1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«The aim of this study was to examine the potential moderating role of child gender, maternal attachment state of mind, and stressful life events on the relative and absolute stability of a particular parenting behavior, namely autonomy support, between infancy and preschool years. […] The goals of this article were to examine (1) the relative and absolute stability of maternal autonomy support over a period of almost 2 years, and (2) the potential role of child gender, maternal attachment state of mind, and stressful life events on the relative and absolute stability of autonomy support.» (p. 430)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«Participants in this study were 69 middle-class mother–child dyads (41 girls and 28 boys) living in a large Canadian metropolitan area (Montreal, Quebec).» (p. 431)

Instruments :
Guide d’entretien semi-directif

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

«The findings highlight the importance of using more than one assessment point when examining parenting behaviors, and support the importance of distinguishing relative and absolute stability of parenting. The findings also point to the fact that having a boy, experiencing more stressful events, and having an insecure attachment state of mind increase the probability of behaving in an inconsistent manner with the child. Given that inconsistency in parenting behaviors is related to poor child outcomes, this study presents implications for intervention. The findings suggest that parents of boys, who experience a great deal of change in their life and who have an insecure attachment state of mind, are likely to need more help to remain consistent in their autonomy-supportive behaviors toward their children. In addition, the findings suggest that parental autonomy-supportive behaviors may be more difficult to change later in life because these behaviors are relatively stable across time. Interventions aiming to increase parental autonomy support should, therefore, start early in the child’s life, especially for children whose parents are at risk of being low autonomy-supportive.» (p. 441)