MOTHERS AND FATHERS INTERACTING IN DYADS AND TRIADS WITH NORMAL AND HYPERACTIVE SONS

Mother-son and father-son interactions of families with hyperactive and normal 6- to 12-year-old sons were observed in dyadic and triadic settings. There was more frequent coercion in families with hyperactive boys, especially when mothers and sons interacted in the dyadic setting. This mother-son acrimony carried over to the triadic context, wherein fathers exhibited a rescue-coercion pattern of behavior. Fathers increased, whereas mothers decreased, their demands of sons in triads over dyads, and both fathers and sons became more aversive toward each other in triads than in dyads. This pattern was not as clearly evident in the interactions of families with normal sons. Boys in both groups of families behaved more negatively toward mothers than toward fathers in dyadic interactions. Compared with fathers, mothers made more demands and were more emotionally expressive toward their sons.