Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1987

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Psychology

Major Professor

Robert G. Wahler

Committee Members

Leonard Handler, John C. Malone. Vey M. Nordquist

Abstract

The relationships between home-observed coercive chains within families of twenty-seven conduct disordered boys and a variety of hypothesized precipitating factors were examined. A parental compliance index, based on the percentage of times that caretakers yielded to aversively presented child instructions and failed to repeat commands following child opposition, was not significantly related to the frequency of coercive chains. A parental unpredictability index (PUT), measuring the inconsistency with which caretakers responded to neutral and positive child behavior, was significantly related to the frequency of coercive chains. PUI emerged as a significant predictor of coercive chains in regression analyses of the total sample and of a low socioeconomic disadvantage group, but not of a high socioeconomic disadvantage group. Factors discriminating between groups of high and low frequency chain families included PUI again, along with the frequency of caretaker instructions directed toward the target child. A self-report measure of the quality of caretaker community interactions in the 24 hour period preceding home observation approached significance as a discriminating factor. Discussion includes a proposed parent effects model for the production of coercive chains and recommends clinical interventions to complement traditional parent training strategies.

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