£3"; OVERDUE FINES mu: 25¢ PER DAY iv?“ 21-23 mm ,_ Return to book drop to remove this checkuu: irom your record. 3.3;32333 w“ M.”J I CHILDREN'S AND PARENTS' INTERPERSONAL PERCEPTUAL STYLE AND CHILDREN'S ADJUSTMENT By Richard Ince A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Psychology 1979 ABSTRACT CHILDREN'S AND PARENTS' INTERPERSONAL PERCEPTUAL STYLE AND CHILDREN'S ADJUSTMENT By Richard Ince Research has suggested that stable person perception "frameworks" or styles (hereafter called interpersonal perceptual style-—or IPS--and defined as differential tendencies to perceive and/or characterize behavior as positive or negative) exist in both adults and children. However, studies have related IPS differences among adults only to behavior. Based on existing research and theory, it was predicted that children with balanced IPS, i.e., virtually no tendency to perceive and/or characterize behavior as positive and negative, will exhibit greater psycho- social competence (Hypothesis 1). Although previous investigators have speculated that parent and child IPSs are similar, this hypothesis has not been examined empirically. Thus, such specula- tions were also explored (Hypothesis 2). This hypothesis states that when both_parents exhibit balanced IPS, their child will evidence a similar IPS, and when both parents evidence the game biased IPS, their child will evidence biased IPS. In addition, this study assessed parent-child IPS relationships suggested by other theories, and it assessed the relationship of children's IPS to (a) projective responses to aspects of another's positive Richard Ince and negative behavior (i.e., reactive style) and (b) perceptual or observational accuracy. Finally, relationships between children's IPS measures, reactive style measures, perceptual accuracy, sex, IQ, and socioeconomic status were examined. Ranging in age from six to ten years old, 56 male and female children were selected primarily on the basis of teacher ratings of psychosocial competence. These children were tested on (a) two previously used but modified IPS measures-~the Children's Behavior Checklist (CBC) and the Perceptions of the Adult Playmate Inven- tory (PAPI); (b) the Person Picture Story Test (PPST), which was developed for this study; and, (c) the Sensitivity to Children Questionnaire, modified for children (STC-MC). The modified CBC and PAPI items describe a positive or negative behavior or character- istic on which subjects rate a video-taped child and adult (actors) who are interacting together in a playroom. Using ambiguous, neutral pictures of interpersonal situations, the PPST has subjects report how they perceive other people responding to a child similar to themselves in age and sex. The STC-MC has the subject respond to a hypothetical child exhibiting a negative behavior motivated in part by a positive intention. Scoring of these measures enabled classification of subjects as predominantly positive, negative, or balanced perceivers or, in the case of the STC-MC, responders. In addition, children's levels of percep- tual, or observational, accuracy of the video-taped child and adult were measured. Mbdified versions of the CBC and PAPI were admin- istered to both parents of 52 child subjects and the mother of an additional child. Richard Ince Simple and multivariate analyses of variance and correlation analyses were used to examine the hypotheses. Where apprOpriate, child age, IQ, and socioeconomic status were covaried or partialed out of the analyses. Results indicate that balanced IPS in children did not relate to psychosocial competence (Hypothesis 1); however, children evidencing more positive perceptions of the adult (but not child) stimulus tended (p_< .10) to be rated higher in psychosocial competence. Hypothesis 2 also was not supported. However, the relatively more salient relationships among the many found between parent and child IPSs indicate that (a) in perceptions of the child stimulus and with the exception of fathers and sons, balanced parent IPS related to positive offspring IPS and (b) with the exception of the relationship between fathers and daughters regarding the adult stimulus, parent and daughter signed IPSs were positively related. Statistically significant but relatively weak (rs range from .23 to .30; ps < .05) correlations between the three child IPS mea— sures suggest weak stability of IPS across different person percep- tion stimuli. The presence of only one significant relationship in six correlations between perceptual and reactive style measures pro- vides little support for the speculation that positive and negative IPS simply translates into positive and negative responsiveness to others' behavior. Significant relationships were also found between (a) perceptual accuracy and balanced IPS regarding the child stimulus, (b) children's perceptual accuracy and psychosocial competence, and (c) female child sex and both positive perceptions of the child stim- ulus and positive responses to the child in the role play situations (i.e., reactive style). Finally, mixed support complicated by Richard Ince numerous sex differences was found for relationships between child age, IQ, and socioeconomic status on the one hand and perceptual accuracy and perceptual and reactive style on the other. To my wife, Martha, for her enthusiastic support, patience, and confidence in me throughout my latter graduate years. ii ACKI‘J O WLEE GEM HINTS I have been fortunate to have had four committee members, Gary Stollak, Larry Messé: Lucy Ferguson, and Henry Clay Smith, who have been kind to me in their helpful and supportive participation in this project. Such support is especially appreciated in a task such as this where the successful culmination of years of graduate work depends on its successful completion. To each of you go my thanks. Additional thanks go to Gary and Larry because of your generosity in sharing your grant resources as well as your wisdom so as to make this dissertation possible. This dissertation could not have been completed without the skillful help of numerous undergraduate and graduate students. These persons included Roger Buldain, Gerald Michaels, Lelah Smith, Bev Moss, Harold Love, Fritz Simons, Pete Wahl, Jane Bessonen, Pete Ruggirello, Michele Weissman, Carol Marinello, and Dan Riewald. Thanks to each of you. Roger Buldain deserves my special gratitude. Computer analysis of this research's data was completed only as a result of his patient and generous help. I would also like to thank Mrs. Jann LeCroy and Mrs. Paula Schenck for their competent typing and technical assistance. Finally, the patience, pride, and confidence which both my wife and my parents have maintained throughout my latter graduate years have been important gifts which I want to acknowledge here. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LI S T OF TA BIJES O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 INTRODUCTION 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 Models of Person Perception . . . . . . . . Differences in Children's Person Perceptions and Their Relationship to Interpersonal Behavior and Adjustment IPS: Research and Theory . . . . . . . . . Implications of this Study for the Identification and Treatment of lfigh-Risk Children . . . . . . . . . Hypotheses MT HOD O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 Measurement of IPS, Reactive Style, and Perceptual Accuracy Children's Instruments . . Parents' Instruments . . . Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . Experimental Procedure . . . . Preparation and Coding of Data Subsidiary Research Issues to be Examine RESIIIITS O O C O O O O O O O O O O O O O O WPOthe s i S 1 O O O O O O O O O O O O O Hypothesis 2 Relationships of Paternally and Maternally d Balanced IPS to Child IPS and Adjustment Examination of Relationships Between Parent and Child IPS Suggested by Various Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Other Findings DISCUSSION 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O The Relationship of Children's and Parents' Perceptual Style to Children's Psychosocial Competence . iv 0 O O O O O 0 vii 30 31 33 82 85 95 95 Relationships Between Parents' and Children's IPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Does Pathogenic Parent IPS Relate to Pathogenic IPS in Future Generations? Other Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Methodological Shortcomings of this Study . Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Implications for Future Research . . . . . APPENDICES Appendix A: Further Arguments Concerning the Relationship Between Different Types of Parent and Child IPS and Behavior . . . . . Appendix B: The Children's Behavior Checklist, Modified for Children (CBC-MC) . . Appendix C: The Perception of Adult Playmate Inventory, Modified for Children (PAPI-MC) . . Appendix D: The Person Picture Story Te 8t (PPST) I I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 Appendix E: The Sensitivity to Children Questionnaire, Modified for Children (STC-MC) Appendix F: The Perceptual Accuracy Test . . . . Appendix G: The Children's Behavior Checklist (CBC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix H: The Perceptions of Adult Playmate Inventory, Modified (PAPI-M) . . . . . . . . . Appendix I: The Identification Index . . . . . . Appendix J: The Demographic Questionnaire . . . . Appendix K: The Pupil Behavior Rating Scale . . . Appendix L: Cowen's Teacher Rating Scales: The AML, TRF, and General Child Adjustment Rating Scale . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix.M: The Bessell-Palomares RatingForm(B-P)oeoooooooooooo Appendix N: Bower's Class Play Peer Rating Form.. V 99 103 105 113 116 117 121 127 131 138 155 158 161 166 173 17h 176 179 18h 195 Appendix 0: Children's Instructions for Viewing the Standard Perceptual Stimulus (SP8) 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0 Appendix P: The Person Picture Story Test (PPST) Scoring System . . . . . . . . . . Appendix Q: The Sensitivity to Children, Modified for Children (STC-MC) Questionnaire Scoring System . . . . . . . . . . Appendix R: Stollak's Scoring Guide to Responses to Children . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix S: Summary of Main and Interaction Effects and Univariate Results in Multi- variate Analyses of Covariance (With Children's Age, Socioeconomic Status, and IQ Covaried Out) which were Designed to Test for Sex, Adjustment, and Sex x.Adjustment Group Differences on the IPS and Reactive Style Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendix T: Analysis of Variance of Children's Adjustment and Signed and Absolute IPS Scores When Children are Grouped According to Whether Both Parents are Perceptually Balanced, Similarly Biased, or Oppositely Biased on Their Respective CBC-M or PAPIQM IPS Scores . . . . . . . . . . Appendix U: Correlations and Partial Corre- lations of the Three Perceptual Accuracy Scores with Children's Signed and Absolute IPS and Reactive Style Scores, Sex, and Adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . LIST OF REFERENCES Reference Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . List of References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi 198 200 221 227 237 2h2 245 246 2A7 2. LIST OF TABLES The Number of Perceptual Accuracy Test Items Which (a) Occur in the SPS (True Items), (b) Do Not Occur in the SPS (False Items), (c) Concern Positive (+), Neutral (N), and Negative (-) Behaviors of the Child and of the Adult, and (d) Involve Dialogue and Non-Dialogue Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Means and Standard Deviations for the Three Perceptual Accuracy Test Scores . . . . Summary of Main and Interaction Effects and, Where Indicated by Higher Order Effects (p_ .10), Univariate Results for Multivariate Analyses Approaching Significance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adjusted Mean Scores for Child Sex and Adjustment Groups on IPS and Reactive Style Measures Where Univariate Results ‘which are Subsumed Under a Significant or Marginally Significant Multivariate Effect Approach Significance (p .10) . The Relationship of Parents' Signed and Absolute CBC-M Scores to Child Psychosocial Competence . . . . . . . . The Relationship of Fathers' and Mothers' Signed and Absolute IPS's to the Corresponding IPS Scores of Their Children and Their Children's Scores Divided by Child Sex and by Parent Identification . . . . . . . . . . . . . Summary of HOtelling thests for Differences Between Correlations of Fathers' and of Mothers' Signed IPS Scores with Their Children's Corresponding IPS Scores When the Children are Grouped in Various Ways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii 41 6O 64 66 71 73 83 10. 11. 12. Intercorrelations of Children's Signed Perceptual and Reactive Style Scores . . The Relationship of Children's Age, Socioeconomic Status, and IQ to Their Perceptual Style, Reactive Style, and Perceptual Accuracy Scores . . . . Summary of Main and Interaction Effects and Univariate Results in Multivariate Analyses of Covariance (with Children's Age, Socioeconomic Status, and IQ Covaried Out) Which Were Designed to Test for Sex, Adjustment, and Sex x Adjustment Group Differences on the IPS and Reactive Style Measures . . . . Analysis of Variance of Children's Adjustment and Signed and Absolute IPS Scores When Children are Grouped According to Whether Both Parents are Perceptually Balanced, Similarly Biased, or Oppositely Biased in Their Respective CBC-M or PAPI-M IPS Scores . Correlations and Partial Correlations of the Three Perceptual Accuracy Scores 'with Children's Signed and Absolute IPS and Reactive Style Scores, Sex, and Adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii 86 90 237 242 245 INTRODUCTION It is a truism that individuals do not perceive the world as it is; rather, "the perceiver has a large role in organizing his percep- tual world," selecting and synthesizing stimuli often in idiosyn- cratic ways (Hastorf, 1970). Beginning in the nineteenth century, wundt (1911) presented research suggesting that perception represents a process of inter- pretation of sensory data based on one's previous experiences. Mere recently, Bruner and his colleagues (Bruner, 1951, 1957; Bruner & Jones, 1954; Bruner & Minturn, 1955; Bruner & Postman, 1949; Bruner, Postman, & Rodrigues, 1951; Postman, Bruner, & walk, 1951; Postman & Bruner, 1952) have provided abundant evidence suggesting that concep- tions and expectations learned from past experience act as prediSpo- sitions—-or hypotheses, as Bruner calls themeawhich operate to select, organize, "gate out," and transform perceptual stimuli. Similarly, the transactionalists (Ames, 1951; Ittelson, 1952; Ittelson & Kil- patrick, 1951; Kilpatrick, 1962) have provided evidence suggesting that unconscious assumptions derived from previous transactions with the environment determine one's unique perceptual world. Emphasizing the individual's role in creating his or her experience, the trans- actionalists Ittelson and Cantril (1954) have summarized the percep- tual literature as follows: In short, the overall trend of contemporary perceptual studies has been away from the earlier stimulus orienta- tion, based on the assumption that external stimuli determine perceptions, and toward the treatment of per- ceiving as essentially a creative process actively car- ried on by the organism. (p. 672) The idea of selective perception based on previous experience is pervasive in the person perception literature as well (Campbell, Mil- ler, Lubetsky, & O'Connell, 1964; Kenny, 1964; Larson, 1975; Newcomb, Turner, & Converse, 1965; Shelley & Toch, 1968; Smith, 1973; Toch & Shulte, 1961; Warr & Knapper, 1968). Like the perceptual researchers cited above, Cage and Cronbach (1955), from their review of the person perception literature, concluded that the processing of stimuli in person perception is "dominated far more by what the [perceiver] brings into [the situation] than by what he takes in during it" (p. 420). Mbreover, it is commonly assumed that one's perceptions or judgments of another affect one's behavior toward that person. Lewin (1936, 1951), for example, discussed behavior as a function of the "life space," which represents the cumulative perceptions of one's world. Murphy (1947) wrote of the "unity of perception and action," while Sherif and Sherif (1956) spoke of the "unity of experience and action." Livesley and Bromley (1973) argued that "the impression one has of another person [represents] a subjective map (schema, program, or plan) which guides one's behavior in relation to the stimulus per- son" (p. 185). More specifically, Asch (1952) stated that: If a person mistakenly perceives that he is surrounded by hostile persons, he should behave accordingly, perhaps behaving with an anxious or retaliatory hostility and thereby gaining a reputation of being hostile. (p. 4) Numerous psychological theorists have also argued that the nature of one's perceptions affects one's level of psychosocial functioning. For example, Ittelson and Kutash (1961) argued that perception is "a crucial process intimately involved in the effective functioning of the individual," and that a person manifesting psychOpathology behaves in unsatisfactory ways because his or her actions are based on misper- ceptions. Similarly, Kelly (1955), Ellis (1962), Rorschach (1942), and Sullivan (1953) through his concept of parataxic distortion; Freud (1933) through his concept of transference; and the ego psycho- logists such as Hartmann (1939) and Kris (1952), through their concept of adaptive ego functioning, all essentially argued that maladjustment or psychopathology involves perceptions which are not based on reality and which are inapprOpriate to the situation. Despite the prevalent acceptance of the notion of selective behav- ior perception and its importance in interpersonal behavior, behavior perception itself is a "remarkably neglected" topic in develOpmental psychology (Livesley & Bromley, 1973), and the effects of differences in general person perception on behavior have only been sparsely re- searched (Larson, 1975; Warr & Knapper, 1968). Although a few studies have demonstrated that perceptions affect behavior, they have only in- vestigated the effects resulting from manipulation of an attribute of the perceived person, such as when the perceived person has been depicted as being warm or cold (Feldman.&.Kleck, 1970) or handicapped or normal (Farina, Sherman, & Allen, 1965; Kleck, Ono, & Hartoff, 1966). Only recently has any work begun to investigate the effects of stable perceiver differences on interpersonal behavior (Messe, Stollak, Larson, & Michaela, 1979). Moreover, while numerous studies have documented that various diagnostic classes of mentally ill perceive their world differently than normals, most, if not all, of these studies were concerned with perceptions of aSpects of the non-human object world, while few, if any, involved person perception per se (warr & Knapper, 1968). The present study is designed primarily to (a) investigate the relationship between what Messé et a1. called "interpersonal percep- tual style" (IPS) in children and child psychosocial competence, and (b) understand the origins of IPS through the study of the relation- ship between parent and child IPS. IPS may be defined as an indivi- dual's general tendency to perceive and evaluate others' behavior positively or negatively (Messe et a1., 1979). To put this concept into perspective, it might be helpful to review some prominent models of the person perception process. Models of Person Perception Generally, researchers (Bieri, 1962; Livesley & Bromley, 1973; Shrauger & Altrocchi, 1964) described the person perception process as involving (a) selection of stimulus characteristics from the per- ceptual field, (b) "encoding" (Bieri, 1962) of these stimuli through one's cognitive system into a trait impression or personality con- struct, and (c) making further inferences to form an integrated pic- ture (impression) of another. Steps a and b above involve an infer- ential process; however, research has suggested that the inferences, especially in the second step, are made immediately, based on minimal information, and are virtually impossible to separate from the per- ceptual process (Bieri, 1962; Gage & Cronbach, 1955; Smith, 1973). In fact, many researchers (Bruner & Postman, 1949; Postman, Bruner, & Walk, 1951) argued that through expectancies and acts of categori- zation, perception is inevitably influenced by inferences. On another level, this inferential process is based on an implicit per- sonality theory consisting of "built-in" (Gage & Cronbach, 1955; warr & Knapper, 1968) or "illusionary" (Smith, 1973) correlations built up through past experiences which the perceiver consciously or unconsciously imposes on and perceives as the characteristics of the human stimulus. In a similar but more comprehensive model of person perception, Warr and Knapper (1968) described the process as involving three major subsystems: (a) the input selection system which involves the selection of only certain aspects of the stimulus person and situa- tion and is influenced by both present and stored stimulus person information, "present context information," and both "stable and state characteristics of the perceiver"; (b) the processing center which consists of the perceiver's particular conscious and unconscious inferences and, like the input selection system, is influenced by the perceiver's current state and stable characteristics; and, (c) an output system which consists of expectancy, attributive, and affec- tive responses and which, in the ongoing process of perceiving another, feeds back into and influences all components of the input selective system and aspects of the processing center, thus influencing the nature of the stimulus person information selected and the way it is processed. Warr and Knapper's model is impressive in its detail and comprehensiveness, representing probably the best synthesis of pre- viously advanced models. In this model, IPS would represent a "stable characteristic of the perceiver" and thus would influence both the input selector and the processing center in person perception. Contrary to the perspective exemplified by Warr and Knapper's model, some researchers have argued that differences in person per- ception are due to response biases and have little or nothing to do ‘with perception. For example, researchers have shown that individuals differ in their tendencies to react favorably or unfavorably (i.e., positively or negatively) toward others both before and after another is observed (Kaplan, 1970, 1971a, 1971b, 1972, 1973; Larson, 1975; Levy, 1961), and that this tendency remains constant across all others, from recent acquaintances to long-time intimates (Gage & Cronbach, 1955). Specifically, Kaplan (1973) has argued that these differing tendencies represent differences in general evaluative or affective response dispositions independent of the perceptual process which are a function of the "pooled evaluative components of all the beliefs which one holds about peOple in general" (p. 58). Hewever, it would seem that if these response disposition differences derive from pre- vious evaluation as Kaplan has said, these differences would be a product of the perceptual process and, thus, be in part a product of perceptual style. At any rate, the empirical validation of individual differences in response dispositions emphasizes that descriptions of others are, at least in part, products of response dispositions, and that it is probably most accurate to conceptualize IPS as representing an interaction of perceptual, inferential, and response processes. Based on existing evidence, it seems clear that IPS is at least in part a perceptual phenomenon. Through a number of studies eviden- cing the effect of expectancies on perception, Bruner and his co- workers have dramatically demonstrated that expectancies based on past experience operate to influence the perceptual process and do not represent a response bias (Bruner & Postman, 1949; Bruner, Post- man, & Walk, 1951). For example, in one such experiment performed by Bruner and Postman (1949) and later replicated by Lasko and Lindauer (1968), subjects were tachistoscOpically presented with playing cards, some of which were incongruent in that the black color of the spades or clubs was changed to red or the red color of the hearts or diamonds to black. Not only did it take subjects on the average 13 times long- er exposure to correctly identify the incongruent card, but may sub- jects reported what Bruner called a "compromise reaction." That is, they often reported a red six of hearts as a "purple" six of hearts or a "purple" six of spades, a black four of hearts as a "grayish" four of spades or hearts, or a red six of clubs as a six of clubs "illuminated by a red light." These responses are inconsistent with a response bias interpretation and seem to represent a genuine percep- tual effect. Secondly, an important assumption in projective tech- niques and the concepts of transference (Freud, 1933) and parataxic distortions (Sullivan, 1953) is that past experiences influence our perception of, and not just our inferences concerning, others. More- over, most peOple who have compared their perceptions of TAT cards with those of others can attest to the fact that their pgrceptual experience may be entirely contrary to that reported by others. Using Neisser's (1967) recommendation that resolution of the response bias versus perceptual set debate must rest on subjects' phenomenological reports, self-reports of both Bruner's subjects and those reporting different perceptions of the same projective stimulus suggested that differences in perceptions of the same pro— jective stimulus represents, in part, a perceptual process. Finally, consistent with the theory that expectancies act to select the perceptual stimuli processed, Spinelli and Pribram (1967) have provided evidence of a physiological mechanism which selectively tunes our awareness. They found that stimulation of different areas of the cortex alters the configuration of the receptive field and that the brain can rapidly alter the way stimuli are received on the retina. This study supported other research which has shown that efferent (output) traits can suppress or alter information sent toward the brain, and the central nervous system can select and turn on or off incoming sensory information in virtually all sensory modalities (Butter, 1969; Isaacson, Hult, Blair, & Melton, 1965; Thompson, 1967). Thus, this evidence suggests that conceptualization, or‘what is more commonly called perceptual sets, might Operate with the central nervous system to alter the actual aspects of behavior selected and experienced or perceived. Some Ungnswered Questions Relevant to This Study At this point, a number of questions pertinent to this study remain unanswered. First, because the models summarized above were based primarily on research with adults, their applicability to chil- dren.may be limited. For example, it would seem that due to develop- mental differences, children would process person perception informa- tion differently than adults, relying more on the actual behavioral stimuli and less on inferences in forming their person perceptions (Piaget, 1950, 1952; werner, 1948). Second, although suggestive of stable adult perceiver differences in person perception, the litera- ture discussed above leaves unclear the relationship between these stable IPS's and interpersonal functioning in either adults or chil- dren. Differences in Children's Person Perceptions agd Their Relationship to Interpgrsonal Behavior and Adjustment Although until recently there seems to have been virtually no research correlating stable and general perceiver differences in person perception with interpersonal functioning, some researchers have suggested the importance of children's perceptions of parent behavior particularly by arguing that children's perceptions of par- ents' behavior may be more influential in children's behavior and adjustment than the parental behavior itself (Ausubel, Balthazer, Rosenthal, Blackman, Schpoont, & welkowitz, 1954; Dubin & Dubin, 1965; Goldin, 1969; Hawkes, 1957; Heilbrun, 1973; Rabkin, 1965; Serot & Teevan, 1961; Van Der Veen & Novak, 1971, 1974). In this view, it is 10 important to measure a child's perceptions as a mediating variable between overt parental behavior and the effects of this behavior on a child's social actions and psychosocial adjustment. For example, in discussing previous research concerning the effects of parent- child interaction on child adjustment, most of which assumed parent behavior itself to be the crucial variable affecting child behavior, Serot and Teevan (1961) have written: An important developmental step has been underemphasized in theory and is almost absent from research. Previous experiments have not discovered definite one-to-one rela- tionships [between parent behavior and child adjustment], for they have failed to take into account that the child reacts to his perception of the situation and not directly to the situation. (p. 377) Similarly, Ausubel et a1. (1964) argued: Although parental behavior is an objective event in the real world, it affects the child's ego development only to the extent and in the form in which he perceives it. , Hence, perceived parent behavior is in reality a more direct, relevant, and proximate determinant of person- ality develOpment than the actual stimulus content to ‘which it refers. . . . In attempting to identify causal factors influencing personality development, it is less relevant to establish the nature of the actual environ- ment tO'which the individual is exposed than to ascer- tain the distinguishing features of his perceived world. (p. 173) And finally, in a critique of the research concerning families with a "disturbed" member, Rabkin (1965) concluded that "there is reason to believe that the influence of parental attitudes and behav- ior depends more on the child's perception of them than on what they 'really are'" (p. 123). Much research has supported these conclusions. First, studies have found correlations between negative social and psychological ll adjustment on the one hand and both (a) adolescents' perceptions of their parents as rejecting and (b) adolescents' perceptions of their parents' view of them as negative (see Dubin & Dubin, 1965). In addition, Goldin (1969) cited studies demonstrating relations between childdelinquency and child perceptions of parents as rejecting, less loving, incompetent, and lax in discipline; between low school achieve- ment and child perceptions of parents as restrictive, punitive, and severe; and, between child maladjustment and child perceptions of parents as rejecting, critical and authoritarian, fear-inducing, mal- treating, extremely restrictive, and dominant. Further, in studies ‘which recognized the heterogeneous nature of symptoms in clinic re- ferred children, correlations were found between acting-out symptoma- tology and child perceptions of parents as under-controlling and indulgent and withdrawn symptomatology and child perceptions of par- ents as insufficiently loving and highly controlling. Because the above research only represents correlations between children's perceptions of parents and child adjustment, it could be argued that adjusted and deviant children's different perceptions only represent accurate reflection of parental behavior and an unin- fluential epiphenomenon in the parent-child relationship. However, a second body of evidence illustrates the heterogeneity in perception of behavior across individuals in response to the same stimulus and supports the idea that a child's perceptions are an influential ante- cedent of his or her behavior. Goldin (1969) summarized studies which support the idea that some portion of the variance of child behavior "is related both to 12 the objective stimulus conditions and to the stimulus as experienced" (p. 222). He argued that factors such as the subject's cognitive)“ development level and cognitive and defensive styles "will produce a discrepancy between objective and phenomenological stimulus" (p. 222). Numerous studies have, in fact, supported this position. Hastorf and Cantril (1954) showed a film of a controversial Princeton-Dartmouth football game to Princeton and Dartmouth undergraduates, instructing them to note and rate as "flagrant" or "mild" any infractions they saw. As expected, compared to Dartmouth students, Princeton under- graduates saw a significantly higher ratio of Dartmouth to Princeton infractions and rated a higher prOportion of Dartmouth and lower pro- portion of Princeton infractions as "flagrant." This study demon- strated the importance of individual perceptions in perceiving and interpreting behavior. In commenting on the phenomenon evidenced in this study, Rabkin (1965) argued that it is parallel to what is found in family situations "where divergence (between behavior and percep- ' tion of it) is even more dramatic due to the heightened emotional arousal valence in the family" (p. 106). More specific to children's perceptions, Yarrow and Campbell (1963) found that children's reported perceptions of other children's behaviors resulted in very different "realities" from those portrayed by adult observer ratings. In addi- tion, Yarrow andCampbell found that while some children evidenced both positive and negative judgments in their descriptions of others, the majority consistently described others either in positive or negative terms. The fact that each child remained highly consistent (r = .76; pp¢:.001) in their particular perceptual evaluative tendency 13 from the first week of camp to the second testing two weeks later indicated, according to Yarrow and Campbell, that these "perceptual frameworks which appear to Operate in children's person perceptions are stable and have general applicability" (p. 72). ”Similarly, Gollin found evidence for three kinds of perceptual or response styles in both undergraduates and children. In his 1954 study, Gollin asked undergraduates to describe a woman shown in a short, four-part film, two parts of which showed her engaging in positive behaviors and two part of which showed her engaging in nega— tive behaviors. Gollin found that while one-half of the undergrad— uates included both positive and negative characteristics in their descriptions of the woman, the other one-half (called "simplified responders") used only the positive or negative behavior in their descriptions, thus ignoring one-half of the presented information. Gollin also found that while one-half of the first group (called "aggregate responders") merely acknowledged negative and positive sepects of the woman in an additive, unrelated fashion, the other one-half of this group (called "related responders") made inferences and related the positive and negative aspects into a unified picture. In a second study, Gollin (1958) found developmental differences in the ability to use both positive and negative information. In de- lscribing a boy who evidenced positive behavior in two vignettes and negative behavior in two vignettes, only 50% of the subjects who were eight or nine years old evidenced recognition of both positive and negative behaviors, while 90% of the adolescents aged 16 and 17 did so. Also, consistent with the cognitive development theories of 1h Piaget (1952, 1965) and Werner (191.8), while only 1.3% of the pre- adolescent children made inferential attempts to account for both positive and negative aspects of behavior, 65% of the adolescents aged 16 and 17 years did so. As Emmerich (1959) and Dubin and Dubin (1965) have argued, this finding emphasizes the greater importance of actual behavior (as opposed to inferred traits) in children's, as Opposed to adults', person perceptions. In addition, Yarrow and Campbell (1963) and Collin (l95h) found that the way a subject orga- nizes his or her perceptual world (a) strongly influences his or her attitudes and affective reactions to others, and (b) this effect, in turn, appears to influence "significantly and systematically" the child's perceptual selection and interpretation of behavioral infor- mation from peers. For example, Gollin found that while over one- halfof the adult "simplified responders" wrote descriptions contain- ing strongly derogatory, condemnatory, or disparaging statements, only 15% of the "aggregate" and "related" responders did so. Mere generally, these studies, together with that of Hastorf and Cantril, support the existence of individual differences in selection from and interpretation of the same behavioral stimuli (and thus the lack of one-to-one relationship between perception and stimulus) and demonstrate the importance of apparently stable perceptual-cognitive processes in producing these differences. Although not investigating children exclusively, other research has suggested the existence of different perceptual "realities" in response to the same stimulus and the importance of these person per- ception differences in psychosocial deve10pment. For example, Kurtz 15 and Grumman (1972) found that while therapist, client, and indepen- dent judge's ratings (i.e., perceptions) of therapist understanding of client were uncorrelated, the client's rating alone correlated significantly (r = .55) with positive psychotherapy outcome. In their investigations of adolescents' perceptions of their families, VanDerVeen and Novak (1971, 1974) have twice produced evidence sug- gesting that while "disturbed" adolescents do not differ from their "normal" siblings in their perceptual sensitivity to task-oriented family competencies (although together their perceptions differ from those of adolescents in normal families), the "disturbed" adolescents seem to evidence a greater perceptual sensitivity to the negative emotional aspects of family interactions. To VanDerVeen and Novak, these results strongly suggested the importance of differences in perceptual sensitivity to different kinds of behavior in adolescent functioning. In another study, Baumrind (1967) found that while "authoritarian" parenting correlated with relatively incompetent child functioning in white families, it correlated with the most competent level of female child functioning in black families. In explaining this difference, Baumrind argued that because the black middle-class social context views strict child obedience to authority as justified and necessary, the child perceives authoritarian parenting behavior as supportive and reassuring, and it is associated with competent child functioning. Finally, and on a more generalized level, individuals who score as repressors and sensitizers on the Repression-Sensitization Scale-- i.e., individuals who exhibit more extreme differences in perceptual l6 sensitivities or insensitivities to positive and negative aspects of self and others, thus producing different perceptual realities (Kaplan, l967)—-are less able than are more average scorers to bene— fit from additional information in making accurate predictions re- garding another. This result, coupled with the additional finding that extreme scorers exhibit greater psychological maladjustment, suggests that (a) perceptual bias in repressors and sensitizers interferes with their ability to utilize aspects of information in person perception, and (b) there is a possible link between this per- ceptual handicap and poor psychosocial functioning. IPS: Research and Theory Similar to Collin (1954, 1958) and Yarrow and Campbell (1963), a group of researchers at Michigan State University (Green, l975; Messe’ et al., 1979; Stollak, Messe’, Michaels, Buldain, Catlin, & Pari- tee, 1979) have found differences across individuals in perceptual sensitivity to and evaluation of positive and negative adult and child behaviors. Unlike earlier work, however, these studies explored these differences in adults and, in a far more systematic fashion, examined the relationship between these person perception differences (which they call IPS) and behavior. Specifically, this research studied the relationship between adults' IPS and (a) their interpersonal behavior with other adults and children, (b) their and their parents' child- rearing concerns and practices, and (c) their children's level of psychosocial competence. To do this, Messé et al. (1979) created a 20-minute videotape of a female psychology graduate student interacting in a playroom with a child trained to emit an equal number of positive l7 and negative behaviors. They had subjects watch the videotape and check on a 6h-item checklist those behaviors, behavioral modes, or feelings that the subjects "saw" emitted on the tape. From responses to the checklist, a score indicating each subject's IPS could be derived. Depending on whether or not the subject had checked a relatively higher prOportion of positive or negative behaviors and characteristics as "seen," each subject's IPS was classified as posi- tive or negative; on the other hand, if a subject checked an approxi- mately equal number of positive and negative behaviors and character- istics, the subject's IPS was classified as balanced. The Relgtionship Between IPS in Adults and Adult Behavior with Peers One of the first studies examining the relationship between IPS and behavior-summarized as Study 2 in Messé et a1. (1979)--Larson (1975) placed undergraduates with either negative, positive, or balanced IPS in a confrontational, "revealed differences" task situa- tion with a carefully trained confederate undergraduate. Significant differences in behavior characterized the three perceptual style groups. For example, both the confederate and an unobtrusive observer rated positive perceivers, especially when male, most negatively; conversely, of the three perceptual style groups, the positive per- ceivers rated the confederate most negatively. Although the female positive perceivers, unlike their male counterparts, engaged in vir- tually no overt hostile communications, they manifested an "hysterical style" marked by helpless, dependent behavior with male confederates and "catty, passive-aggressive," negatively—toned behavior with female 18 confederates. In addition, they tended to remain uninvolved in the interaction. On the other hand, confederates rated negative percei- vers as significantly more positive and less hostile than positive perceivers, and balanced perceivers were rated the most positive of all. Negative perceivers were rated more frequently sarcastic, and negative perceivers spent significantly more time in disagreement than balanced perceivers. Larson noted that the negative perceivers seemed to feel comfortable in an argumentative role, and they were more dogmatic and interrupted more often than balanced perceivers. At times, they engaged in heated arguments, but they never attacked the confederate as a person. Although balanced perceivers were rated the most anxious while disagreeing with the confederate, they (espe- cially the male balanced perceivers) were rated most positively and self—disclosing by both confederate and observers. Furthermore, in dividing their time more evenly across the three discussion items, the balanced perceivers seemed the most realistic and task-oriented; they more than negative or positive perceivers seemed able to realize after some discussion that the confederate (per his or her training) 'was not going to change positions, and thus the balanced perceivers were better able to move on apprOpriately to another item. In con- flict situations, then, balanced perceivers were judged to be the most positive and appropriate in their interactions. The fact that they manifested more anxiety and were rated most appropriate and positive also suggests that their anxiety levels were moderate and not dysfunctional. Perhaps balanced perceivers are less frightened by anxiety and conflict and, therefore, have less need to distort or l9 avoid either. From her results, Larson also speculated that negative perceivers are accustomed to and feel comfortable with conflict, since it is compatible with their IPS; therefore, they do not avoid it, and for this reason they fared relatively well in this experiment's con- flict situation. Hewever, Larson speculated, it could be that when another person is neutral or positive in behavior, the negative per- ceiver might become more anxious, dysfunctional, and more negatively perceived. The fact that negative perceivers were more frequently sarcastic (i.e., emitted more negatively-toned positive statements) supports this idea that they have conflicts with positive behaviors. In addition, Larson noted that a subgroup among the negative behavior perceivers appeared very withdrawn and "disturbed" during the experi- mental task and maintained a silence of "intense quality" for long segments of time. From her results, Larson concluded that because the positive perceivers had the most difficulty in this experimental situation in which persons had to confront one another, they are probably most dysfunctional in conflict situations, while negative perceivers are probably most dysfunctional in positive or neutral interpersonal situations. Research Concerning the Relationships of IPS in Adults,‘Adult Behavior with Children, and Child Functioning Messe et al. (1979) had undergraduates with positive, negative, or balanced IPS's each interact with a child in a playroom for 30 minutes and obtained results which supported Larson's conclusions. In post-session interviews, the children rated female balanced 20 perceivers as significantly less friendly and more task-oriented than both male balanced perceivers and the other females; male balanced perceivers as significantly more helpful than male negative percei- vers or female balanced perceivers; and male children reported sig- nificantly more enjoyment while playing with positive perceivers. Moreover, on all six scales of child functioning while in the play- room, observers Judged the children playing with a positive perceiver as most effective and those children playing with a negative perceiver as least effective. Further, negative perceivers were rated signifi- cantly more dominating and less submitting, and compared to other dyads, dyads with a negative perceiver and a male child evidenced significantly more acts of helplessness; dyads with a female negative perceiver evidenced significantly more passive questioning; and, dyads with a male negative perceiver and a female child evidenced significantly more competitive behaviors than did the dyads with a male balanced or positive perceiver and a female child. Similarly, male positive perceivers emitted more helping and more c00perative behaviors than the other two male IPS groups; balanced behavior per- ceivers emitted the fewest acts of structuring; and, female balanced perceivers emitted significantly fewer acts of dependence than the other two female perceptual style groups. From these results, Hesse et al. concluded that negative perceivers are the most authoritarian in interactions with children and, at least in a short-term encounter, children behave the most effectively with positive perceivers and the least effectively‘with negative perceivers. 21 In light of other evidence, however, it seems that positive per— ceivers are probably not as competent in their interactions with chil- dren as these results suggest. For instance, Green (1975) found that positive perceivers, as compared to negative perceivers, more often report that they would "do nothing" when a child failed to comply with a paren- tal request. This type of behavior might please the child in a short-term encounter, but resembles behavior exhibited by parental types who, while usually "doing nothing" in response to children's non-compliant behavior, often lash out in rage, helplessness, and frustration at their children and tend to have poorly functioning, dependent, acting-out children (Baumrind, 1967, 1971). This finding, coupled with Larson's results indicating poor positive perceiver functioning in conflict situations, suggests that while a child might enjoy playing with such a person in a highly cooperative and very transient encounter, over the long term and especially in conflict situations, the positive perceiver would behave in ways that were both less effective and less enjoyable for a child. Finally, Stollak et al. (1979) found that fathers of "problem" children had more negatively biased IPS scores than did fathers of non-problem children, a result which further suggests a relationship between negative IPS and behavior problems. Due to the unintended absence of positive perceivers in this sample, hypotheses concerning the relationship between positive IPS in parents and child function- ing could not be tested. From the above research, it is possible to speculate that (a) 1P3 remains relatively constant across social situations and perceived 22 persons, (b) IPS is significantly related to interpersonal behavior, and (c) balanced perceivers probably function the most effectively across situations. In addition, theoretical speculations concerning the interpersonal consequences of each IPS would seem to support these conclusions. Predicted Effects of IPS Differences on Interpersonal Behgvior In what may be the earliest psychological theory concerning the interpersonal effects of something akin to differing IPS, Lewin (1936, 1951) hypothesized that all interpersonal perceptions are either positively or negatively "valenced," and that persons who perceive others negatively (i.e., those who might be called negative perceivers) ‘would have greater "avoidant" interpersonal tendencies, while persons who perceive others positively would have greater approach tendencies. Although logical, Lewin's conceptualizations seem inadequate and overly simplistic. It seems reasonable to assume that a person who perceives others as negative might also adOpt an aggressive orienta- tion in response to the perceived negative, aggressive orientation of others or, what may be most typical of the negative perceiver, an alternation between a withdrawn and attacking orientation. In addi- tion, Green (1975) argued that due to the negative perceiver's behav- ior, others would respond more negatively and less positively toward him or her, which would serve to further reinforce his or her negative perceptual bias. Also, it would seem that if negative IPS is pri- marily due to an insensitivity to others' positive behaviors or characteristics, it would lead to infrequent responsiveness to others' 23 positive behaviors. As a result, others' positive advances toward the negative perceiver would more readily be extinguished, a conse- quence which would further reinforce the negative perceptual bias. Approaching the subject from a social learning perspective (Bandura, 1977),because a negative perceiver more readily "sees" negative behaviors and characteristics and/or less readily "sees" positive behaviors, he or she would less readily learn from others' positive behaviors and would more readily imitate others' negative behaviors. Lastly, using Cooley's (1909) theory of the "looking glass" self (which hypothesizes that one's self-concept is based on the "reflected appraisals of others"), it could be argued that because a negative perceiver more readily perceives negative responses toward self, he or she would also have a negative self-concept with its attendant psychosocial handicaps. Contrary to Lewin's suggestion, a positive IPS would not seem to foster positive psychosocial functioning. Although a positive perceiver may tend to engage in a higher proportion of approach behav- iors, it would seem that his or her psychosocial functioning would also be inferior to that of a balanced perceiver. Because a positive perceiver "sees" a lower level of negative behaviors and characteristics, it would seem that he or she might often approach or respond to others inappropriately and, thus, might be experienced as intrusive, egocentric, narcissistic, insensitive, as one who never sees "the handwriting on the wall," or, as Green (1975) has suggested, a "milquetoast." Due to such inapprOpriate behavior, a positive perceiver might encounter frequent rejection and little interpersonal satisfaction. Moreover, 2h due to inordinate insensitivity to negative "feedback" cuss, the positive perceiver would be less able to modify his or her dysfunc- tional interpersonal behavior, meet his or her needs (because of a less balanced and, hence, less accurate "reading" of the situation), and advance his or her level of psychosocial functioning. At the same time, being relatively insensitive to negative cues, it would seem that the positive perceiver would have a more positive self- concept than the negative perceiver. Also, from a social learning perspective, it seems that due to his or her perceptual biases, a positive perceiver might less readily see (and thus imitate less) negative behaviors and more readily see (and thus imitate more) posi- tive behaviors. For this reason, the positive perceiver would evidence greater psychosocial competence than a negative perceiver. However, given the nature of positive IPS, as is discussed below, this specu- lation is probably less true than one might imagine. In large part, a positive IPS probably represents either a per- ceptual insensitivity to negative behaviors and characteristics of others or a "mislabeling" of negative behaviors as positive. Although insensitivity to others' negative behaviors or characteristics might give a positive perceiver an advantage over the negative perceiver, a mislabeling of negative behaviors and characteristics as positive in the social learning process would surely be detrimental to the positive perceiver's psychosocial competence as judged by the prevailing socie- tal norms. Thus, depending on the type of positive IPS a child might have, in the social learning process, he or she may be somewhat advan- taged or severely disadvantaged over the negative perceiver; thus, 25 from a social learning perspective, it is difficult to predict generally the effects of positive IPS on psychosocial competence. On the average, however, it would seem that although a positive per- ceiver may be slightly more psychosocially competent than would a negative perceiver, both types of biases would be associated with relatively low levels of psychosocial competence and higher levels of dysfunction. Because the balanced perceiver is able to see both positive and negative behaviors and characteristics, he or she would have a wider range of information and feedback available, a more realistic orien- tation, and would be better able to behave in apprOpriate and need- fulfilling ways. Therefore, a balanced perceiver would be more satisfied, interpersonally competent, secure (in part because he or she would feel more masterful and his or her world would be more predictable), and could avoid much of the frustration, with all its attendant negative correlates, experienced by negative and positive perceivers. Given the logical assumption that the balanced perceiver is open to a wider range of stimuli, the theories of Rogers (l951)1, Freud (1961)2, and other clinical theorists mentioned earlier (e.g., Sulli- van, Kelly) support the hypothesis that balanced perceivers are more psychosocially competent than negative or positive perceivers. Spe- cifically, Green (1975) endorsed this idea when he wrote: "The first 1Rogers (1951) defined the healthy person as one who is open to a wide range of experience. 2Freud (1961) emphasized the reality principle as functioning synonymously with psychological health. 26 step in effective response to [another's] behavior [or in meeting one's needs] is awareness of what behavior and feelings exist . . . at the time" (p. 10). And again: Biased perception of behavior can include implicit but powerful forms of denial, mystification, and neglect . . . and they [positive and negative perceptual style] suggest an inability to cOpe with the reality of socially "desirable" and "undesirable" behaviors. (p. 9) Also, it could be argued that perceptual bias is indicative of internal conflicts over negative or positive impulses. Consistent ‘with this speculation, research with projective pictures has suggested that absence of behavioral or affective themes in response to pictures suggesting them (i.e., distortions of stimuli which results in a defi- cit of reported negative or positive behaviors or affects) or high reported frequency of a particular action or affect to an ambiguous stimulus (i.e., distortion of stimuli which results in a surplus of reported negative or positive behaviors or traits) signifies anxiety or conflict concerning those behaviors or affects (Kagan, 1960; Kenny, 1961.). From this view, perceptual bias would be indicative of inter- nal conflicts and a poorer level of psychological (i.e., intrapsychic) functioning. Finally, based on the kind of parenting a child would seem to require to become a negative, positive, or balanced perceiver, it would seem that balanced perceivers would evidence more effective psychosocial functioning. 27 Parental Behavior and IPS Associated with Eifferent Child Perceptual Styles It has been argued that the perceptual style of parent and child will tend to be similar and that the child-rearing practices associa- ted with biased IPS will result in poorer psychosocial functioning in that person's offspring (Green, 1975; Larson, 1975). In other words, because children tend to mirror parental IPS and because a biased 1P3 is associated with poorer child—rearing practices, there is greater probability that children with biased IPS have received less competent parenting and, as a result, would exhibit poorer psy— chosocial functioning. It should be noted that the hypothesis that parent and child IPS are similar has not been tested and, thus, needs validation. On the other hand, some support for such a hypothesis exists. For example, Green (1975) found that undergraduates with negative IPSs endorsed "criticizing" and "shaming" techniques of parental discipline signi— ficantly more often than those with positive IPSs, and, as mentioned earlier, undergraduates with positive IP33 were significantly more likely to "do nothing" as compared to those with negative IPS in response to a child's failure to comply with a strong parental request. In further support of their speculations, Green and Larson described the child- rearing behaviors that would seem to follow from each IPS and how these behaviors would facilitate development of an IPS that is similar to that of the parent. These arguments, along with additional ones (some of which have research support) are presented in Appendix A. 28 From the evidence presented above, as well as the arguments given in Appendix A, it would seem.that although it is not possible to predict which type of biased parental IPS would lead to which type of biased child perceptual bias, it is most reasonable to argue that (a) biased (i.e., either positive or negative) IPS in parents ‘would be associated with biased IPS in children, (b) balanced IPS in parents would be associated with balanced child IPS, and (c) the kinds of parenting associated with positive or negative IPS in parents would facilitate relatively poor psychosocial functioning in a child. Based on theories about processes such as identification (Freud, 1933; Kohlberg, 1966; Mowrer, 1950) or imitation (Bandura, 1969, 1977), it would seem.that the child and his or her parents would perceive others in a similar fashion. Thus, the child would exhibit the same IPS as his or her parents. Hewever, based on this same identification and observational learning research, it would also seem that a child 'would imitate more the parent whom he or she most admires, or the same-sexed parent; thus, the IPS of the parent with whom the child most identifies or the same-sexed parent would correlate with the child's IPS. However, from another perspective, one may criticize this method of predicting child IPS by arguing that because the mother usually interacts with her child much more than the father, her IPS (i.e., her way of labeling and evaluating behaviors) would be much more influential in both the child's psychosocial and perceptual style develOpment (Stollak, Note 1). Thus, it could be argued that maternal IPS would best predict the child's IPS. And lastly, one might argue that because each biased perceptual style represents a unique set of 29 internal conflicts, the different IPS cannot be conceptualized as merely differences on the same continuum. Viewing biased IPS (either positive or negative) as perceptual distortions resulting from inter- nal conflicts, it does not seem reasonable to predict, as the addi- tive models would do, that a child who identifies equally with parents of differently biased IPS's would evidence a balanced IPS. Conclusions From both the theory and research which has been reviewed above, it can be concluded that stable differences in IPS exist in children as well as adults and, more tentatively, that balanced IPS is asso- ciated with the most effective psychosocial functioning. Based on the above line of reasoning, it would also seem that parent and child IPS would be related. However, because no research has examined the relationship between parent and child IPS, such a speculation needs empirical validation. Moreover, although the existing research is consistent with the hypothesis that balanced IPS is associated with the most effective psychosocial functioning in adults, a direct link between IPS and level of psychosocial functioning has yet to be demon- strated definitively. Due to the lack of replication, the small number of experiments, the restriction of investigations of behavioral con- sequences of IPS to the laboratory, and, until recently (Messé et al., 1979; Stollak et al., 1979), the narrow samples studied (i.e., pri- marily college undergraduates), conclusions from the existing IPS research must remain tentative and important questions remain unan- swered. 30 By investigating the relationship between children's IPS and teacher-rated psychosocial competence/dysfunction and between parent and child IPS's, this studyxattempted to expand the pOpulations (i.e., psychosocially competent and mildly dysfunctional children) and behavioral settings (i.e., the classroom) studied. In this way, the present work attempted to (a) validate the suggested relationship between IPS and psychosocial competence of children as they behave in naturalistic settings, and (b) clarify the origins of IPS in children. Also, expanding on Messé's and Stollak's research, this study attempted to document and clarify the importance of IPS in the identification, etiology, and treatment of "high-risk" children and families. implications of this Study for the Identification and Treatment of HighéRisk Children A major aim of MessE's and Stollak's research has been to iden- tify IPS as a "high-risk" caregiver variable so that preventative intervention programs for expectant parents who were more likely to have children‘with significant psychosocial dysfunction could be instituted before they became parents. As mentioned earlier, Stollak et al. (1979) found that mild child dysfunctions correlated with negative paternal IPS, thereby supporting the use of the IPS measure- ment technique as a possibly useful "high-risk" indicator. This study's examination of the relationship between parent and child IPS attempted to clarify the degree to which today's parental IPS may represent a risk to future generations (e.g., grandchildren, great grandchildren). For example, if a relationship between biased parent IPS and both child dysfunction and biased IPS is found, this 31 would suggest that the toxic influence of biased parental IPS endures through future generations and would demonstrate even more the need for interventions to prevent this toxic multi-generational effect. Second, in an attempt to increase the power of IPS to identify "high- risk" families, this study examined the combinations of parent IPS's in relation to child IPS and functioning. Perhaps the interaction of particular pairs of parent IPS's is a more potent "high-risk" indica- tor than any single type of parent IPS. And finally, by attempting to clarify the relationship between IPS and psychosocial functioning in children and between parental and child IPS, this research hOpe- fully can aid in the identification of variables facilitating child competence and dysfunction and, thus, can aid in the development of procedures which will effectively deal with these pathogenic variables. Hypotheses 1. Children with a balanced IPS will exhibit greater teacher- rated psychosocial competence than children with biased (i.e., positive or negative) IPS's. 2. When both parents exhibit a balanced IPS, their child will exhibit a balanced IPS; when.both parents show the ggmg biased (gigggg positive or negative) IPS, their child will evidence a biased (githgg positive or negative) IPS. Due to the conflicting theories concerning the relationship between parent and child IPS's, and especially so when parental IPS's differ, it seems premature to make more specific hypotheses concerning this relationship. However, to clarify the relationship, this study 32 examined it in ways that the different theories and speculations discussed above suggest. METHOD This research was conducted in coordination with Messé's and Stollak's research at Michigan State University, supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant No. 24250 and a National Institute of Mental Health Biomedical Institutional Support Grant. While both investigators shared the same selection criteria (e.g., level of child psychosocial competence/dysfunction), they differed in the variables to be predicted. While parental IPS was the major predicted variable in Messe's and Stollak's studies, child IPS is the major such variable in this study, and parent IPS is examined primarily as it relates to child IPS. While using the same instruments as Messe and Stollak to assess child competenqy and dysfunction, this study exams ined IPS, what is called reactive style, and (for some subjects) per- ceptual accuracy through newly constructed or revised measures. Measurement of IPS,,Reactive Style, gnd Perceptual Accuracy Children's Instrument; The Standard Perceptual Stimulus (SP3). The SPS has been the standard stimuli used in previous research assessing IPS (Green, 1975; Larson, 1975; Messé et al., 1979; Stollak et al., 1979). It consists of a 20-minute videotaped interaction between a female graduate psy- chology student and either a female child or, on the alternate SPS videotape, a male child. In creating the SPS, it was intended that 33 34 these children, who were professional actors and followed the same script, would emit an equal number of "positive" and "negative" behav— iors. Negative behaviors were those which, on a children's behavioral checklist, Ferguson, Partyka, and Lester (1974) found parents of clinic referred children to attribute significantly more often to their child; positive behaviors were those which parents of non—clinic referred children significantly more often attributed to their child. In fur- ther validation, lesse'and Stollak had 91 volunteers read a list of these behaviors and check each on a seven-point scale ranging from extremely positive to extremely negative. All 25 of the empirically derived negative behaviors were judged significantly negative, and 25 of the 28 positive behaviors were judged significantly positive. Thus, Messé’and Stollak found a high degree of consensual validation for Ferguson et al.'s list of empirically derived positive and negative behaviors. To assess child subjects' perceptions of the child and child behaviors portrayed in the SP3, each was orally administered the Children's Behavior Checklist Modified for Children (CBC-MC), presented in Appendix B. Similarly, to assess child subjects' perceptions of the adult and adult behaviors portrayed in the SP3, each subject was orally administered the Perception of Playmate Inventory Modified for Children (PAPI-MC), presented in Appendix C. The Children's Behavior Checklist Modified for Children (CBC-MC). The CBC-MC is a shortened, slightly modified form of the Chil- dren's Behavior Checklist (CBC) which Messé'et al. (1979) adapted from Ferguson et al. (1974). The CBC-MC consists of 31 items which 35 refer to positive and negative behaviors that the videotaped child emitted. By asking a subject which items are "like" or "not like" the child in the SPS, a measure of IPS can be obtained. In creating the CBCeMC from the longer CBC, the 12 filler items, repetitive items, and items referring to motor skills (e.g., handles small objects skillfully) in the CBC were dropped, but a balance of positive and negative items was retained. When items were repetitive, the more behaviorally-oriented of those items were retained (e.g., "tends to go too far unless reminded of rules" was drOpped, but "often breaks rules" was retained). Despite these changes, the fact that scores on the long and short forms of the CBC correlated .93 (2< .001) for the adults used in this study's sample (N = 103) suggests that the long and short forms are virtually identical measures of IPS. The Perceptionspoffthe Adult Playmate Inventory Modified for Children (PAPI-MC). The PAPI—MC is a shorter and modified form of the Perception of Adult Playmate Inventory (PAPI) which Michaela (1975) designed to assess children's perceptions of adult behaviors. The PAPI-MC consists of 22 bipolar items which form.end-points for a four- or (for those items for which a mid-point response was possible but not provided) five-point scale along which subjects rate aspects of the adult perceived in the SPS. For all items, higher scores indi- cate a more positive perception. In an attempt to control order ef- fects, two forms of the PAPIAMC consisting of Opposite orders of item presentation‘were constructed and each form was alternately adminis— tered to successive subjects. 36 It should be mentioned that the creators of the SPS were inter- ested in assessing individuals' perceptions of child behavior only; thus, only the child's behavior in the SPS was varied in an attempt to ensure a valid balance of positive and negative behaviors. In contrast, the adult, who was a clinical psychology graduate student, behaved in a non-directive, reflecting, play therapy style. Because her behavior was so uniformly benign or "positive," it was expected that PAPIAM and PAPI-MC scores would be positively skewed. The Pergon Perception Story Test (PPST). The PPST was designed for this research and consists of seven highly ambiguous or neutral pictures Of figures drawn in outline form.(see Appendix D). Each picture depicts a child (hereafter referred to as the "focus child") of the same sex as the subject in an ambiguous relationship with another figure or other figures (e.g., parents, peers, teacher, adult stranger). As each picture is presented, a vignette concerning the situation is read and a number of questions follow. Essentially, these questions ask what the focus child and the other key figure(s) are doing, saying, thinking, and feeling and how the story ends. In this 'way, the child's tendency to "see" others as positively or negatively oriented (i.e., behaving, thinking, and feeling positively or nega- tively toward a child such as himself or herself) is determined. To ensure that the sex of the subject and the focus child match, two sets of PPST pictures were created which were identical except for the sex Of the focus child. 37 Qpppgrisons between the CBC-MC, PAPI-MC,Agpd PPST gnd their relationships to the person perception process. Although the CBC-MC, PAPI-MC, and PPST are designed to measure IPS, the PPST differs in an important way. 'While the former two attempt to measure IPS by having subjects observe another emitting a range of positive and negative behaviors, the PPST attempts to measure subjects' tendencies to "see" others' ambiguous or neutral interactions toward a child as positive or negative. Remembering the previous discussion of the person per- ception process, it would seem.that the CBC-MC and PAPI-MC instruments would tend more to tap subjects' selectivity in perception of positive or negative behaviors, which represents the first step in the person perception process; the PPST, on the other hand, would tend more to tap subjects' tendencies to distort, interpret, and perceive behavior positively or negatively, which represents the second and third steps in the person perception process. At the same time, because the adult who is rated in the PAPI-MC, in contrast to the child who is rated in the CBC-MC, emits benign or positive behaviors almost exclusively and thus exhibits a very restricted range Of behaviors, the PAPI-MC more than the other two measures would seem to assess both perceptual selectivity and tendencies to interpret behaviors as positive or nega- tive. Because the three measures (and the CBC-MC and the PPST parti- cularly) seem to tap different aspects Of IPS, comparisons of each instrument's assessment of subjects' IPS may clarify the relative importance of the different steps in the person perception process. The Sensitivity to Children Questionpgire Modigigg_§pp_gpildpgp (STC-MC). The STC-MC was derived from Stollak's Sensitivity to 38 Children Questionnaire (STC) (Stollak, Scholom, Kallman, & Saturansky, 1973) and modified for this research to measure children's responses to positive and negative aspects of a hypothetical child's function- ing. This questionnaire consists of four parent-child situations and is presented in Appendix E. In each of these situations, the subject is asked to imagine that he or she is the parent of the child depicted in the STC-MC and to respond to the child on that basis. The child in each STC-MC item engages or attempts to engage in a positive behavior 'which culminates in what might be considered a negative social action. Measures based on this questionnaire attempt to measure what is called "reactive style," or how a child in a position of authority reacts to a child displaying negative social behavior motivated by a positive intention. When used in conjunction with the IPS measures, it was hoped that the STC-MC results would clarify the relationship between subjects' perceptions of and responses to others' positive and nega- tive behavior. Although Moses and Stollak have hypothesized that biased IPS results in an unbalanced behavioral responsiveness to others' positive or, depending on the nature Of the IPS, negative behaviors, this prediction has not been empirically demonstrated. By having children respond to the STC-MC items, correlations between IPS's and projective responses to positive and negative behaviors can be determined, and this hypothesized link between IPS and behavior can be examined. Moreover, by assessing the relationship between projective responses to positive and negative behaviors and IPS as they relate to psychosocial competence and dysfunction, the role of IPS in psychosocial functioning may be clarified. 39 The Perceptppl AccuragypTest (PAT). Although questions concern- ing IPS are the main focus of this study, approximately two-thirds through the testing of subjects, it was thought that an assessment of the relationship Of children's perceptual or Observational accuracy to IPS and psychosocial competence would be informative. Thus, percep- tual or Observational accuracy measures Of the SPS child and adult ‘were created in the following manner (see Appendix F). Based on the dialogue and behavioral transcript of the SPS, a h2-item.test'was created. Of the items, 18 consist of descriptions of specific behaviors or quotations from the dialogue which occurred in the SPS (i.e., true items), while 2A of the items consist of behaviors or quotations which did not occur in the SPS (i.e., false items). A concerted effort was made to describe, rather than characterize, spe- cific behaviors (e.g., "the child threw the toy against the wall," rather than "the child got angry"). In creating false items, an attempt was made to sample conceptually different kinds of fictitious but credible behaviors involving interactions between the SPS child and adult so that the items could not be answered correctly simply because of the outlandish discrepanqy from the SP8 or similarity to other test items which a subject might know to be true or false and therefore answer correctly based on knowledge or lack of knowledge of that other item. In creating true items, a primary concern was to select SPS behaviors which could be simply, succinctly, and accurately described and which ranged in difficulty so as to ensure a wide vari- ation in children's scores. Because past perceptual accuracy research has suffered from such serious methodological flaws as a lack of LO control of assumed similarity and response biases (Cronbach, 1955; Gage & Cronbach, 1955), an attempt was also made to control for these by sampling an equal number of clearly positive and negative verbal and non-verbal behaviors. Unfortunately, however, the adult's behav- ior in the SPS evidences little variation, a seeming absence of clearly negative behaviors, and few specific behaviors which most ‘would consider extremely positive. Thus, as can be seen from Table 1, which presents the number of each of the different kinds of PAT items, there are fewer items covering adult behaviors and no items relating to negative adult behaviors that occur in the SPS. To com- pensate for the paucity of items referring to positive and negative adult behaviors, three items refer to neutral adult behaviors. Be- cause there are fewer "true" negative than positive adult behavior items, the subtests measuring accuracy of perceptions of the SPS adult (but not the child) and the SPS child and adult combined are suscep- tible to possible contamination due to positive or negative perceptual and response biases or to a tendency of those subjects with positive or negative self-perceptions to assume similarity in their ratings. This will be explained in greater detail in the Discussion section. In administering the PAT, each item was read to the subject, and he or she was requested to answer "true" or "false" according to whe- ther the item was true or false based on the behavior which occurred in the SPS. Al N N N o a m 4 m m m aoa>ecep Osmoasaelsoc moa>Ho>cH mEOpH m o N o o N m a m m nonsense assesses wca>ao>sa usevH Ana sz A+v Ana sz A+V xiv A+V Auv A+v maopH modem asevH some mEouH smash nEOpH some nampH vase moabenon n.pasem esp soa>enoo m.oHHno on» wca>ao>ca nEepH wca>ao>mw esopH poapenom Osmoaswnlcoz use Osmoaswm o>Ho>CH on use avdse< one no use cameo one mo upow>snom any e>fipsmoz one .sz Heaosoz .A+v osaoanoa caooeoo on .AosouH onasmv man on» as house poz on Any anmaoaH essay mum on» ma udooo Adv sown: asepH ones hesasoo< HespQOOhom no heossz one H canoe Q.( Parents' Instrpments The Stgndard Perceptual Stimulus (SP8). Both the parents viewed the same SPS videotape as their child. Since the SPS has already been discussed in the Children's Instruments section above, the reader is referred there for complete discussion. The MOdified Children's Behgvior Checklist (CBC-M). To assess their perceptions of the child in the SPS, the parents completed the same CBC which has been used in previous IPS research and which is presented in Appendix G. The CBC consists of 6L behavioral items, 52 Of which were designed to refer to positive and negative child behaviors emitted in the SPS; the other 12 items were "filler" items and were not scored. HOwever, because parents' scores are to be related to children's CBC-MC scores, each parent's score is based on the same 31 items which constitute the child's CBC-MC measure. Thus, the parents' scores are actually based on a shortened version of the CBC, called the CBC-M (see Appendix G). By asking subjects to check the Checklist items that were applicable to the child in the SPS, subjects' IPS's could be determined. The MOdified Perceptions of the Adult Playpgte Inventory_(PAPI-M). To assess the parents' perceptions of the adult in the SPS, they were administered virtually the same modified form of the PAPI-MC as de- scribed in Children's Instruments above. The adult form is called the PAPI-M and is presented in Appendix H. Like the PAPI-MC, it is a shorter and modified form of the PAPI which Michaela (1975) designed to assess children's perceptions of adult behaviors and consists of 21 dichotomous variables which form.end-points on a four- or (as A3 described earlier) five-point scale along which subjects rate aspects of the adult perceived in the SP8. The PAPIeMC and PAPI-M differ only in format in which questions are asked (to ease children's com- prehension of the questions) and in occasional simplifications of vocabulary or additions of a synonym to clarify a word's meaning on the PAPI-MC. For a fuller discussion of the instrument, see the above discussion of the PAPI-MC in the Children's Instruments section. Other Measures The Vogpbulgry,8ubtest Of the wechsler Intelligence Sgplg_for Children (WISC). Because it was thought that it might be interesting to assess the relationship between child IPS and intelligence and important to control for intelligence in some measures, the Vocabulary subscale of the W150 (wechsler, l97h) was used to assess intelligence. Because research (Sattler, 197A) has shown the Vocabulary subscale to correlate robustly with the Full Scale WISC score, it was felt that the Vocabulary subscale could serve as a reliable indicator of chil- dren's intelligence. The Identification Index. HOffman (1971) designed the Identifi- cation Index, which consists of three questions asking the child whom he or she most admires, desires to emulate, and is most similar to in order to assess the relative strength Of a child's identification ‘with each parent. The Identification Index is presented in Appendix I. The Demographic Questiopppire. Because it was felt that it would be interesting to assess the relationship between child IPS and socio- economic status and possibly important to control for socioeconomic LA status, each parent was administered the Demographic Questionnaire presented in Appendix J. Among other things, this questionnaire asked each parent's current occupation and level of education attained. subjects WOrking with Hesse and Stollak, 56 child subjects were gathered. These subjects ranged in age from five to ten years and were drawn from.kindergarten through third grade classes. Selection and Recruitment of Subjects The first group of subjects (N'= 36) were selected through the OOOperation of the administration and teachers Of the Lansing, Michi- gan Public School System. Teachers of kindergarten through third grade classes were contacted and asked to participate in this study. Participating teachers were each paid ten dollars ($10) and were asked to complete a revision of Bower's (1969) Pupil Behavior Rating Scales (see Appendix.K). The Bower Scales require the teacher to classify every child in his or her classroom into one of five categories on a number of dimensions of classroom functioning. Each dimension is presented as a statement about a student, and the teachers had to classify their students according to how well (or poorly) each matched the description. Teachers could rank order up to three students at either end point ("most like" or "least like"); similarly, they placed five students at each of the next most extreme categories; the remain- der of the class was placed in the middle category. To ensure confi- dentiality, only children's first names and the first letter of their last names were used on all ratings, and parents were never informed of the selection criteria. 45 During the period when volunteering teachers were completing the ratings, letters were sent (via an envelope taken home by the children) to the parents asking them to volunteer to participate in the research for pay. The letter described briefly the nature of the project and asked parents who might be interested to complete and return the postal card which had been enclosed in the envelope. Only the parents of children.who fell‘within the lowest or highest one-third of their class on the general competence item of the Bower Scales were invited to par- ticipate. (Parents who had indicated interest but who were not asked to participate were sent a letter thanking them for their interest and explaining that limited resources prevented the researchers from con- tacting everyone who had volunteered.) As Stollak et a1. (1979) has noted, there appeared to be no systematic difference in volunteering as a function of the child's level of psychosocial adjustment. After the family had participated in the research and had granted permission to contact further their child's teacher, the teacher was asked to complete (a) Cowen, Frost, Lorion, Dorr, Izzo, and Isaacson's (1975) Aggressiveness, Moodiness, and Learning Problems (AML) and Teacher Referral Form.(TRF), which are teacher rating scales; and, (b) a general adjustment rating which was presented at the conclusion of the AML—TRF questionnaire (see Appendix L). Teachers were also asked to complete (c) the Bessell-Palomares (B-P) (1967) rating scales which are designed to assess an individual's level of psychosocial competence and dysfunction (see Appendix M). Because Cowen's AMLPTRF ‘were designed to be used together to tap the same dimensions of child functioning, these instruments' scores were combined into one score. h6 To be classified as high or low in psychosocial competence, a subject's adjustment ratings had to be reasonably consistent. To determine this, each subject's scores on each measure of psychosocial competence were categorized as evidencing high or low psychosocial functioning, depending on whether or not they fell above or below the sample's median score for that instrument. If a child's ratings on all four measures were consistent, or if three of the four measures ‘were consistent and the deviant score was within two subjects of the sample's median score, the child was classified according to the dom- inant direction of his or her scores. Based on this procedure, all the tested subjects except two males and one female could be categor- ized as high or low in psychosocial competence and, thus, could be used in this study. A second group of subjects (N = 20) were selected through the cooperation of the administration and third grade teachers of the East Lansing, Michigan Public School System, Although these subjects were gathered in much the same way as those in the first group, because the two groups were selected from different school systems and, as noted earlier, within the context of a different combination of re- search projects, there were some necessary differences. First, whereas the parents of the first group of child subjects were Offered 50 dol- lars ($50) for about four hours of their time, the parents of the second group Of child subjects were Offered 25 dollars ($25) for approximately two hours of their time. Second, the nature of the child's requested participation was explained both to the children in the second group of subjects as well as to their parents, and each #7 child was offered seven dollars ($7) for his or her participation, ‘which took about one and one-quarter hours. It was made clear to both the parents and child that the parents' participation was not contin- gent upon the child's, and that the child had to voluntarily consent before being used in this study. Almost all of the children seemed excited with the prospect of earning money and helping the researchers and readily accepted. Third, Bower's (1969) Class Play, a peer-rating instrument (see Appendix N) was substituted for the Bessell-Palomares rating scales in the assessment of children's psychosocial competence. The Class Play requires that all students in a class select classmates to play one or more roles in an imaginary play. The roles embody either positive or negative characteristics. By subtracting the number of times a child is nominated for a negative rOle from the number of times he or she is nominated for a positive role, a score of psycho- social competence can be Obtained. Fourth, in contrast to the first group of subjects, the second group was assessed on all four instru- ments in the same manner as the first group pgfppg they were invited to participate in the research. As a result, none of this second group had to be excluded after testing because they did not fit the Opera- tional definition of high or low psychosocial competence. The procedure described above yielded 11 competent males, 15 com- petent females, 16 low competent males, and 11 low competent females across both sets of subjects. HOwever, due to lack of attention or non-compliance, scores Of some subjects on some IPS or reactive style measures either could not be Obtained or had to be considered invalid. Scores were judged to be invalid when the experimenter's report (which A8 the researchers completed on each subject) concerning the subject's approach to the research tasks indicated that the child's attention or cooperation was poor, and examination of the raw data indicated a high frequency of unscorable, irrelevant, or repetitively stereotypical and identical responses. In addition, two CBC-MC protocols were con- sidered invalid due to an apparent response set in which virtually all the items were answered identically; due to an unintentional failure of an experimenter to administer the PAPI-MC to a subject, one subject had no PAPIéMC score. Thus, a total of 53, 5h, 51, 50, and 51 subjects, respectively, were considered to have valid data on the CBC-MC, PAPIAMC, PPST, and the two measures based on the STC-MC (i.e., the STC-EVAL and STC-BEH). Apparently due to the fact that all 20 of the second group of subjects were nine or ten years old, difficulties with attention and compliance did not interfere with their test taking; thus, all of their measures were considered valid. Although both parents of 52 child subjects, plus a single parent of one subject, were tested on the CBC-M and PAPI-M, imprOper comple- tion of the CBC-M by two fathers rendered their CBC-M scores invalid. Thus, CBC-M and PAPI-M data on 50 and 52 fathers and 53 and 53 mothers, respectively, were used in this study. Egpgrimental Procedure The first 36 and last 20 subjects were tested at different time periods. Due to unavoidable circumstances, these two groups were tested under similar but not identical conditions. Upon arrival at the experimental setting, each of the first 36 families was met by a trained greater who then introduced the child A9 to an experimenter and the parents to another experimenter. The greeters and other experimenters who had direct contact with subjects were trained undergraduates or graduate student volunteers who re- ceived independent study credits for their help in this study. At this point, the appropriate experimenter escorted the child to a small but comfortable room with two chairs, a table, window, clock, and one- way mirror; the other experimenter escorted the parents to a similar room. If the child showed distress at going with the experimenter, the parents were asked to accompany their child to his or her testing room. After approximately 45 minutes of testing, the parents and child were reunited in a "playroom" and engaged in approximately 50 minutes of videotaped "family interaction" tasks (Stollak et al., 1979). Then, the child and the experimenter who had been working earlier with the child returned to their room for approximately 30 minutes of experi— mental tasks, followed by a snack and approximately 90 minutes of further testing. Similarly, after the family interaction tasks, the parents had a short snack, followed by about two hours of further testing. In the first LS-minute testing period, the Identification Index and the WISC Vocabulary Subtest were administered to the child. In the Identification.Index, the experimenter merely asked the subject the three Index questions presented in Appendix I and wrote the child's responses. For the WISC Vocabulary Subtest, the experimenter intro- duced the instrument and proceeded in the standard manner (Wechsler, 197k). 50 In the testing period following the child's snack, the experimen- ter prepared the subject for viewing the SPS through reading directions and answering questions as described in Appendix 0. The experimenter then showed the subject the SPS, which portrayed the child who was the same sex as the child subject, and then orally administered the CBC-MC and PAPI—MC and later the PPST and STC-MC. The introduction and direc- tions which the experimenter read to the subject for each instrument can be found in Appendices B, C, D, and E, respectively. The experi- menter recorded the subject's reaponses to the CBC-MC and PAPI-MC on a standard IBM computer scoring blank; the subject's responses to each PPST and STC-MC item were audiotape recorded. With regard to parental testing, the first LS-minute testing period was occupied with both parents watching the same SPS which their child viewed. They were then administered the CBC-M and PAPI-M 'which required them to mark their response choices on an accompanying IBM'scoring sheet. The complete introduction and instructions accome panying these instruments can be found in.Appendices G and H, respec- tively. The Demographic Questionnaire was administered later in the testing. Throughout the administration of these questionnaires, an experimenter was present to answer questions. The experimental procedure for the second subject group differed primarily in that the parents and children were tested on different occasions, 17 of the subjects were administered the PAT after adminis- tration of the PAPI-MC, and the testing sessions were shorter because the family interaction tasks and some questionnaires (all of which were irrelevant to this study) were not administered. Also, due to the 51 graduation of the four experimenter teams who administered the mea- sures to the first subject group, two new teams were used with this second subject group, and an experimenter rather than the parents transported about two-thirds of the second group of child subjects to the experimental site. Since some of these children lived more than one-half hour's drive from the University, the offer to transport the child was made to facilitate participation. Aside from these differ- ences, testing of both parents and children and the order in which measures were administered remained essentially the same. Preparation and Codinggof the Data Parents'ggnd_Children's IPS Measures Regardingfithe SPS Child and Adult LCBC-M. PAPI-M,,CBC-MC. PAPI-MC) As originally planned, each subject's IPS based on the child SPS was determined by subtracting the number of negative from the number of positive behaviors and characteristics each subject reported on the CBC-M or CBC—MC to be like the child on the SP8 and dividing that by the total of these two numbers. Each subject's IPS regarding the SPS adult was determined by adding their scores on each PAPIéM or PAPI-MC. On all these measures, higher scores indicate a more posi— tive IPS. For the CBC-M, CBCéMC, PAPI-M, and PAPI-MC, these calculations yielded mean scores of -.38, -.23, 87.17, and 90.82 and respective standard deviations of .26, .36, 8.05, and 10.86. Given the possible score ranges of -1.00 to +1.00 and 22 to 102 for the respective CBC-M or CBC-MC and PAPI-M or PAPI-MC measures, the CBC-M and CBC-MC scores are more negatively skewed than anticipated and, as expected, the 52 PAPI-M and PAPI-MC scores are positively skewed. In addition, it is interesting to note that parents' IPS is more negative than the chil— dren's on both measures (ts '-" 3.11. and 2.06; ps 4.01 and< .05 on the respectively modified CBC and PAPI measures). The negative skewness in CBC~M and CBC-MC scores suggests that either both parents and child samples (and probably the larger pOpu- lations as well) are negatively biased in their perceptions of chil- dren, the SPS child actually evidences a preponderance of negative behaviors, or both. To the extent that this skewness results from a relative preponderance of negative behaviors in the SP5, raw score zero is an inaccurate representation of the score which a person with no perceptual bias would most likely attain (i.e., hereafter called "the mean balance point"). Thus, it would seem that an alternative method of calculation is needed to determine a valid balance point. Perhaps, one might say, the sample mean score for the CBC-M, CBC-MC, PAPIAM, and PAPI—MC would constitute a more valid balance point for each measure. Although this would control for any preponderance of positive or negative behaviors in the SPS, it assumes that overall both the child and adult samples are perceptually balanced and does not con- trol for any possible perceptual bias in each sample as a whole. In an effort to avoid both these corrupting influences in the determination of a valid balance point for the CBC-M'and CBC-MC, three psychology graduate students, including this researcher, specializing in child clinical psychology were given a transcript of the SP3 and 'were asked to view the SPS in a very specific fashion. In their 53 viewing, the raters were encouraged to stOp the videotape playback of the SPS every few seconds and at least every 15 seconds and to rewind the videotape or a section of it for repeated viewings of each segment of new behavior which appeared on the SPS. Then, after repeated view- ings of each new behavior segment, the raters were to peruse the CBC-M/MC for possible matches with items. Every time a SPS behavior matched an item, a succinct, objective description of the behavior was to be made under that item number. Thus, at the end of this process, each rater's determination of which CBC4M/MC items were supported by the SPS behavior could be made. In obtaining a final score, rater disagreements were resolved by discussions and reviews of the video- tape until mutual agreement was reached. It was hOped that this somewhat tedious process would result in accurate matchings, undistorted by perceptual bias, such that the resulting score (called the "empirically derived balance point") would represent a valid balance point. To assess this, each rater's IPS, as measured by the CBC-M,‘was assessed prior to their training as raters; then after having rated the items as present or absent in the SPS as described above, each rater's ratings were scored as their IPS was earlier. Subsequent analysis revealed that the standard deviations between the two sets of scores drOpped from .37 to .06, and that the inter-rater reliabilities between pairs of raters (phi) equaled .73, .58, and .71. Although the inter-rater reliabilities are only mod- erate, that the standard deviations between the two sets of scores drOpped markedly and that mutual agreement through discussion and 5h review of the videotape was used to resolve scoring discrepancies suggests that the resulting empirically derived balance point suffers from a minimum of distortion due to raters' IPS biases. Similarly, to arrive at a more accurate estimate of the "true" balance point on the PAPI-M and PAPI-MC, the rater of the above three raters whose empirically derived estimate was closest to the final empirically derived balance point followed the same procedure as de- scribed above in an attempt to match accurately SPS behaviors with PSPI-M/MC items. The above rating processes resulted in empirically derived CBC-M/MC and PAPI-M/MC balance points of -.20 and 9h, respectively. It is interesting to note that both empirically derived balance points are more positive than the corresponding mean scores of parents or child subjects, thus suggesting that parent, and to a lesser degree, child subjects (and perhaps our culture) are negatively biased in perceptions of adults and children. The Person Picture Story Test (PPST) Subjects' audiotaped responses to each PPST were transcribed. Through simultaneously listening to the audiotape and reading the transcripts, three coders were trained to rate independently subjects' responses according to the PPST Scoring Manual presented in Appendix P. subjects' responses to each of the seven items were scored for "other's orientation" (i.e., how the major adult(s) or peers in the picture story is thinking, feeling, or behaving toward the child who is similar in age and sex to the child subjects). "Other's orienta- tion" could be rated positive, negative, neutral, or "no score," if 55 no scorable response was given. All discrepancies in scores were resolved by mutual agreement of the three raters and an expert scorer. To arrive at a final raw score for each child subject, the number of negative scores was subtracted from the number of positive scores, and this was divided by the total number of positive, neutral, and negative scores. The fact that within a possible score range of -l.00 to +1.00, subjects' mean PPST score was -.07 (S2 = .54) suggests that, as planned, the PPST items were ambiguously neutral. Since the PPST items are not based on emitted behavior or other objectively measurable phenomena, it is not possible to attempt to assess an objective empirically derived balance point as was done with the CBC-M/MC and PAPI—M/MC. If one were to attempt to determine a more valid balance point, the sample's mean score would seem to be the only alternative choice. Although this latter method would seem to control for possible positive or negative bias in the PPST items, as mentioned earlier, it introduces or at least leaves uncontrolled the corrupting influence of an overall perceptual bias in the sample. The Sensitivity to Children Qfiestionnaire Modified for Children STC-MC As with the PPST, subjects' audiotaped responses to each of the four STC-MC items were transcribed. Then, as described in the STC-MC scoring manual presented in Appendix Q, through simultaneously listen- ing to the audiotape and reading the transcript, two different sets of two independent raters scored each subject response on each of the four STC-MC items in one of two ways: First, each item was scored once for explicit or implicit acknowledgement of or response to their 56 hypothetical child's (a) positive intention or behaviors (scored +) and (b) negative behavioral consequences (scored -). If a response ‘was unscorable, it was rated "no score." Originally, it was intended that subtraction of the total number of (-) scores from the total number of (+) scores would constitute each subject's total score (hereafter referred to as the "STC-BEH score"). However, since subjects' acknowledgement or response to the negative behavior or behavioral consequence was evident in all but two (of over 200 possible) responses, it was decided that only the number of items where a subject acknowledged or responded to their hypothetical child's positive intentions or behaviors would constitute the STC-BEH score. Within a possible score range of 0 to h (with higher scores evi- dencing a higher number of items in which the child's positive inten— tions or behavior were acknowledged), the mean sample score was 1.837 (S25= 1.106). Since no subject's number of (+) scores surpassed his or her number of (-) scores, higher STC-BEH scores merely indicate less negative imbalance in the ratio of negative-to-positive aSpects of the child's behavior acknowledged. Thus, this sample mean indicates a strong negative skewness in subjects' scores. Second, responses to each item'were scored for evaluation of the hypothetical child as conveyed through the subject's words, tone of voice, and actions. subjects' evaluations could be scored positive, negative, neutral, or if it was not scorable, "no score." To facilitate raters' ability to discriminate different types of responses, they were initially trained to score responses according to Stollak's "Scoring Guide to Responses to Children" as presented in 57 Appendix R. This scoring guide has been used in past research (Stollak et al., 1973) and consists of 37 possible categories, many of which generally can be considered positive, negative, or neutral. After this training, raters were instructed to consider the voice tone or the manner in which the subject said the response, as well as the content, in determining whether a positive, negative, or neutral evaluation was being conveyed to the hypothetical child. For example, the content of the subject's response might be, "That's terrific," which would imply a positive evaluation; however, when the subject's tone is considered, it may become apparent that the response is said in sarcasm, thus necessitating a negative evaluation score. Each response was scored for the frequency of occurrence of each type of evaluation. That is, each time a subject's voice tone changed such that a different evaluation was conveyed or a distinct content category as defined by Stollak's Scoring Guide was evidenced, that part of the response was scored. Thus, multiple scorings of any or all evaluation categories could be given to a response to an STC-MC item. Each subject's raw score (hereafter referred to as the "STC- EVAL score") was determined by the number of "positive" scores minus the number of "negative" scores, divided by the total number of posi- tive, neutral, and negative scores. Thus, higher scores evidence a more positive evaluation of and less critical or punitive reaponse to the hypothetical child. To be used, a child subject's protocol must have had scorable responses to three of the four STC-MC items. Any discrepancies in scorings were resolved through discussion and mutual agreement 58 between the two coders and an expert scorer. ‘Within a possible score range of -1.00 to +1.00, the mean STC- EVAL score was -.2t.6 (_s_19_ = .355). Thus, both the STC-BEH and STC-EVAL scores indicate that when confronted by both positive and negative aspects of their hypothetical child's behavior, child subjects more frequently responded to the negative aspects and more frequently con- veyed a negative evaluation of the child in their responses. However, as with the IPS measures, it could be argued that due to an unintended greater salience of the negative aspects of behavior in STC-MC items, raw score zero constitutes a poor balance point. Further, it could be argued that use of the sample's mean as the balance point would yield a more accurate description of each subject's tendency either to re— spond more to positive or negative aspects of behavior or to convey a positive or negative evaluation when confronted with equally positive and negative aspects of behavior. As with the PPST, the nature of the STC-MC does not permit a determination of an Objective, empirically derived balance point as was done with the CBC-M/MC and PAPI-M/MC. Inter-Rater Religbilitieg on the PPST, STC-BEH, and STC-EVAL Inter-rater reliabilities between all possible pairs of coders for each of these three measures consist of(correlations of each sub- ject's final score based on each coder's ratings. Reliabilities were .92, .90, and .82 for the PPST and .81 and .80 for the STC-BEH and STC-EVAL, respectively. 59 Cglculations of Absolute Scores Absolute scores are meant to represent the degree of bias in a subject's response to a particular stimulus and are calculated by subtracting each subject's score on a measure from that measure's balance point, while disregarding the sign of the resulting score. It was originally intended that the non-signed raw score of each perceptual or reactive style measure would constitute the balance point upon which absolute scores would be computed. As has been shown, however, this would seem to yield absolute scores based on invalid balance points and, therefore, invalid absolute scores for most measures. Thus, different absolute scores based on balance points consisting of the sample's raw score zero, the mean sample score, and for the modified CBC and PAPI measures, the empirically derived balance points are used where absolute scores are needed. The Perceptual Accuracy Test The Perceptual Accuracy Test was scored for accuracy in percep- tions of the child SPS, the adult SPS, and for overall perceptual accuracy. Accuracy in perceptions of the child was computed by divi- ding the number of "true" child behaviors a subject correctly identi- fied by the Test's total number of "true" child behavior items and adding to this the number of "false" child behavior items the subject correctly identified, divided by the Test's total number of "false" child behavior items. Accuracy in perceptions of the adult SPS and overall perceptual accuracy were calculated in the same way, except that respective adult and adult-plus-child behavior items were used in place of child behavior items in the formula. 60 The highest and lowest possible Perceptual Accuracy Test scores are 2 and 0. Given that the Test is based on "True/False" responses, a score of 1 would be expected just by chance on all three subtests. Means and standard deviations for the three perceptual accuracy scores are presented in Table 2. Table 2 Means and Standard Deviations for the Three Perceptual Accuracy Test Scores (N = 17) Standard Scoring Categories Mean Deviation Accuracy in perceptions of the SPS child 1.6h6 .133 Accuracy in perceptions of the SPS adult 1.712 .140 Combined perceptual accuracy score 1.67L .110 The Identification Index Hoffman's (1971) scoring system was used to assess the relative strength of each child subject's identification with each parent. In this system, the number of times each parent is mentioned across a subject's responses is totaled, and the parent the subject more fre- quently mentions is considered to be the parent with whom the subject most identifies. Because of the scoring simplicity, this researcher scored the Identification Indexes, and no reliability estimates were done. 61 The wechsler Intell ence Scale for Children (WISC Vocabulgrygfiubtest WISC responses were scored, summed, and scaled for each subject according to the standard scoring method (wechsler, 197A). Each sub- ject's scale score constituted the measure of his or her intelligence. Subsidiagy Research Issues to be Examined In addition to the primary hypotheses, a number of other ques- tions were examined. First, the relationship between child subjects' IPS's and both reactive style and perceptual accuracy measures was assessed. Second, the relationship of IPS, perceptual accuracy, and reactive style to child psychosocial competence, age, IQ, and socio- economic status was examined. RESULTS The results to be presented are analyzed in terms of analysis of variance and correlations. Because it was suspected that child age, socioeconomic status, and IQ might relate to many of the variables to be examined, these variables were correlated with parent IPS scores, child IPS and reactive style scores, perceptual accuracy scores, and child sex and psychosocial competence. Where any of the three demogra- phic variables relates at least marginally significantly (pH‘:.10) to both correlated variables, it is partialed out of that correlation. Because (a) socioeconomic status and IQ related marginally to child sex (gs = .2L and .18; ps.<:.05 and .10 for males and females, respec- tively) and to psychosocial competence (gs = .37 and .21.; ps < .01 and .05 high and low, respectively); and, (b) child age, socioeconomic sta- tus and IQ respectively related marginally to eight, five, and six of the children's 15 IPS and reactive style scores, the three demographic variables are covaried out of the multivariate analyses of variance presented in Hypothesis 1 which examined child sex and psychosocial com- petence differences on the IPS and reactive style measures. The fact that the covariates as a group relate significantly to the dependent measures in all these multivariate analyses (p ‘;.01) supports this decision. Lastly, one-tailed tests of significance are used for analy- see where previous research and theory suggest a particular relation- ship. Two-tailed tests of significance are used for all other analyses. 62 63 fiypgthesis l Hypothesis 1 predicts that children rated high in psychosocial competence will be more perceptually balanced than children rated low in psychosocial competence. To test this, as well as other possible sex and competence group differences, children's different signed and absolute scores on the three IPS and two reactive style measures were subjected to a series of 2 (sex) x 2 (psychosocial competence) multi- variate analyses of variance with children's age, socioeconomic status, and IQ covaried out. Table 3 summarizes the main effects, interaction effects, and, where indicated by higher order effects (p_‘:.10), uni- variate results for those multivariate analyses approaching signifi- cance. The adjusted means for sex and adjustment groups where uni- variate results at least approach significance are presented in Table A. A summary of all six analyses appears in Appendix S. Whether raw score zero, the mean group score-dwhich is noted by an (M) after the measure's abbreviated name-or for the CBC-MC and PAPI-MC, the empirically derived balance point-awhich is noted by an (E) after the measures' abbreviated names-is used as the median or balanced IPS point from which the scores are derived, results show no significant sex, adjustment, or sex x adjustment interaction effects in relation to the IPS or reactive style measures' absolute scores. Thus, no support is provided for Hypothesis 1. Further, these results provide no indication that male and female children differ in their degree of perceptual or reactive style bias (or balance) or that adjustment groups differ in reactive style. Summary of Main and Interaction Effects and, Where Indicated by Higher Order Effects (p_.c .10), 64 Table 3 Univariate Results for Multivariate Analyses Approaching Significance Source £3 p< Raw scores Sex 2.15 .079 CBC-MC 9.49 .00h PAPI-MC .01 .921 PPST .67 .L16 STC-EVAL 1.85 .181 STC-BEH .07 .79h Adjustment 1.72 .153 Sex x adjustment .34 .88h Signed Scores Where the Mean for Each IPS or Reactive Style Measure Constitutes the Balance Point Sex 3.01 .021 CBC-MC (M) 9.90 .003 PAPI-MC (M) .23 .638 PPST (M) .88 .35h STCqEVAL (M) h.h8 .040 STC-BEH (M) .02 .881 Adjustment 2.39 .055 CBC-MC (M) 2.17 .1A8 PAPI-MC (M) 3.33 .075 PPST (M) .36 . 55L. STC-EVAL (M) 3.38 .073 STC-BEH (M) 3.10 .086 Sex x adjustment .35 .880 65 Table 3 (cont'd.) Source 1“8 peg Signed Scores Where the Empirically Derived Balance Points (for the CBC-MC and PAPI-MC) or Mean Score (for the PPST, STC-EVAL, STC-BEH) for Each Measure Constitutes the Balance Point Sex 3.01 .022 CBC-MC (E) 9.90 .003 PAPI-MC (E) .27 .612 PPST (M) .88 .35h STC-EVAL (M) h.h8 .OLO STC-BEH (M) .03 .881 Adjustment 2.38 .055 CBC-MC (E) 2.17 .1A8 PAPI-MC (E) 3.26 .078 PPST (M) .36 .55h STCAEVAL (M) 3.38 .073 STC-BEH (M) 3.10 .086 Sex x adjustment .36 .879 3g; for the comparisons were always 5, L1. 66 Table A Adjusted Mean Scores for Child Sex and Adjustment Groups on IPS and Reactive Style Measures Where Univariate Results Which are Subsumed Under a Significant or Marginally Significant Multivariate Effect Approach Significance (p4 .10) Sex Group Differences Measure Male Children Female Children CBC-MC - .355 - .051 STC-EVAL (M) — .078 .087 Adjustment Group Differences High Psychosocially Low Psychosocially Competent Group Competent Group PAPIAMC (M) 3.100 - 2.776 STC-EVAL (M) .093 - .08L STC-BEH (M) .277 - .278 PAPI-MC (E) - .055 - 5.868 67 As can be seen from Table 3, however, all three analyses in which the IPS and reactive style measures' different signed scores were subjected to 2 (sex) x 2 (psychosocial competence) mmltivariate analyses of covariance yielded significant or marginally significant main effects. More specifically, where scores are derived from raw score zero, the relationship of child sex to IPS and reactive style scores approach significance with the significant group difference on the CBC-MC apparently accounting for the effect. Where signed scores are derived from the mean sample score on each IPS or reactive style measure and in the third MANCOVA where the signed scores are based on either the empirically derived balance points or, where no such empirical derivation is possible, the mean sample score, child sex and child psychosocial groups differ significantly in their rela- tionship to the IPS and reactive style scores. Examination of the univariate E? and adjusted means shows that child sex groups differ significantly on the CBC-MC (M), STCQEVAL (M), and CBC-MC (E), with females scoring significantly more positively on each, and that ad- justment group differences approach significance on the PAPI-MC (M), STC-EVAL (M), STC-BEH (M), and PAPI-MC (E), with the children higher in psychosocial competence having marginally significantly more posi- tive scores on all four. Although Hypothesis 1 is not confirmed, results indicate that children rated high compared to children rated low in psychosocial competence tend to evidence more positive perceptions of the adult stimulus, respond more positively to their hypothetical child, and in those responses more frequently evidence acknowledgement of the 68 child's positive behaviors or intentions. Further, results indicate that compared to their male peers, female children perceive the child SPS significantly more positively and respond more positively to their hypothetical child. Hypothesis 2 Hypothesis 2 predicts that children whose parents both evidence a balanced IPS will evidence a more balanced IPS than children whose parents both evidence the pgpp biased IPS. Additionally and relevant to Hypothesis 2, theories suggesting different and sometimes opposed relationships between parent IPS on the one hand and child IPS and psychosocial competence on the other are tested. To select the children of parents who both have the same biased IPS, balanced IPS, or Opposite IPS (i.e., one parent is positively biased and the other is negatively biased), all parents' CBC-M and then PAPIAM scores were rank ordered. Then, in successive procedures first using raw score zero, then parents' mean score, and finally the empi- rically derived balance point for the CBC-M and then the PAPI-M, approximately one-third of the sample whose scores fell closest to the balance point being used at any time were considered balanced perceivers, while those who scored higher than this range were con- sidered positively biased perceivers; those scoring lower were con, sidered negatively biased perceivers. Thus, each parent was catego- rized six times as balanced or positively or negatively biased in IPS, based on the three different balance points for each of the two mea- sures. Based on each of these six sets of ratings, six sets of three child groups were formed. For each set of parent ratings, children 69 whose parents both evidenced a balanced IPS constituted one group; children whose parents both evidenced the same biased IPS constituted the second group; and, children whose parents evidenced opposite IPS's constituted the third group. Because fewer than five children had both parents classified as perceptually balanced when raw score zero on the CBC-M or PAPIAM or the empirically derived balance point on the PAPI-M'were used to create parents' absolute scores, comparisons be- tween child groups formed on the basis of these three parent balance points would have been inappropriate; thus, these groups were not compared in the analyses performed to test Hypothesis 2 and related theories. In the series of onedway analyses of variance designed to test Hypothesis 2 and related theories, the three child groups in each of the three remaining sets were compared on psychosocial competence ratings and absolute and signed IPS scores based on the corresponding balance point of the corresponding measure which parents of that grouping of children were originally rated. No significant differences on psychosocial competence or signed or absolute scores in any of the nine analyses are evident (a summary of these analyses appears in Appendix T). But where the empirically derived balance point was used to categorize parents on the CBC-M, child group differences on the corresponding child measure (i.e., absolute CBC-MC scores based on the empirically derived balance point) approach significance, 2; (2,29) = 2.52; pz. .10. However, examination of these group differences showed that the children whose parents both evidenced balanced IPS had significantly more biased IPS than children 70 whose parents both evidenced the same biased IPS (absolute mean scores = .hh and .21, respectively; _t_ (29) = 2.33; p4..05) which is inconsistent with Hypothesis 2. Thus, the results provide no support for Hypothesis 2. Further, there is no suggestion that having two parents who are oppositely biased, similarly biased, or both balanced in their perceptions of children or adults has differential consequences for their child's perceptions of the adult or psychosocial competence. Relgpionships of Paternally and Maternally Balanced IPS to Child IPS and Adjustment Tables 5 and 6 show a number of correlations between either father or mother balanced IPS and child IPS and adjustment. Child Adjustment Table 5 shows significant and marginally significant correla— tions between children's psychosocial competence and two of their fathers' three absolute CBC-M scores, indicating that fathers who are more balanced in their perceptions of the child SPS have children who are rated higher in psychosocial competence. Chi1d_B§l§nced or Biased IPS Table 6 presents the correlations between parent and child IPS scores on the modified CBC and PAPI measures. Correlations between fathers or mothers and sons and daughters on corresponding forms of absolute CBC and PAPI scores are pipglg'underlined in Table 6 and are discussed below. However, as mentioned earlier, because the validity of absolute scores based on CBC-M and CBC-MC raw score zero is pro- bably poor, correlations between parent and child absolute scores 71 .mo. V“: .oa. V al.. .N me oovoo ouo:.coaeaaso pcouogaoo mHHeHoOmonohwa swan odes: .H as ooooo epo:.:euoaano peepogaoo haaewoouonohwa 30H ecede. .oems one: eoneowmwcwfim Ho apnea ooaaepuocoe . Gene: 8.. 8... 8. 8.: swat mo. imm... NH. socceeeeeco Heaeceeceaem cease we _ze e esteem me. use e esteem rem 3mm Ame n zv Ace u_zv esteem zuomo .eeeeeez esteem 2-0mm .ebeceee oocevogsoo Hewoomonohem eaano op meeoom Euomo epsaomn< one eecmam .epcenem mo afigmcoapeaem one m canoe 72 Table 6 8Absolute scores are indicated by an (A) after a measure's abbreviated name. bOne-tailed tests of significance were used for correlations 'which are underlined either one or three times. Two-tailed tests of significance were used for all other correlations. Single underlines indicate correlations between absolute parent and child scores on corresponding forms of absolute scores of CBC or PAPI measures. Double underlines indicate correlations between absolute parent and signed child scores on CBC or PAPI measures. Triple underlines indicate correlations between signed parent and child scores on corresponding CBC and PAPI measures. cThe extreme positive skew of PAPI-MC absolute scores based on the mid-point of the theoretically possible range of scores (i.e., the PAPI-MC[A1) yielded no negative scores and the same distribution as PAPI-MC signed raw scores. Therefore, PAPI-MC(A) scores were not used in this study. *p4 .10. “24.05. ““24 .01. *4.” yo.: eo. mas so. as. -.a wasp -.- no.. was an. so. .. em leevox-_mei eo.- «men as. mo. «as ea. H~.- “0.- «a.. mo. NH. Lama ma. ma.c en Azevoz-aaem e - MI with tale alas! No...“ 2. Was: em film. 4.1a ... «mun we...“ 8... en oxide. was an. no. mast 40.- m0.: Ho. sad” ~H.- mo.u same" 60.- .- ea. an Au.- no.- oo. AH Aevox-omo Hm.- em.- mm. on.- e««.- on.- and mm.- -.- on. so. on. so.- an.- as oz-oeo me me steam m< z< e eeeem u< xe sheen “4 :< < emcee z serene nee: rem new new so: haausaaum Ame u 2o x-Hm Circle the letter of the gng description which best fits the adult you saw on TV: . The adult seemed to like_n little the games the child liked. The adult seemed to like n:lot the games the child liked. The adult seemed to be n little bored with kid's games. The adult seemed to be very bored with kid's games. COUJ3> O 0 Circle the letter of the gng description which best fits the adult you saw on TV: . The adult was veny stingy. . The adult was a little stingy. . The adult shared veny much. . The adult sharednnglittle. comb Circle the letter of the gng description which best fits the adult you saw on TV: . The adult was g little worried. The adult was very worrieg. The adult was a little calm. The adult was veny onlm. cow> 169 Circle the letter of the gng description which best fits the adult you saw on TV: . You trust the adult veyy much. You trust the adult g little. You very much don't trust the adult. You don't trust the adult a little bit. i UOCD> .0 Circle the letter of the pp; description which best fits the adult you saw on TV: . The adult was usually not shy. The adult was not shypat all. The adult was n little shy. The adult was veny shy. DOCU> Circle the letter of the png description which best fits the adult you saw on TV: . The adult asked stupid questions a little. The adult asked stupid questions a lot. The adult asked good questions a little. . The adult asked good questions p lot. UOCD> Circle the letter of the pp; description which best fits the adult you saw on TV: . The adult got angry a lot. . The adult got angry a little. . The adult didn't get angry at all. . The adult usually did not get angry. Down:- Circle the letter of the one description which best fits the adult you saw on TV: . The adult was a little nice. . The adult was veny nice. . The adult was n:little mean. . The adult was veyy mean. cow» Circle the letter of the png description which best fits the adult you saw on TV: A. The adult was in a very good nood. . The adult was in a little bit of a ggod mood. . The adult was very grouchy. . The adult was a little groucny. UOCU 170 Circle the letter of the pp; description which best fits the adult you saw on TV: UOUJ> The adult was very unhelpful. The adult was p little unhelpful. The adult was very helpful. The adult was nrlittle helpful. Circle the letter of the gag description which best fits the adult you saw on TV: UOUJP The adult didn't laugh or smile at all. The adult usually didn't laugh or smile. The adult laughed and smiled g lot. The adult laughed and smiled a little. Circle the letter of the pp; description which best fits the adult you saw on TV: The adult thanked the child some of the time when the child did something for her. The adult thanked the child very often when the child did something for her. The adult usually didn't thank the child when the child did something for her. The adult nlmost never thanked the child when the child did something for her. Circle the letter of the png description which best fits the adult you saw on TV: The adult was very friendly. The adult was n:little friendly. The adult was veyy unfriendly. The adult was p little unfriendly. Circle the letter of the png description which best fits the adult you saw on TV: UOUJ> The adult on TV lied n little. The adult lied veyy much. The adult was a little honest. The adult was very honest. 17. 18. 19. 21. 171 Circle the letter of the pp; description which best fits the adult you saw on TV: . The adult 12; the child make the rules n lot. The adult 1;; the child make the rules a little. The adult made up the rules a lot. . The adult made up the rules a little. Comb e Circle the letter of the png description which best fits the adult you saw on TV: A. It was yery hard to understand the adult when she explained things. B. It was a little hard tpyunderstnng the adult when she explained things. C. The adult enplained things vepy well. D. The adult enplained things pretty well. Circle the letter of the png description which best fits the adult you saw on TV: A. Some of the time, the adult l§p_the child do thing when the child wanted to do them. B. Most of the time, the adult lg; the child do things when the child wanted to do them. C. Some of the time, the adult wanted to have the child do things right away. D. Most of the time, the adult wanted to have the child do things right away. Circle the letter of the pp; description which best fits the adult you saw on TV: . The adult was n little happy. The adult was veyy happy. The adult was g little sad. The adult was veny and. OOH!» Circle the letter of the png description which best fits the adult you saw on TV: A. A little bit, the adult seemed like she would rather be some- where else. B. A lot, the adult seemed like she would rather be somewhere else. C. The adult liked to play with the child p_little bit. D. The adult liked to play with the child a lot. 22. 172 Circle the letter of the pnp description which best fits the adult you saw on TV: . The The The The O oow> adult cared nylot about how the child felt. adult cared a little bit about how the child felt. adult didn't seem to_gnre at all about how the child felt. adult didn't usually seem to care about how the child felt. APPENDIX I The Identification Index The Identification Index 1. Which person do you admire or look up to the most? 2. ‘Which person do you want to be like when you grow up? 3. Which person do you take after mostly? 173 APPENDIX J The Demographic Que stionnaire The Demographic Questionnaire MOther Code Number Name Age Telephone No. Present Address =yg Marital Status Occupation __ Years in Occupation Highest Level of Education Completed (circle one): Elementary grade: 1 2 3 A 5 6 Junior High School: 7 8 9 High School: 10 ll 12 College: 1 year 2 years 3 years A years degree granted M.S. Degree Ph.D. Degree Other degrees or certificates (e.g., M.D., D.D.S., D.O., law or high school certificates indicating completion of vocational training): Names and Ages of Children: _ Children's Grades in School: Other Peeple in Household and Relationship to Children: Note. Only this questionnaire will contain your name. The checklists you will complete will contain only the code number in the upper right- hand corner. This questionnaire will be removed and kept in a sepa- rately locked file, and your answers will be kept completely confiden- tial. 17h APPENDIX K The Pupil Behavior Rating Scale The Pupil Behavior Rating Scale* Teacher's Name: School: Grade: Date: INSTRUCTIONS TO TEACHER Please rate all of the children (boys png_girls) in your class as "most like" or "least like" the pupil described on each of the following pages. For each description, we are asking you to first list the names of the three children (boys and/or girls) "most like," and the three children (boys and/or girls) "least like" the pupil described on that page, in the apprOpriate boxes. If you genuinely feel none or only one or two of the children in your class are "most like" the pupil described on that page, feel free to leave it blank or write in the number of names you feel accurately reflects your perceptions. Then, please list the names of the fly; children "next most like" and the fiyg children "next least like" the described pupil, in their boxes. Finally, please list the names of the remaining children in your class in the middle box of that page, using as many lines as needed. Although we expect that one or more children will be rated as "most like" or "least like" the described pupil on two or more pages, it is not expected that a particular child will be rated as "most like" or "least like" the described pupil on eveny page or that only 176 177 boys or only girls will or have to be chosen as "most like" or "least like" the described pupil. That is, it is possible for a particular boy or girl to be "most like" the described pupil on one, two, or three pages, "least like" the described pupil on another page, and "next most like" the described pupil on another page. Please complete all pages. we would like to thank you for your time and effort in completing this rating form. *The following page is a sample of the Rating Scale forms given to the teachers. Qng of the following pupil behavior descriptions appeared at the bottom of each of the pages. "This pupil is competent and mature at work, play, and inter- personal relations and is emotionally and psychologically healthy." "This pupil has difficulty delaying gratification of his/her impulse s. " "This pupil gets into fights or quarrels with other pupils." "This pupil spends much of the time in school alone and quiet, actively avoiding working or playing with other pupils. "This pupil actively goes against my requests and school rules." 178 .mmubm geomom Q2¢ memmbomm ME BmzH¢u< mmou qu>Heo¢ AHmDm mHmB xoqmm QmmHmommm 304mm ammHmomma 309mm QmmHmome 304mm ammHmommo AHQDA axe mxHA AHmDm Hie mxHA Bm