title: Perceptions and evaluations of child transgressions and disciplinary techniques in high- and low-risk mothers and their children.
abstract: Perceptions and evaluations of children's transgressions (moral, conventional, personal), parental disciplinary actions (power assertion, love withdrawal, induction), and expected outcomes (compliance) were assessed in matched high- and low-risk (for physical abuse) mothers and their children. High-risk mothers and their children evaluated conventional and personal transgressions as more wrong than low-risk mothers and their children. Although both high- and low-risk mothers and their children varied disciplinary responses according to the type of transgression, high-risk mothers used power assertion (verbal and physical force) more often and induction (reasoning and explanation) less often. High-risk mothers also perceived the use of power assertion by others as more appropriate. With respect to outcomes, high-risk mothers, compared to low-risk mothers, expected less compliance following moral transgressions and more compliance after personal transgressions. Children of both high- and low-risk mothers made compliance predictions following moral and personal transgressions that were similar to the low-risk mothers' predictions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb 60115-2892.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chilamkurti
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Milner
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000175:diagnosis; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers; D016487:Parenting