Mothers’ and Fathers’ Challenging Behavior Measured Using a New Coding System Differentially Predicts Social-Emotional Development

• In Event: Fathers’ and Mothers’ Play: Foundations for Children’s Social-Emotional Development Across Developmental Periods

Abstract

An emerging body of research demonstrates the importance of father-child challenging play to
children’s social-emotional development (Bureau et al., 2019; Majdandžić et al., 2018; StGeorge & Freeman, 2017). Play activities that either encourage children to build behavioral competence or challenge children’s self-regulatory abilities provide parents with valuable opportunities to support their children’s ability to stay calm and persevere in the face of these challenges. Several coding systems for assessing the quality of parents’ play interactions have been used over a number of years (e.g., Bureau et al., 2014; Majdandžić et al., 2015). However, these systems do not separate parents’ support for children’s behavioral competence and also their regulatory abilities. This study used the newly-developed Risky Interaction Support and Challenge Scale (RISCS) to measure separately the extent to which parents challenge their children’s behavioral competence, challenge their self-regulatory competence, engage in overprotective behaviors, and allow children to pursue action goals autonomously. Importantly, the RISCS measures the frequency and intensity of all relevant behaviors rather than reserving those scores only for behaviors that are regarded as sensitive according to coding systems developed to predict the security of attachment representations. Parents’ RISCS scores were used to predict children’s social-emotional development. Initial testing of the RISCS was accomplished using data from a subsample of parents of toddlers (n = 112 parents; 57 fathers; 55 mothers; 50 matched pairs) who participated in a laboratory assessment when the child was approximately 2 years old. In these 5-minute video recorded assessments, the parent and child were introduced to a play structure that included a slide, small climbing wall, and a tunnel, and the parent was asked to encourage their child to explore the structure. These episodes were coded by trained raters using the RISCS. Analyses indicated that coders were able to apply the RISCS reliably to both fathers and mothers, and that all but one of the dimensions (i.e., expressive overprotection) captured adequate variability in parent behavior (Table 1). Notably, there were no statistically significant differences in fathers’ and mothers’ RISCS behaviors (Table 1). Evidence for validity was established by examining associations between RISCS scores and mothers’ reports of children’s social-emotional development on the Infant-Toddler
Social and Emotional Assessment (ITSEA) scale. Fathers who engaged in greater autonomy allowance and lower overprotection had toddlers with lower levels of internalizing behavior, whereas mothers who challenged children’s regulatory competence had toddlers with lower levels of externalizing behavior and greater competence (Table 2). These findings support the idea that even though fathers and mothers may both engage in challenging and autonomy granting behaviors, the same parenting behaviors by fathers and mothers may have different consequences for children’s social-emotional development.

Authors

• Eric L. Olofson, Wabash College
  Presenting Author

• Sarah Jane Schoppe-Sullivan, Ohio State University
  Non-Presenting Author