Haskett M E, Willoughby M
Department of Psychology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
Child Care Health Dev. 2007 Jan;33(1):67-77. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2214.2006.00627.x.
The purpose of this research was to examine the manner in which multiple influences on child social adjustment operated together to predict differential outcomes for young children. Specifically, this study was designed to (i) examine the role of social cognitive and emotional factors in parents' observed and self-reported behaviour towards their children, and (ii) investigate the impact of parenting and children's social information processing (SIP) patterns on children's subsequent social adjustment in the school setting.
A model of children's peer social adjustment was evaluated using a group of 166 children, over-sampled for history of physical child abuse. Assessment of constructs was multi-method, including parent and child self-reports as well as teacher reports of child adjustment and observations of parent-child and child-peer interactions.
Using structural equation modelling, support was found for our theoretical model. Specifically, parents' negative child-related beliefs and clinical elevations in emotional distress were predictors of harsh, insensitive parenting, which in turn predicted children's SIP operations and social maladjustment 6 months later. However, children's SIP did not significantly predict their social adjustment above and beyond the impact of parenting.
Results indicated that the quality of parenting that children received was more central to subsequent adjustment in peer interactions than were children's SIP operations. Furthermore, the quality of parenting children experienced was closely linked to parents' beliefs about their children and parents' mental health status. Directions for future research and potential implications for clinical practice are discussed.
本研究的目的是探讨多种影响儿童社会适应的因素共同作用以预测幼儿不同结果的方式。具体而言，本研究旨在：（i）考察社会认知和情感因素在父母对孩子的观察到的行为及自我报告行为中的作用；（ii）调查养育方式和儿童社会信息加工（SIP）模式对儿童随后在学校环境中的社会适应的影响。
使用一组166名儿童对儿童同伴社会适应模型进行评估，这些儿童因遭受身体虐待史而被过度抽样。对构念的评估采用多种方法，包括父母和儿童的自我报告、教师对儿童适应情况的报告以及对亲子和儿童同伴互动的观察。
使用结构方程模型，我们的理论模型得到了支持。具体而言，父母与儿童相关的负面信念以及情绪困扰的临床升高是严厉、冷漠养育方式的预测因素，而这反过来又预测了儿童6个月后的SIP操作和社会适应不良。然而，儿童的SIP在养育方式的影响之外，对其社会适应并没有显著的预测作用。
结果表明，儿童所接受的养育质量对随后的同伴互动适应比儿童的SIP操作更为关键。此外，儿童所经历的养育质量与父母对孩子的信念以及父母的心理健康状况密切相关。讨论了未来研究的方向以及对临床实践的潜在影响。
