CONFLICT AND DOMINANCE WITHIN FAMILIES OF DISTURBED CHILDREN

Compared 26 sets of clinic parents with sons referred for psychological treatment with 42 sets of nonclinic controls in a structured interaction situation from which conflict and dominance indices were derived. Crucial concerns were the internal consistency of the indices, whether they measured unitary constructs, and whether amount of verbal activity appreciably effected the frequency-type conflict measures. Split-half reliabilities of most indices were adequate; intercorrelations between dominance indices were lower than for conflict indices. But the latter were strongly related to amount of verbal activity. Interaction indices were subjected to 2 * 2 (clinic, nonclinic; child present, absent) analyses of covariance. Nonclinic parents exhibited somewhat more conflict than clinic families, but adjustment of scores for verbal activity considerably attenuated these differences. (24 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.