1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«The present dissertation was designed to examine how mothers and preadolescent children manage and resolve conflicts, including associations with problem-solving, maternal risk (childhood histories, concurrent functioning, and education), and children’s socio-emotional functioning across contexts (i.e., perceived social competence, internalizing and externalizing problems, and test-taking behaviors).» (p. iii) «[The first] study examined core features of mother-child conflict during middle childhood in at-risk dyads, and explored links to maternal historical and concurrent risk and protective factors.» (p. 19) «[The second] study examined associations between conflict behaviors and problem-solving strategies in high-risk mother-child dyads during middle childhood, and links to children’s socio-emotional functioning in other settings (i.e., perceived social competence, internalizing and externalizing problems, and test-taking behaviors).» (p. 67)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
For both studies, «[p]articipants (n = 95) were mothers and their 9-to 13-year-old children from the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project; a prospective, intergenerational study of children from low SES [socioeconomic status] neighborhoods screened along dimensions of aggression and social withdrawal and followed into parenthood.» (p. iii) «[The] dyads were drawn from a larger sub-sample of 175 mothers […] and their offspring who were longitudinally followed to the present day since children were preschoolers in different waves of testing at approximately 3-year intervals.» (p. 77)

Instruments :
- Grille d’observation
- Questionnaire

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

«Results from Study 1 demonstrated that mother-child conflict is not necessarily aversive and destructive, as well as revealed several core features of mother-child conflict during middle childhood. Whereas maternal education was uniquely associated with constructive and relatively harmonious mother-child conflict behaviors (controlling for other SES markers), the reverse was found for the effects of maternal distress at the time of testing. Maternal education also served as a protective factor for mothers with childhood histories of social withdrawal by enhancing their ability to communicate in an assertive and nonthreatening manner. Results from Study 2 underscored the importance of flexible and problem-focused behaviors in promoting mother-child problem-solving, while highlighting children’s role in shaping resolution. The cross-context applicability of children’s positive and negative conflict behaviors was also demonstrated, with variations across contexts and informants. Maternal childhood histories of aggression or social withdrawal negatively predicted children’s IQ scores, which in turn, predicted more careless and disorganized test-taking behaviors. Results from this series of two studies advance current knowledge on mother-child conflict in middle childhood and draw attention to contextual variables that influence these conflicts.» (p. iii-iv)