TAT need achievement and need affiliation in minimally brain-injured and normal children an their parents.

The families of 16 minimally brain-injured children were compared in need for achievement and need for affiliation with 16 families of normal children. The families were matched on age, sex, and birth order of the children, and on education of the fathers. Needs were measured by means of TAT type cards for both parents and children. The data indicated that the minimally brain-injured children and their mothers were lower in achievement motivation than the normal children and their mothers (rho less than .05). Results on the fathers were in the same direction, but were not significant. In addition, parents of minimally brain-injured children seemed to have a different pattern of influence on their offspring than parents of normal children. The achievement needs of the mothers in the former group were positively related to their children's behavior (rho less than .05), and the achievement needs of the fathers in the latter group were negatively related to their children's behavior (rho less than .05). Finally, there were no differences or relationships found for affiliation motivation.