Responses of abused and disadvantaged toddlers to distress in agemates: A study in the day care setting.

Abstract

Responses to distress in agemates were examined in observations of 10 abused toddlers and 10 matched controls from families experiencing stress. Both groups of children were from disadvantaged families. The children ranged in age from 1 to 3 years and were observed in day care settings. Nonabused, disadvantaged toddlers responded to the distress of agemates with simple interest or with concern, empathy, or sadness. Their patterns of response were consistent with findings from other studies of middle-class, nonabused children. Not one abused toddler showed concern in response to the distress of an agemate. Instead, the abused toddlers often reacted to an agemate's distress with disturbing behavior patterns not seen in the control toddlers, such as with physical attacks, fear, or anger. Three of the abused toddlers alternately attacked and attempted to comfort peers found in distress. Similar aversive and angry responses to distress in others have been described by investigators working with abusing parents. This study describes reactions to the distress of agemates in 20 disadvantaged toddlers observed in a group setting. Ten had been physically abused by their parents. They were matched for age, sex, and race with 10 toddlers whose families were stressed but not physically abusive. The study is based on direct observations from the floor of day care centers attended by the children. The first question addressed was whether disadvantaged toddlers would show concern for agemates in the group care setting. Infants and toddlers from middle-class, nonabusing homes have been observed to show concern for others in distress in both the home (Dunn & Kendrick, 1979; Zahn-Waxler, Radke-Yar