Borelli Jessica L, Smiley Patricia A, Rasmussen Hannah F, Gómez Anthony
Department of Psychology, Pomona College, 647 N College Way, Claremont, CA, 91711, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90089-1061, USA.
J Youth Adolesc. 2016 Oct;45(10):1996-2010. doi: 10.1007/s10964-016-0459-5. Epub 2016 Mar 15.
An emerging literature suggests that not only do parent and child perceptions of parent-child relationship quality independently predict children's adjustment, but also that the discrepancy between parent and child perceptions of the relationship also carries predictive power. In the current study, we examine discrepancies in mother and children's we-talk, which is thought to reveal the degree to which members of a dyad conceive of problems affecting just one of the members as shared. We anticipate that discrepancies in which the mother expresses a greater sense of we-ness than the child would be particularly toxic during this developmental phase, when youth's strivings for independence ought to near their apex. Using an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample of school-aged children and their mothers (N = 106, 49.1 % female; 43 % Non-Hispanic White, 21 % African American, 21 % Hispanic, 10 % Asian, and 5 % of another ethnic category or mixed race; 48 % reported an annual income of <$60,000), we expose children to a standardized failure task that their mothers observe and then interview both members of the dyad regarding the task-we-talk is derived from these interviews. We examine the discrepancy between child and mother we-talk as a predictor of children's cortisol reactivity and mothers' behavioral overcontrol during the failure task. We also examine whether the discrepancy in mother-child we-talk predicts children's trait rumination. The interaction between child and mother we-talk was significantly associated with all three outcomes. Children's cortisol reactivity and rumination were highest when mothers used high and children used low levels of we-talk. A three-way interaction of children's we-talk, mothers' we-talk and child age emerged, suggesting that the association of discrepancies in we-talk with maternal overcontrol depended on child age, with significant effects emerging among older children. We discuss our results in terms of their implications for preadolescent development and emotion regulation.
越来越多的文献表明，不仅父母和孩子对亲子关系质量的认知能独立预测孩子的适应情况，而且父母和孩子对关系认知之间的差异也具有预测作用。在本研究中，我们考察了母亲与孩子之间“我们”式谈话的差异，这种谈话被认为能够揭示二元组中成员将影响其中一人的问题视为共同问题的程度。我们预计，在这个发展阶段，当青少年追求独立的努力达到顶峰时，如果母亲表达的“我们”的意识比孩子更强，这种差异可能会特别有害。我们使用了一个在种族和社会经济方面具有多样性的学龄儿童及其母亲样本（N = 106，49.1%为女性；43%为非西班牙裔白人，21%为非裔美国人，21%为西班牙裔，10%为亚裔，5%为其他种族或混血；48%报告年收入低于6万美元），让孩子们接受一项标准化的失败任务，母亲在一旁观察，然后对二元组的双方就任务进行访谈——“我们”式谈话即来源于这些访谈。我们考察孩子与母亲“我们”式谈话之间的差异，将其作为孩子皮质醇反应性以及母亲在失败任务中行为过度控制的预测指标。我们还考察了母子“我们”式谈话的差异是否能预测孩子的特质性沉思。孩子与母亲“我们”式谈话之间的相互作用与所有这三个结果都显著相关。当母亲使用高水平的“我们”式谈话而孩子使用低水平时，孩子的皮质醇反应性和沉思程度最高。出现了孩子的“我们”式谈话、母亲的“我们”式谈话和孩子年龄的三向相互作用，这表明“我们”式谈话差异与母亲过度控制之间的关联取决于孩子的年龄，在年龄较大的孩子中出现了显著影响。我们将根据研究结果对青春期前发展和情绪调节的影响进行讨论。
