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Poster #148 - Korean-American Mothers’ Observed Behaviors across Task Settings and their Children’s Socioemotional and Behavioral Adjustment

Thu, March 21, 12:30 to 1:45pm, Baltimore Convention Center, Floor: Level 1, Exhibit Hall B

Integrative Statement

Mothers vary their behaviors with their children across different settings (Ginsburg et al., 2006). For instance, mothers provide more guidance/control during structured settings to meet the situational demands, compared to unstructured settings with fewer demands (Kwon et al., 2013). In turn, maternal positive guidance/control leads to fewer child adjustment problems and more prosocial behavior (Matte-Gagné et al., 2015; Pastorelli et al., 2016), whereas overly-controlling and intrusive behaviors are associated with poorer child social adjustment (Rubin et al., 2001). However, maternal behaviors across the different settings and their associations with children’s adjustment have not been explored in Korean-American families, particularly using observational methodology. Thus, we examined the associations between Korean-American mothers’ observed use of positively and negatively controlling behaviors across a free-play and teaching task, and their children’s socioemotional/behavioral outcomes.

First-generation Korean-American mothers (N=102; Mage=35.70, SD=3.66) with preschoolers (Mage=4.45, SD=1.00; Girls=57.8%) in Maryland were videotaped during a 15-minute unstructured free-play task, and structured task where mothers had to teach their children to fold origami models. Mothers’ use of positive control (PC) and negative control (NC) were coded by cultural- and language-insiders (κ=.81-.85; Rubin & Cheah, 2009). Proportion scores were created for each parenting category (see definitions in Table 1). Teachers rated children’s strength (i.e., prosocial behaviors) and socioemotional/behavioral difficulties (Goodman, 1997).

ANCOVA results (covariates: child age and gender) revealed that Korean-American mothers displayed more PC during the teaching than free-play task, F(1, 200)=524.66, p<.001 (Table 1). Hierarchical multiple regression revealed a negative main effect of maternal PC on child socioemotional/behavioral difficulties during both free-play, β=-.42, p<.05, and teaching tasks, β=-.23, p<.05. Moreover, there was a positive main effect of maternal PC during the free-play task on child prosocial behavior, β=.37, p<.05. However, a significant interaction was found between maternal PC and NC during the free-play setting on child prosocial behavior, β=-.46, p<.05. Simple slope analyses revealed that maternal PC was positively associated with child prosocial behavior only at lower levels of maternal NC, b=10.49, p<.05 (Figure 1).

Mothers used more PC during the teaching than the free-play setting to help the child accomplish the goal of completing the origami-folding task. Moreover, mothers’ positive guidance and scaffolding during both unstructured and structured tasks may foster children’s development of self-regulation and lead to fewer socioemotional problems at school (Matte-Gagné et al., 2015). However, maternal NC moderated the association between maternal PC and child prosocial behaviors in the free-play setting only. Mothers’ positive guidance in the absence of intrusive control during child-led play may be particularly important for children’s prosocial behaviors, as this positive structure may model behaviors that children can engage in when interacting with other children at school. However, mothers’ use of excessive and intrusive control may negate this positive effect of maternal supportive and structuring control on children’s prosocial behaviors by precluding children from opportunities to engage in autonomous child-directed play, thus making them less likely to engage in prosocial behaviors. Implications for culturally-sensitive parenting interventions to promote Korean-American children’s positive adjustment will be discussed.

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