A REVIEW OF CHILDRENS REPORTS OF PARENT BEHAVIORS

Analyzed the literature on children's reports of parent behaviors in terms of a model combining features from E. S. Schaefer and M. Seigelman. 3 orthogonal factors loving (acceptance-rejection), demanding (psychological control), and punishment and the intersecting planes of the 1st 2 factors describe the traditional domain of parent-child interactional variables as reported by children. However, process variables such as perceived parental consistency, delay of reward, etc., and noninteractional variables such as parental social sex role, etc., are not described by the combined model. The model was applied to empirical findings, and the children's reports of parent behaviors were shown to be different for mother-report and father-report and to be related clearly to the sex, social class, and behavior of the children. Suggestions are presented for additional research which is relevant to both theoretical and applied goals. (2 p. ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.