MOTHER-CHILD INTERACTIONS AND ADAPTATION OF TODDLERS

Research supports the notion that self-esteem is shaped by early social
processes and plays an important role in children's developmental outcomes.
Because self-esteem is not easily studied in early childhood and
retrospective reports are fraught with reliability problems, little
attention has been given to the forces that shape this aspect of the self-
system, particularly during the transition to toddlerhood when its
development is most salient. The basis for self-esteem is two-fold: a
sense of competency and the experience of being a "cause", also referred to
as a sense of control. Although self-esteem is considered one of the most
pervasive forces shaping child adaptation and psychopathology, a sense of
control or being a cause is the aspect that is least understood. Further,
the nature and quality of mother-child interactions involved in the
development of self-esteem are not well understood. This 5-year project
has three specific aims: 1) to describe the nature and quality of mother-
child control-salient interactions during the transition to toddlerhood; 2)
to examine the relationship of individual maternal and child
characteristics to the quality of mother-child control-salient
interactions; and 3) to examine the relationship between the quality of
mother-child interactional behavior and the child's socio-behavioral
competence and sense of control. Mother-infant dyads will be recruited in the first 9 months of the infant's
life. Individual characteristics of mother (depression, parenting control
orientation, and conceptualization of child development) and child
(temperament and developmental competencies) will be assessed during intake
into the study, at the child's age of 9 months. Subsequent assessments and
laboratory observations of mother-child dyads will occur at the child's age
of 12, 24, and 36 months. Laboratory observations will include three
control-salient interactions: limit-setting, play, and conversation. The
child's behavioral and social competence and causal self-evaluations will
be taken as indicators of the child's developing self-esteem. The project
seeks to address knowledge gaps that hamper pediatric and public health
nurses in carrying out their charge to prevent child psychopathology
through the promotion of optimal parenting practices and through
intervention with maladaptive mother-child interaction. The results will
serve as a basis for future study of the child's developing self-esteem and
mental health outcomes at subsequent periods when self-report measures may
be obtained and analyzed in relation to earlier mother-child interactions
and child socio-behavioral adaptation.