Lookabaugh S L, Fu V R
Department of Child and Family Studies, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
J Genet Psychol. 1992 Mar;153(1):37-46. doi: 10.1080/00221325.1992.10753700.
This study examined children's use of inanimate transitional objects when coping with daily hassles. Mothers of 50 preschoolers rated their children on frequency of hassles, intensity of reaction to daily hassles, coping effectiveness, and frequency of object use. No significant differences were found between those children with an inanimate transitional object and those without such an object. Among those children with an object, a significant object effect on frequency of hassles (p less than .05) and a significant object effect on coping effectiveness were found. A significant age effect was also found, indicating that older children used their inanimate transitional objects more often than younger children. Among those children with an inanimate transitional object, significant positive relationships were found between frequency of hassles, intensity of reaction to hassles, coping effectiveness, and frequency of object use. The results indicated that children who used their thumb as an inanimate transitional object experienced fewer hassles than children who used a soft object. The results also suggested that an increase in the number of hassles experienced was related to more intense reactions to hassles, less effective coping, and an increase in object use. The nature of the object and the developmental issue of separation-individuation are considered as well.
本研究考察了儿童在应对日常烦恼时对无生命过渡物品的使用情况。50名学龄前儿童的母亲对自己孩子经历烦恼的频率、对日常烦恼的反应强度、应对效果以及使用物品的频率进行了评分。有和没有无生命过渡物品的儿童之间未发现显著差异。在有物品的儿童中，发现物品对烦恼频率有显著影响（p小于0.05），且对应对效果有显著影响。还发现了显著的年龄效应，表明年龄较大的儿童比年龄较小的儿童更频繁地使用他们的无生命过渡物品。在有无生命过渡物品的儿童中，烦恼频率、对烦恼的反应强度、应对效果和物品使用频率之间存在显著的正相关关系。结果表明，将拇指作为无生命过渡物品使用的儿童比使用柔软物品的儿童经历的烦恼更少。结果还表明，经历的烦恼数量增加与对烦恼的反应更强烈、应对效果更差以及物品使用增加有关。同时也考虑了物品的性质以及分离个体化的发展问题。
