Baker B L, Heller T L
Department of Psychology, University of California at Los Angeles 90024, USA.
J Abnorm Child Psychol. 1996 Aug;24(4):513-32. doi: 10.1007/BF01441572.
Childhood behavior disorders are related to family stress and maladjustment. Little is known, however, about the adjustment of families with preschool-aged children at risk for subsequent behavior disorders. Moreover, fathers' perceptions of child problem behavior and their reactions to it generally have been neglected. Subjects were mothers and fathers of 52 preschool-aged children assigned to one of three groups: control, moderate externalizing, and high externalizing. Higher child externalizing behavior was associated with greater negative family impact, lowered parenting sense of efficacy, and child-rearing practices that were more authoritarian and less authoritative. Mothers and fathers did not differ in actual perceived level of child behavior problems, although both believed that mothers saw more problems. Child Group x Parent interactions indicated that mothers experienced increased stress and a need for help with moderate as well as high child externalizing behaviors, whereas fathers were not elevated on these measures unless the child's externalizing behaviors were high. Implications of these findings for early family intervention are considered.
儿童行为障碍与家庭压力和适应不良有关。然而，对于有学龄前儿童且有后续行为障碍风险的家庭的适应情况，人们了解甚少。此外，父亲对儿童问题行为的认知及其反应通常被忽视。研究对象是52名学龄前儿童的父母，这些儿童被分为三组之一：对照组、中度外化行为组和高度外化行为组。儿童更高的外化行为与更大的负面家庭影响、更低的育儿效能感以及更专制而非权威的育儿方式有关。父母在实际感知到的儿童行为问题水平上没有差异，尽管双方都认为母亲看到的问题更多。儿童组×父母的交互作用表明，对于中度和高度外化行为的儿童，母亲会经历更大的压力且需要帮助，而除非孩子的外化行为程度很高，否则父亲在这些指标上不会升高。文中考虑了这些研究结果对早期家庭干预的意义。
