Kerr Sophie, Allman Madeleine, Shohet Cilly, Stepp Stephanie, Sharp Carla
Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Texas, United States.
School of Education, Bar-Ilan University, Bar-Ilan Israel.
Scand J Child Adolesc Psychiatr Psychol. 2023 Aug 17;11(1):95-107. doi: 10.2478/sjcapp-2023-0010. eCollection 2023 Jan.
Observational assessments of parent-adolescent conflict can guide interventions to prevent and reduce conflict and mental health problems. The authors identified the Observing Mediational Interactions (OMI) as a particularly useful coding system for examining parent-adolescent conflict. The OMI is the observational measure used in the Mediational Intervention for Sensitizing Caregivers (MISC) and quantifies emotional (attachment-based) and cognitive (learning-based) behaviors during caregiver-child interactions.
The overall aim of the current study was to tailor and evaluate the OMI specifically for observing conflict interactions.
Conflict discussions between 56 clinical youth aged 10-15 years and their mothers were coded using the OMI. Reliability, construct validity, and associations with affect following the conflict discussion were examined.
Analyses revealed that the OMI demonstrated adequate internal consistency, interrater reliability, and construct validity in terms of associations with an alternate observational measure and parent-reported family functioning and stress. Additionally, mothers who engaged in fewer negative parenting behaviors reported greater positive affect following the conflict discussion, controlling for baseline affect.
Taken together, findings support the use of the OMI in future studies. While further research should attempt to extend findings to other populations and settings and elaborate the coding instructions as needed, researchers can use the OMI to inform ongoing adaptations of MISC and identify targets for prevention and intervention more broadly.
对亲子冲突的观察性评估可为预防和减少冲突及心理健康问题的干预措施提供指导。作者将观察中介互动（OMI）确定为一种特别有用的编码系统，用于研究亲子冲突。OMI是用于照顾者敏感化中介干预（MISC）的观察性测量方法，可量化照顾者与儿童互动过程中的情感（基于依恋）和认知（基于学习）行为。
本研究的总体目标是专门针对观察冲突互动对OMI进行调整和评估。
使用OMI对56名10至15岁临床青少年及其母亲之间的冲突讨论进行编码。检验了冲突讨论后的信度、结构效度以及与情感的关联。
分析表明，OMI在与另一种观察性测量方法以及家长报告的家庭功能和压力的关联方面，表现出足够的内部一致性、评分者间信度和结构效度。此外，在控制基线情感的情况下，较少采用负面养育行为的母亲在冲突讨论后报告的积极情感更多。
综合来看，研究结果支持在未来研究中使用OMI。虽然进一步的研究应尝试将研究结果扩展到其他人群和环境，并根据需要详细阐述编码说明，但研究人员可以使用OMI为MISC的持续调整提供信息，并更广泛地确定预防和干预目标。
