INCONSISTENT COMMUNICATIONS AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

Investigated the presence of possible incongruity between verbal and nonverbal components of parental messages to a disturbed child. Video-taped family interactions of 2 groups of families in which there were 2 degrees of psychopathology of an adolescent member were employed. There were 2 different measures of incongruity between attitude conveyed in verbalizations and posture. Findings did not support the hypothesized relationship between incongruity and degree of pathology. Results did however indicate a relationship between degree of negative attitude conveyed by parental messages and rated psychopathology of the adolescent in the family. It was found that parents of the more disturbed adolescents verbally communicate more negative attitudes toward the adolescents than parents of the less disturbed adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.