Mothers' conflict resolution strategies: Cognitive and contextual aspects.
Item
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Title
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Mothers' conflict resolution strategies: Cognitive and contextual aspects.
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Identifier
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AAI9130370
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identifier
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9130370
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Creator
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Scott, Bonnie Lee.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Mary Parlee
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Date
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1991
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Developmental | Psychology, Social | Psychology, General
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Abstract
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This study was an investigation of 17 mothers' communication strategies for resolving conflicts with their pre-school-aged children and their reasons for choosing those strategies. Mothers were presented 8 hypothetical vignettes during a home interview and their strategies were coded, using Irving Sigel et al.'s coding scheme for communication strategies. A significant relationship was found between certain strategies and situation type, children's age and children's gender. In addition, mothers' reports of distancing strategies was significantly related to their belief that children learn through explanation and instruction. This analysis led to a clarification of certain problems in the literature on child-rearing and belief systems; in particular, the relative neglect of children's active participation in constructing interactions and the ambiguity of coding schemes regarding beliefs about learning. The various methods used in this study and the kinds of data that were obtainable from each method (quantitative and qualitative) were also examined. This included an evaluation of a new method which involved mothers viewing a videotape of themselves and their child engaged in a minor conflict, followed by a series of questions about the particular episode viewed on tape. This method provided an opportunity to see how mothers and children resolve conflicts in real-life, and how their strategies on tape compared with those mentioned in response to a similar hypothetical vignette. It was also an attempt to gain a clearer understanding of these mothers' folk psychology, the context they brought to bear on their actions, and how they felt about the interaction on videotape. The interview is discussed as a situated activity, exploring how interview questions shape subsequent discourse as well as how assumptions about context are embedded in both the construction of the interview and the resulting empirical data.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
