Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c4f8m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T07:02:47.184Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Escalation and reinforcement in mother-child conflict: Social processes associated with the development of physical aggression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2008

James Snyder ,
Patty Edwards ,
Kate McGraw ,
Kim Kilgore  and
Angie Holton
James Snyder*
Affiliation:
Wichita State University
Patty Edwards
Affiliation:
Wichita State University
Kate McGraw
Affiliation:
Wichita State University
Kim Kilgore
Affiliation:
Wichita State University
Angie Holton
Affiliation:
Wichita State University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: James Snyder, Department of Psychology, Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas 67208.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The objective of this study was to test a social interactional model of physical aggression. Specifically, this model hypothesizes that the performance of physical aggression has its roots in socialization settings that are characterized by high densities of aversive stimuli and that provide frequent reinforcement for escalation to high intensity aversive behavior during social conflict. Social conflicts were observed during 10 hr of interaction of each of 20 mothers and their 5-year-old sons; half of the sons were selected based on evidence of frequent aggression in home and school settings. Simple descriptive and sequential analyses indicated that aggressive relative to nonaggressive dyad members were more likely to engage in conflict, engaged in longer conflicts, were more likely to escalate to higher levels of aversiveness, and were less likely to de-escalate the intensity of conflict. In aggressive and nonaggressive dyads, the cessation of conflict contingent on the escalation of one dyad member was reliably associated with an increased likelihood of escalation and with escalation to higher levels of aversiveness by that member in the subsequent conflict. However, escalation occurred more frequently and was more likely to result in cessation of conflicts in aggressive than nonaggressive dyads.

Type
Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , Spring 1994 , pp. 305 - 321
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Achenbach, T., & Edelbrock, C. (1983). Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist and Revised Child Behavior Profile. Burlington: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont.Google Scholar
Achenbach, T., & Edelbrock, C. (1986). Manual for the Teacher's Report Form and Teacher Version of the Child Behavior Profile. Burlington: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont.Google Scholar
Cairns, R. B., & Cairns, B. D. (1986). The developmental-interactional view of social behavior: Four issues in adolescent aggression. In Olweus, D., Block, J., & Radke-Yarrow, M. (Eds.), Development of antisocial and prosocial behavior: Research, theories, and issues (pp. 315–342). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Dishion, T., Gardner, K., Patterson, G., Reid, J., Spyrou, S., & Thidobeaux, S. (1983). The family process code: A multidemsional system for observing family interaction. Unpublished manuscript, Oregon Social Learning Center, Eugene.Google Scholar
Dix, T. (1991). The affective organization of parenting. Psychological Bulletin, 110, 3–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Flanagan, T. J., & Maguire, K. (1992). Sourcebook of criminal justice statistics 1991. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. Washington, DC: USGPO.Google Scholar
Gelles, R. J., & Straus, M. A. (1988). Intimate violence. New York: Simon & Shuster.Google Scholar
Gottman, J. M. (1991). Chaos and regulated change in families: A metaphor for the study of transitions. In Cowan, P. A. & Hetherington, E. M. (Eds.), Family transitions (pp. 247–272). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Gottman, J. M., & Roy, A. K. (1990). Sequential analysis: A guide for behavioral researchers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartup, W. W. (1989). Social relationships and their developmental significance. American Psychologist, 44, 120–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lay, K., Waters, E., & Park, K. A. (1989). Maternal responsiveness and child compliance: The role of mood as a mediator. Child Development, 60, 1405–1411.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Loeber, R. (1980). Child precursors of assaultive behavior. Unpublished manuscript. Oregon Social Learning Center, Eugene.Google Scholar
Loeber, R., Weissman, W., & Reid, J. B. (1983). Family interaction of assaultive adolescents, stealers and non-delinquents. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 11, 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lytton, H. (1990). Child and parent effects on boys' conduct disorder: A reinterpretation. Developmental Psychology, 26, 683–697.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maccoby, E. E. (1992). The role of parents in the socialization of children. Developmental Psychology, 28, 1006–1017.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maccoby, E. E., & Martin, J. (1983). Socialization in the context of the family: Parent-child interaction. In Hetherington, E. M. (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology. Vol. IV: Socialization, personality and social development (4th ed., pp. 1–101). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Parke, R. D., & Slaby, R. G. (1983). The development of aggression. In Hetherington, E. M. (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology. Vol. IV: Socialization, personality and social development (4th ed., pp. 547–641). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Patterson, G. R. (1982). Coercive family process. Eugene, OR: Castilia.Google Scholar
Patterson, G. R., Reid, J. B., & Dishion, T. (1992). Anti-social boys. Eugene, OR: Castilia.Google Scholar
Reid, J. B. (1978). A social learning approach to family intervention. Vol. 2: Observation in the home setting. Eugene, OR: Castilia.Google Scholar
Reid, J. B. (1986). Social-interactional patterns in the families of abused and nonabused children. In Zahn-Waxler, C., Cummings, E. M., & Iannotti, R. (Eds.), Altruism and aggression: Biological and social origins (pp. 238–255). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sackett, G. P. (1979). The lag sequential analysis of contingency and cyclicity in behavioral interactions research. In Osofsky, J. D. (Ed.), Handbook of infant development (pp. 623–649). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Snyder, J. J. (1977). A reinforcement analysis of interaction in problem and nonproblem families. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 86, 528–535.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Snyder, J., & Patterson, G. R. (1986). The effects of consequences on patterns of social interaction: A quasiexperimental approach to reinforcement in natural interaction. Child Development, 57, 1257–1268.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Snyder, J., & Patterson, G. R. (1992). Individual differences in social aggression: A reinforcement model of socialization in the natural environment. Unpublished manuscript, Wichita State Univerisity, Wichita, KS.Google Scholar
Stoolmiller, M. (1992, 09). Contagion models of social interaction. Paper presented at the OSLC Symposium on the Social Dynamics of Development and Pathology,Oregon Social Learning Center, Eugene.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Justice. (1986). Teenage victims: A national crime survey report. Rockville, MD: Justice Statistics Clearinghouse.Google Scholar
Wahler, R. B., & Dumas, J. (1987). Family factors in childhood psychology: Toward a coercion-neglect model. In Jacobs, T. T. (Ed.), Family interaction and psychopathology: Theories, methods and findings (pp. 581–627). New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, B. (1986). Reinforcement, choice and response strength. In Atkinson, R., Hernnstein, R., & Lindzey, G. (Eds.), Steven's handbook of experimental psychology (pp. 167–244). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar