Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

5-1977

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Education

Major Professor

R. Steve McCallum

Abstract

A measure of mother and adolescent daughter synchrony, the Mother Daughter Synchrony Scale (MOSS), was developed for the present study, and the relationship between mother/daughter synchrony and adolescent girl's selfesteem and competence was examined. Synchrony is defined as the quality and quantity of communication, support, and harmony between mother and daughter. MOSS measures both the daughters and the mothers perceptions of the level of synchrony in their relationship. The MOSS was administered to 212 pair of mothers and adolescent daughters. The daughters self-esteem was measured using the Behavior Assessment System for Children Self-Report of Personality. Competance was determined by grade point average (GPA). Good psychometric properties were obtained for the MOSS: Cronbach's alphas ranged from .80 to .91; item-subscale correlation coefficients, ranged from .40 to .79. A strong three-factor structure of the scale (Harmony, Communications and Support) and robust reliabilities provide evidence to support the utility of the MOSS. Synchrony between mother and daughter as perceived by the daughter, was significantly related to daughter's self-esteem and competence. Furthermore a hierarchical regression analysis revealed that synchrony was a good predictor of grade point average after partialing out the variance due to self-esteem. Implications of the utility of the MOSS for clinicians and the need for furture investigations with more diverse populations of mothers and daughters are discussed.

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