Nowicki Stephen, Gregory Steven, Ellis Genette L, Iles-Caven Yasmin, Golding Jean
Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States.
Centre for Academic Child Health, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
Front Psychol. 2018 Aug 8;9:1427. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01427. eCollection 2018.
A previous study from our group showed that parents' locus of control (LOC) obtained before the birth of their child was associated with the child's behavior at school in School Years 3 (ages 7-8) and 6 (ages 10-11). Here we examine whether a change in parental LOC over the first 6 years of the child's life was associated with differences in his or her behavior as rated by their teachers. As before, we use data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). A modified version of the adult Nowicki-Strickland internal-external LOC scale was completed by mothers and fathers in their own home during pregnancy and 6 years later. Externality was defined as a score greater than the median and internality as equal to, or less than, the median. Outcomes were the five individual subscales and the total difficulties of Goodman's Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) completed by the children's class teachers at the end of School Years 3 and 6. As predicted, we found that parents who remained externally oriented, or became external, had children with more behavioral difficulties in primary school compared with parents who remained or became internal. Type of behavior difficulties varied somewhat with whether mothers or fathers remained or changed toward externality. These results support the possibility that changes in parental LOC are associated with children's personal and social adjustment. Consequently, programs to change parental LOC may be worth evaluating.
我们团队之前的一项研究表明，孩子出生前父母的控制点（LOC）与孩子在3年级（7 - 8岁）和6年级（10 - 11岁）时在学校的行为有关。在此，我们研究孩子生命最初6年中父母控制点的变化是否与老师评定的孩子行为差异有关。和之前一样，我们使用来自雅芳父母与儿童纵向研究（ALSPAC）的数据。成年版诺维茨基 - 斯特里克兰内外控制点量表的一个修改版本，由父母在孕期及6年后在家中完成。外部性定义为得分高于中位数，内部性定义为得分等于或低于中位数。结果是5个单独的子量表以及古德曼优势与困难问卷（SDQ）的总困难得分，由孩子的班主任在3年级末和6年级末完成。正如预期的那样，我们发现与保持或变得具有内控倾向的父母相比，那些保持外控倾向或变得外控的父母，其孩子在小学阶段存在更多行为困难。行为困难的类型在一定程度上因母亲或父亲是保持还是转向外控而有所不同。这些结果支持了父母控制点的变化与孩子的个人和社会适应有关的可能性。因此，改变父母控制点的项目可能值得评估。
