1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«The goal of this research was to test a behavioral contagion hypothesis for autonomy support and control in two prospective studies involving mothers and fathers of adolescents from intact families. […] First, we hypothesized reciprocal relations between both partners where one partner’s self-reported behaviors will predict those of the other […]. Second, we tested whether parents had equivalent contributions to their co-parent’s behaviors, for both autonomy support and control.» (p. 47-48)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«Data from this study came from a longitudinal project on high school students’ motivation achievement and persistence. Students and their parents were recruited via a list provided by Quebec’s ministry of education, leisure, and sports. [In the first study,] we used a subsample of 289 families who had participated in two measurement waves, 1 year apart.» (p. 49) In the second study, «[w]e […] used a subsample of 202 families who participated in two measurement waves, 2 years apart.» (p. 56)

Instruments :
Questionnaires

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

The «hypothesis was supported in both studies. In addition, the partner effects on both parenting dimensions were found to be equivalent for mothers and fathers. […] Our findings […] demonstrated that co-parents’ behavioral similarity was a result of reciprocal contributions as both mothers and fathers predicted each other’s controlling and autonomy supportive behaviors. […] The similarity in parenting behaviors observed in this study may […] result from assortative mating […]. Assortative mating occurs when individuals choose a life partner based on their similar characteristics, which can stem from a common ecological niche (i.e., social homogamy) or phenotypic preference. […] Similarities between partners might also be explained by emotional processes. Providing autonomy support yields emotional benefits to the provider […]. Thus, when a parent supports her child’s autonomy, she/he experiences gains in happiness and energy, which improves the positive affective atmosphere at home and contributes to the well-being and vitality of the other parent who, in turn, has more energy and creativity available to adopt autonomy supportive behaviors. […] An unexpected finding was that reciprocal effects between mothers’ and fathers’ controlling behaviors were weak in Study 1 and moderate in Study 2. This difference in magnitude may reflect discrepancies in sample characteristics such as marital negativity, which might be higher in the first sample.» (p. 58-59)