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Poster #159 - The Love of a Parent: Children's Perceptions and Representations of Parental Roles in Storytelling

Fri, March 22, 2:30 to 3:45pm, Baltimore Convention Center, Floor: Level 1, Exhibit Hall B

Integrative Statement

The foundational relationship between a parent and child has been shown to influence all areas of human development, from school readiness and social skills to generational cycles of abuse (Gurwitch et. al, 2016; Lewallen & Neece, 2015; Paschall, Barnett, Mastergeorge, & Mortensen, 2017; Sharkins, Leger, & Ernest, 2017;Franz & McKinney, 2018). Due to the breadth of issues stemming from this primary relationship in childhood, the purpose of the current exploratory study is to evaluate the ways in which children represent mothers and fathers in stories where a child is injured or experiencing conflict with a parent. Ninety-one child participant assessments were examined at the pre-kindergarten and pre-first grade marks. Data collected as a portion of the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project was examined through the use of four stories drawn from the MacArthur Story Stem Battery. In stories begun by a trained administrator, children are prompted with a situation in which the child of a story was disobedient, disagreed with their parental figure, or otherwise experienced a moment of conflict. In the responses recorded, the number of portrayals of protection, caretaking, affection, helpfulness, harshness, and ineffectual responses of mothers and fathers were analyzed.
A comparison of child representations of mothers and fathers at age 5 indicated that mothers were represented more often than fathers as protectors (M= 0.18, SD= 0.43 and M= 0.09, SD= 0.28; t(91)= -2.18, p= 0.03) and also had higher rates of disciplinary behaviors (M= 1.05, SD= 0.83 and M= 0.67, SD= 0.80; t(91)= -3.72, p= 0.00). At age 7, mothers continued to be represented as more protective (M= 0.39, SD= 0.61 and M= 0.16, SD= 0.37; t(88)= -3.58, p= 0.00), but were also seen as providing more care (M= 1.19, SD= 0.78 and M= 0.09, SD= 0.29; t(88)= -5.76, p= 0.00) and affection (M= 0.27, SD= 0.60 and M= 0.15, SD= 0.46; t(88)= -2.16, p= 0.03). No significant differences were found in the portrayals of fathers and mothers in terms of the level of helpfulness or harshness in times of family conflict. Additionally, no differences were found in relation to the gender of the parent-child dyad in assessments of rejection or effectiveness of responses given, suggesting that both mothers and fathers are viewed as accepting and effective in their responses to conflict. This study supports previous findings related to representations of parents by children (Bascoe, Davies, Sturge-Apple, & Cummings, 2009; Robinson, 2007; Page & Bretherton, 2001; Yoo, Adamsons, Robinson, & Sabatelli, 2015) and suggests that therapeutic techniques and interpersonal skills addressing parent-child dyads or family relationships as a whole must take into consideration the role of the child’s perception of parental responses in the categories listed above; in this way, responses to and understanding of underlying issues of familial conflict may be more effectively addressed in therapeutic, academic, social, and familial settings.

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