Puppet Interview Research Articles

Neighborhood cohesion as a buffer against hostile maternal parenting.

This study explored the moderating effects of children's neighborhoods on the link between hostile parenting and externalizing behavior. Participants were 1st- or 2nd-grade children in an urban northeastern community. Children were administered the Parenting and Neighborhood scales of the Child Puppet Interview, and mothers completed questionnaires on neighborhood quality and parenting practices. Census tract measures of neighborhood quality and teachers' reports of children's externalizing behavior also were obtained. Results indicated that children's and mothers' perceptions of neighborhood involvement-cohesion buffered the link between hostile parenting and externalizing problems. Children's externalizing behavior was unrelated to census tract variables. Findings highlight the protective effect of neighborhood social cohesion and the utility of including young children's perspectives in research on neighborhoods and families.

Preschool Major Depressive Disorder: Preliminary Validation for Developmentally Modified DSM-IV Criteria

To investigate the validity of developmentally modified DSM-IV criteria for preschool major depressive disorder (MDD). Subjects between the ages of 3.0 and 5.6 years were ascertained from community and clinical sites for a comprehensive assessment that included an age-appropriate psychiatric interview with the parent about the child. Minor developmental modifications to the formal DSM-IV MDD criteria were tested, including translations of symptoms to describe age-appropriate manifestations and setting aside the duration criterion. Preschool children who met modified criteria were compared with psychiatric and normal control groups. Validation for the modified criteria was supported by a specific and stable symptom constellation, social impairment, greater family histories of affective disorders, and higher child-reported symptoms of depression on an age-appropriate puppet interview. Preschool children with MDD displayed "typical" symptoms of depression, as well as vegetative signs. Standard DSM-IV criteria failed to capture 76% of children who met these modified criteria. Evidence that preschool children can manifest typical symptoms of MDD when age-adjusted symptoms states are assessed is provided. Findings also suggest that standard DSM-/V criteria may not be sufficiently sensitive for preschool children, as they failed to capture a substantial proportion of symptomatic children. Minor modifications to DSM-IV criteria are recommended to capture clinically significant preschool MDD.

Temperamental Vulnerability and Negative Parenting as Interacting Predictors of Child Adjustment

This study examines parenting by temperament interactions in predicting child adjustment. Participants included 40 first and second graders, their mothers, and teachers. Child report of maternal psychological control and hostility was assessed using the Child Puppet Interview. Mothers completed temperament scales from the Child Behavior Questionnaire, and teachers provided information on child adjustment. As expected, among children high in irritable distress, maternal psychological control was associated with internalizing problems and maternal hostility was associated with externalizing problems. Among children with poor effortful control, maternal hostility was associated with externalizing behavior. This study offers evidence that the effects of negative parenting are accentuated among children with temperamental vulnerabilities.

Differential Performance of the MacArthur HBQ and DISC-IV in Identifying DSM-IV Internalizing Psychopathology in Young Children

Three sites collaborated to evaluate the differential performance of the MacArthur Health and Behavior Questionnaire (HBQ) and the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children Version IV (DISC-IV) in identifying DSM-IV psychopathology in young children. A sample of 120 four- to eight-year-old nonreferred (community) (n = 67) and referred (clinical) (n = 53) children was examined. Mothers reported on their child's mental health symptoms using the HBQ (a dimensional measure with a clinical cutoff score) and the DISC-IV. Teachers independently reported on the child's symptoms and impairment in school using the teacher HBQ. Children self-reported on their symptoms using the companion Berkeley Puppet Interview. On the basis of its derived clinical cutoff scores, the HBQ identified significantly more children with clinical symptoms of DSM-IVinternalizing psychopathology than the DISC-IV in both referred and nonreferred groups. There was a high level of agreement between the two measures in the identification of externalizing psychopathology. Children identified as having internalizing psychopathology by the HBQ were also rated as highly symptomatic and impaired by teachers. The findings support the general validity of the parent HBQ for the assessment of young child psychopathology and the hypothesis that it captures more internalizing psychopathology than the DISC-IV in this population.

Self-representations and socioemotional competence in young children: A 3-year longitudinal study.

In a longitudinal study, the connections between children's self-representations at age 5 and their self-perceptions, socioemotional competence according to the teacher, and peer acceptance at age 8 were examined. The sample consisted of 60 children (33 boys, 27 girls). Self-representations at age 5 were assessed by the Puppet Interview (J. Cassidy, 1988). Results generally revealed the expected connections between the positiveness of self at age 5 and self-perceptions and socioemotional functioning 3 years later. These findings support the predictive validity of the Puppet Interview. Moreover, they suggest that young children do possess at least a rudimentary sense of being generally worthy and lovable, which can be assessed by using adequate, age-appropriate interviews.

A longitudinal study of Q-sort attachment security and self-processes at age 5

Attachment theory predicts that a sense of self emerges from early interactive relationships with significant others. In the current study, concurrent and predictive relations of child–mother Q-sort attachment security to self-concept and self-esteem in 5-year-old children is examined. Concurrent attachment security scores are positively related to a puppet interview measure of self-esteem, and children who are able to admit imperfections in themselves have higher attachment security scores at age 5. Attachment security at age 2 is not positively related to self-processes, however, and security at either age does not predict overall self-concept as measured by the Harter Scales. The results suggest that a secure attachment relationship is important for children to feel comfortable in presenting a realistic perspective of themselves.

The MacArthur Three-City Outcome Study: Evaluating Multi-Informant Measures of Young Children's Symptomatology

Three sites collaborated to evaluate the reliability and validity of 2 measures, developed in tandem to assess symptomatology and impairment in 4- to 8-year-old children: the Berkeley Puppet Interview Symptomatology Scales (BPI-S) and the Health and Behavior Questionnaire (HBQ). In this case-control study, mothers, teachers, and children reported on multiple dimensions of children's mental health for 120 children (67 community and 53 clinic-referred children). The BPI-S and the parent and teacher versions of the HBQ demonstrated strong test-retest reliability and discriminant validity on a majority of symptom scales. Medium to strong effect sizes (Cohen d) indicated that children in the clinic-referred group were viewed by all 3 informants as experiencing significantly higher levels of symptomatology than nonreferred, community children. The availability of a set of multi-informant instruments that are psychometrically sound, developed in tandem, and developmentally appropriate for young children will enhance researchers' ability to investigate and understand symptomatology or the emergence of symptomatology in middle childhood.

Family Dynamics, Preschoolers' Family Representations, and Preschool Peer Relationships

Most prior studies of family-peer linkages during the preschool years have asked how mothers' or fathers' parenting practices contribute to early social competence. However, recent evidence from studies of family group-level processes raise the possibility that coparenting and family group process may also influence early social competence. This study traces pathways between family group-level dynamics, preschoolers' family imagery, and peer behavior at nursery school, testing the hypothesis that children's perceptions of family anger and aggression provide a link (through mediation and other indirect connections) between family process and early peer behavior. 43 four-year-olds used a set of doll family figures to tell stories about happy, sad, mad and worried families, and participated in a puppet interview in which they answered questions about family activities and family anger. Children's projection of aggression into the doll family task and discomfort during the puppet interview were each related to both parent-child and family-level dynamics. Family-level variables were also associated with observed social behavior at preschool, with effects strongest for boys. Pathways linking low levels of support and mutuality in the coparenting relationship to problematic peer relationships were indirect and mediated rather than direct, with children's family representations playing an intermediary role. By contrast, there was a direct pathway linking the family's affective climate to positive peer behavior; children from families showing warm, positive relations among all family members displayed more positive and prosocial peer behavior at school. We propose that studies of early peer competence could benefit from a broadened definition of family process and from the inclusion of information about how preschoolers conceive of relationship dynamics within the family.

Assessing Young Children's Views of Their Academic, Social, and Emotional Lives: An Evaluation of the Self‐Perception Scales of the Berkeley Puppet Interview

In a prospective, longitudinal study we examined the psychometric properties of the self-perception scales of the Berkeley Puppet Interview (BPI). A total sample of 97 young children were assessed with the BPI at 3 time points: preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. The BPI assesses young children's self-perceptions of their school adjustment in 6 domains: academic competence, achievement motivation, social competence, peer acceptance, depression-anxiety, and aggression-hostility. Results showed that 4 1/2- to 7 1/2-year-olds possess a multidimensional self-concept that can be reliably measured and that the BPI is sensitive to normative changes and individual differences in young boys' and girls' views of themselves. Support for the method's validity was derived from consistent and meaningful patterns of convergence between children's self-perceptions and ratings by adult informants--mothers, fathers, and teachers--as well as standardized test scores. In fact, in this study, the concordance between young children's self-reports and parallel ratings by teachers or mothers were consistently as strong as if not stronger than the concordance between mothers' and teachers' ratings.

Assessing Young Children's Views of Their Academic, Social, and Emotional Lives: An Evaluation of the Self-Perception Scales of the Berkeley Puppet Interview

Assessing Young Children's Views of Their Academic, Social, and Emotional Lives: An Evaluation of the Self-Perception Scales of the Berkeley Puppet Interview

Attachment representations and representations of the self in relation to others: a study of preschool children in inner-city London.

The study examined the relationship between attachment representations and representations of the self in relation to others in a sample of 42 children aged between 4 and 5.9 years. The relationship between children's attachment representations and parents' style of regulating negative affect was also explored. The families were using local authority day-care facilities in a deprived inner-city area of London. The quality of attachment representations was assessed using a modified version of the Separation Anxiety Test. Assessments of the representation of the self in relation to others consisted of (a) assessment of the child's view of self within the relationship with the attachment figure, using an incomplete doll story procedure; and (b) assessment of the child's perceptions of the way others view them using a puppet interview. Significant connections between attachment representations, representations of self in relation to others, and parents' negative affect regulation were found. Children with secure attachment representations had a significantly more positive view of the self in the relationship with the attachment figure than children with disorganized attachment representations, and a significantly more positive perception of the way others view them than children with avoidant attachment representations. Children with secure attachment representations had parents with more adaptive ways of regulating their own negative affect than children with ambivalent or disorganized attachment representations.

The Internal Working Model of the Self, Attachment, and Competence in Five-Year-Olds

The present studies examine some of the correlates of the self in the lives of young children. In Study 1, the connection is tested between young children's internal working model of self and their competence, social acceptance, behavioral adjustment, and behavioral manifestations of self-esteem. Ninety-five kindergartners aged between 51 and 76 months (Mage = 5 years, 3 months) participated in the study. An adapted version of the Puppet Interview was used to assess the representation of self. Affective quality (positiveness) of self and openness to admit imperfections were rated independently. Results show significant and positive relations of the positiveness of self with competence and social acceptance, with behavioral adjustment to school, and with behavioral manifestations of self-esteem, all rated by the teacher. In Study 2, Bowlby's assumption was tested that the working model of self is closely intertwined with the working model of attachment to mother. Subjects were 50 children aged between 55 months and 75 months (Mage = 5 years, 5 months). The working model of child-mother attachment was assessed through an Attachment Story Completion Task. The working model of self was measured via the Puppet Interview. Results show a positive and strong connection between the security of the child-mother attachment representation and the positiveness of self. The results of the two studies contribute to the validation of the adapted Puppet Interview. The Puppet Interview seems to be a promising instrument for assessing the representation of self in young children.

Media reviews

Abstract Both reviewers for this issue have wide experience in the practice and teaching of family therapy. Leslie Kadis is especially interested in working with children in families, and this focus brings special relevance to his comments on the tape, “You can Learn a Lot from a Lobster,” demonstrating vividly the actual use of a Family Puppet Interview. Bob Simon is Director of Clinical Training at the Ackerman Institute for Family Therapy, and has had a special interest in helping families with issues of illness. His review of “An Intruder in the House” raises challenging issues both for those interested in creating instructional videotapes, and for those attempting to convey clinical approaches through this medium. -I. A. You Can Learn a Lot From a Lobster: A Family Puppet Interview. Produced by Susan Stewart, MSW. Directed by James Lenkener. Written and narrated by Elaine S. Porter, Ph.D. Available from Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, 3811 O'Hara Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, in 3/4″ U-Matic or VHS format. Sale price $150.00; three-day rental $30 plus $10 shipping charge. An Intruder in the House: Families Cope with Cancer. Produced by Susan Stewart, MSW. NarratorlInterviewer: Mary Gibbons, ACSW. Available from Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, 3811 O'Hara Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, in 3/4″ U-Matic or VHS format. Sale price $150.00; three-day rental $30 plus $10 shipping charge.

You can learn a lot from a lobster: The family puppet interview

You can learn a lot from a lobster: The family puppet interview

Family Puppet Interview

At the Pittsburgh Child Guidance Center and the Family Therapy Clinic of Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, a number of expressive modalities have been utilized in work with individuals, groups and families. One technique that has been clinically rewarding in diagnosis as well as in therapy has been the Family Puppet Interview, a symbolic and interactive procedure that involves the whole family simultaneously. The value of this activity lies not only in the wealth of interactive data but in the symbolic family fantasy material that the interview generates. This paper will describe the procedure and present several case examples to illustrate its application.