PERCEPTIONS OF PRESCHOOLERS VULNERABILITY BY MOTHERS WHO HAD DELIVERED PRETERM

Assessed mothers who did and did not identify their children as vulnerable on a number of variables including perception of their child's behavior problems and their own sense of parental control. Children were also examined to determine their developmental abilities. Participants included 50 preschoolers who were born prematurely, their mothers, and their medical care providers. The mothers' response to the Vulnerable Child Scale was used to identify children as vulnerable and nonvulnerable. Mothers who perceived their children as vulnerable also rated them on the Child Behavior Checklist 2/3 as having more somatic problems and as being more aggressive, destructive, and poorly socialized. Additionally, these mothers expressed a diminished sense of parental efficacy and less control of their child's behavior as measured by the Parental Locus of Control Scale. However, results from the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities and the medical care provider's questionnaire revealed no differences between the groups of children. Overall findings suggest preschoolers born prematurely whose mothers perceive them as vulnerable are at risk for the Vulnerable Child Syndrome described by Green and Solnit (1964).