Poster #125 - Maternal Autonomy-related Behavior and Its Effects on Child Committed Compliance, Self-assertion, and Internalization.

• In Event: 3-159 - Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Section - Moral Development

Integrative Statement

According to Self-Determination Theory, the psychological need for autonomy is an important motivator of the internalization of social norms and cultural orientations (Chirkov, Ryan, Kim, & Kaplan, 2003; Forman, 2007). Although past research has found that parental autonomy-supporting behavior positively impacted children’s autonomy to say “yes” (committed compliance) or autonomy to say “no” (self-assertion) to maternal agendas at 2-3 years of age in Western cultures (Dix, Stewart, Gershoff, & Day, 2007; Laurin & Jousemet, 2017), some important gaps remain.
First, no studies have distinguished autonomy-suppressing behavior as a dimension of parenting as distinct from autonomy-supporting behavior and examined whether such practices are also associated with young children’s committed compliance and self-assertion. Second, few studies have focused on the influences of maternal autonomy-supporting or autonomy-suppressing behavior on children’s committed compliance and self-assertion at ages of 1-2 years in other cultures. Third, no studies have examined whether autonomy-supporting or autonomy-suppressing behavior directly predicts the internalization of rules in preschoolers (Laurin & Jousemet, 2017). Finally, although the link between compliance in toddlerhood and internalization of rules at preschool ages has been well established (Kochanska, Murray, & Coy, 1997), it is unknown whether maternal autonomy-related behaviors can also strengthen or weaken the relations between (non)compliance and internalization (e.g., Liu, Chen, Zheng, Chen, & Wang, 2009).
Drawing from a 3-wave observational study of Chinese children and their families, the current study addresses these gaps by investigating the following research questions: (a) Is maternal autonomy-supporting or autonomy-suppressing behavior related to toddlers’ committed compliance and self-assertion at the ages of 1 to 2? (b) Does autonomy-supporting or autonomy-suppressing behavior in toddlerhood predict preschoolers’ internalization of rules? (c) Can autonomy-supporting or autonomy-suppressing behavior moderate the relationship between committed compliance/self-assertion and internalization of rules?
Participants were 95 children and their families recruited from Beijing, China. At 14 and 25 months old (T1 & T2), two 5-min free-plays between mother and child were videotaped and coded for maternal autonomy-supporting and autonomy-suppressing behaviors (Liu, et al., 2009). A toys cleanup task was used to code for children’s committed compliance and self-assertion (Kochanska & Aksan, 1995). At 60 months old (T3), a 5-min internalized cleanup task (maternal rules) and a 3-min cheating game task (experimenter’s rules) were used to measure children’s internalization of rules (Kochanska, et al., 1997).
Results showed that T1 maternal autonomy-suppressing behavior, rather than autonomy-supporting behavior, negatively predicted T2 self-assertion after controlling for gender, T1 cognitive abilities, and T1 self-assertion. Additionally, autonomy-supporting behavior in toddlerhood (T1&T2 combined) strengthened the positive association between committed compliance in toddlerhood and T3 internalization of maternal rules as well as the negative association between self-assertion in toddlerhood and T3 internalization of maternal rules.
This study addressed the question of how autonomy-supporting or autonomy-suppressing behavior relates to children’s autonomy-motivated behaviors (committed compliance, self-assertion, and internalization of rules) from infancy to preschool. The results indicated that maternal autonomy-suppressing behavior makes a unique contribution to self-assertion development in toddlerhood. Moreover, maternal autonomy-supporting behavior might promote the transition from committed compliance to internalization of rules.

Authors

• Shuyang Dong, Utrecht University
  Presenting Author

• Judith Semon Dubas, Utrecht University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Maja Dekovic, Utrecht University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Zhengyan Wang, Capital Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Marcel van Aken, Utrecht University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Meng Wu, Capital Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author