Adult Perceptions of Interpersonal Control and Reactions to Disruptive Child Behaviors

Abstract

We examined the effects of control beliefs on reactions to inattentive/overactive (I/O) and aggressive/oppositional (A/O) behaviors. In Study 1, mothers reacted more negatively to A/O behavior than I/O behavior and believed the child had more control over A/O behavior. Interpersonal control beliefs moderated the effects of child behaviors on emotional reactions. High control mothers showed more differentiated responses to I/O and A/O behaviors than low control mothers. In Study 2, we investigated processing differences between high and low control adults using a signal detection paradigm. Accuracy was higher when differentiating between I/O and neutral behavior than when differentiating between A/O and I/O behaviors and low control participants were less accurate than high control participants. Control beliefs were not associated with differences in criteria for identifying problem behaviors; however, men tended to use a more conservative criterion than women in identifying problem behavior. The role of individual differences in understanding reactions to disruptive child behaviors and the importance of assessing basic processes related to parental social cognition are discussed.