Sequential analyses in coercive mother-child interaction: the predictability hypothesis in abusive versus nonabusive dyads.

OBJECTIVE: A two-fold purpose guided the present study: 1) To test the sequential relationship between the child's aversive behavior and both the predictability and the compliance episodes, as well as the sequential relationship between these two mothering episodes proposed by the new predictability hypothesis (Wahler, Williams, & Cerezo, 1990); 2) to explore whether or not these patterns are specific to these dysfunctional dyads by using a nonabusive comparison group. METHOD: Fifty mother-child dyads, 25 abusive and 25 nonabusive, participated in this study. Lag sequential analyses were carried out on 302 hours of direct observation, 178 hours in the abusive group, and 124 in the nonabusive group. RESULTS: Results of the sequential analyses showed that the predictions derived from the compliance and predictability hypotheses were supported in both groups. The only difference between the groups lies in the new predictability hypothesis, so the two mothering reactions are not sequentially related in the nonabusive group. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed interesting findings which suggest that these patterns are also found in nonabusive mother-child interactions, but there is a qualitative difference between the groups.

Mother-child interactive patterns in abusive families versus nonabusive families: an observational study.

The interest in aspects relative to the maintenance of aversive family interactions is common among investigators who, from many different fronts, treat child and family issues. If these interactions end in episodes of physical abuse of a child by his/her parents, the need to quickly detect these patterns of family violence in order to prevent and treat them is all the more urgent. The present work falls within this context and focuses on a detailed analysis of behavior in the home of both the abusive mother and the victimized child. In line with recent investigations, the work also centers on the analysis of the actual mother-child interaction by carrying out a focused analysis of the behavior of the dyad given that these behaviors greatly affect each other. The study was conducted with a group of 23 mother-child dyads that presented episodes of physical abuse towards the child, and a control group of 24 dyads that did not present any interactional problems. The dyads were observed at home by a group of trained observers using the SOC III system of direct observation (Standardized Observation Codes IIIrd revision, Cerezo, 1991; Cerezo, Keesler, Dunn, & Wahler, 1986). Three stepwise discriminant function analyses were carried out for the variables relative to the maternal behavior, the child's behavior, and the measurement of the mother-child sequence of interaction. The results indicate that behaviors with a negative valence better classify the subjects into the groups to which they belong, obtaining a better classification when the variables relative to the interaction are used in the analysis. It can be concluded that it is necessary to include this measurement in future analysis due to its great classificatory and predictive value.