itself & persisting sufficiently to be detected several yrs later in parental behavior with children in the fam. Though an individual member of a fam can only manifest behavior which has been modified by the socialization process within the fam unit, diff's between members in contrast groups can be attributed to the impact of the limitation in coping ability associated with a congenital disorder in one member. Results from 5 studies relevant to this approach are summarized as consistent with the hypothesis that an attitude described as intrusiveness can be induced in a mother as an effect of a limitation in coping ability in her child. AA.
ISSN:0026-0150
0272-930X