Mother-child interactions: a comparison of a clinic-referred developmentally delayed group and two non-delayed groups.

The purpose of the present study was to compare a clinic-referred sample of developmentally delayed children to two groups of children who were not delayed: a clinic-referred sample and a nonclinic sample. Multiple outcome measures, including home observations of mother-child interactions, parental perceptions of child adjustment, and parental measures of depression and marital adjustment, were utilized. The results indicated that the delayed sample differed from the two nondelayed samples primarily in terms of emitting more maternal behavior, particularly the number of commands issued. A lower rate of compliance to total maternal commands also occurred for the delayed group. Finally, the clinic-referred delayed sample differed from the nonclinic non-delayed sample by perceiving their children as less well-adjusted. Implications of the results are discussed.