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Middle Childhood Feelings Toward Mothers: Predictions From Maternal Directiveness at the Age of Two and Respect for Autonomy Currently
Author(s) -
Ispa Jean M.,
Carlo Gustavo,
Palermo Francisco,
SuRussell Chang,
Harmeyer Erin,
Streit Cara
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
social development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.078
H-Index - 91
eISSN - 1467-9507
pISSN - 0961-205X
DOI - 10.1111/sode.12108
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , autonomy , feeling , negativity effect , social psychology , political science , law
The goals of this study were to examine (1) stability of maternal directiveness during interactions with their children from toddlerhood to late middle childhood, (2) direct and mediated relations between mothers' directiveness when children were two years old, mothers' respect for autonomy and children's positivity and negativity toward their mothers when children were in late middle childhood, and (3) differences in these paths by ethnoracial group. Participants included 876 E uropean‐ A merican, 789 A frican‐ A merican, and 411 M exican‐ A merican mothers and their children from the E arly H ead S tart R esearch and E valuation P roject. Maternal respect for autonomy at T ime 2 partially mediated an association between T ime 1 directiveness and observed child positivity toward mothers at T ime 2. There was also a direct inverse link between T ime 1 maternal directiveness and children's observed positivity toward mothers at T ime 2. Relations were similar across ethnoracial groups and for boys and girls. The discussion focuses on heterotypic stability in directive parenting and its implications for children's feelings toward their mothers.