Parents’ Marital and Psychological State
Marital Relationship
Both interview and questionnaire methods were used to assess the quality of the marital relationship. In the interview, detailed information was obtained from mothers on their current marriage or cohabitation, including questions on the duration of their marriage/cohabitation, their age at marriage/cohabitation and about how they met their partner (arranged/ non-arranged). Ratings were made on the following variables according to a standardised coding scheme using the procedure developed by Quinton and Rutter (1988): Mutual Enjoyment, was rated on a 4-point scale from 1 (a great deal) to 4 (none), and assessed enjoyment of shared activities with partner. The frequency of participation in shared activities was noted, but it was the amount of positive enjoyment experienced that was mainly considered. Mothers that described enjoying “just being together” were rated at least 3. Activities which were described with evident positive enjoyment (e.g. “we love going out for walks”) were rated at 1. When activities were described with a positive tone, but with less enthusiasm than for 1, mothers were rated 2, or this rating was given when activities were infrequent but enjoyed.
Confiding, was rated on a 5-point scale from 1 (all important matters discussed adequately) to 5 (no communication about matters of importance), and measured ease of discussion of important issues together. This rating assessed how much mothers felt they could share with their partner and how easily they felt they could do so. Confiding did not relate to who raised the issues, but rather how they were discussed when they were brought up.
Arguments, was rated on a 4-point scale from 0 (non or occasional) to 3 (more than 12 per year), and assessed the occurrence of conflicts involving shouting and / or violence and / or negative criticism of each other or each other’s families, and / or not speaking after an argument for longer than an hour.
Marital Choice, was rated as either 1 (arranged) or 2 (non-arranged), and assessed the type of marriage mothers had.
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Inter-class correlation coefficients for Mutual Enjoyment, Confiding and Arguments respectively were found to be .72, .75 and .63.
The Golombok Rust Inventory of Marital State (GRIMS) (Rust el al., 1990), a 36-item questionnaire was also administered to mothers to assess the overall quality of the marital relationships between couples. Scores range from 0 to 84, with higher scores reflecting poorer marital quality. A score of 34 or more indicates marital dissatisfaction. The GRIMS has been shown to discriminate between couples who are about to separate and those who are not, and has a split-half reliability of .87 for women (Rust el al., 1998). The GRIMS has also been used cross-culturally48
Data on the mother’s perception of the father’s involvement in parenting was also obtained from the interview. Ratings were made on the following variables according to a standardised coding scheme:
to assess the quality of marital relationships.
Father’s Help in Child Care, was rated on a 6 point scale from 1 (passive/unhelpful) to 6 (takes major responsibility) and assessed the degree to which the mother saw the father as a help or a hindrance in parenting. A rating of 1 was given if the father simply let the mother get on with caring for the child without making any intervention of any sort, or was actively unhelpful. If the father came to the mother's aid only during those times when she was finding caring for the child too stressful (e.g., if she had been unwell), a rating of 2 was given. A rating of 3 was given if the father assisted the mother in the day-to-day care of the child only if she asked him for help, but would not normally become involved otherwise. If the father usually helped with care activities (e.g. such as helping with homework), which was often in the form of following mothers instructions, rather than playing a more active role, a rating of 4 was given. A rating of 5 was given when father not only spontaneously assisted the mother in the day-to-day care of the child, but also was actively involved in taking responsibility for certain care activities. A rating of 6 was given when the father took the responsibility for the day-to-day care of the child.
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Father’s Load Taking, was rated from 0 (none) to 4 (takes major load) and measured the degree to which the father looked after the child to give the mother time to rest and for other activities.
Inter-class correlation coefficients for Father’s Help in Child Care and Father’s Load Taking were found to be .68 and .71 respectively.
Mothers’ Psychological State
The short form of the Parenting Stress Index (PSI/SF) (Abidin, 1990) was completed by mothers. This 36-item questionnaire provides a standardised assessment of stress associated with parenting and comprises 3 subscales: Parental Distress, Dysfunctional Interaction, and Difficult Child. Scores of the 3 subscales are summed to produce a Total Stress score for mothers, with higher scores indicating higher parenting stress. Test-retest reliability for the total score was reported to be .96 over a 1-3 month period and .65 over one year (Abidin, 1990). The full length questionnaire has been shown to have concurrent and predictive validity, and the short version of the PSI has been shown to correlate with to the full scale version. The PSI has been translated into a number of languages and used across a range of cultural groups including collectivist based cultural groups49
The Edinburgh Depression Scale (Thorpe 1993) was completed by mothers to assess levels of depression. This 10-item measure produces a total score, which ranges from 0 to 30, with a higher score indicating a greater level of depression. It has been shown to be reliable and to differentiate well between clinical and non clinical groups. This scale was originally created for use with woman in the postpartum period. However, it has been shown to be applicable to mothers outside of the postpartum period (Matthey et al., 2001). It has also been used in previous studies with different cultural and ethnic groups
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The Trait-Anxiety Inventory (TAI) (Spielberger, 1983) was completed by mothers to assess levels of anxiety. The TAI is made up of 20 items measuring the individual’s general level of anxiety. Scores on the Trait-Anxiety Inventory range from 20 to 80, with higher scores indicating greater anxiety. This questionnaire has been shown to differentiate between
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Anderson, 2008; Hutcheson and Black, 1996
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Werret and Clifford, 2006; Montazeri, Torkan and Omidvari, 2007; Garcia-Esteve, Ascaso, Ojuel and Navarro, 2003
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clinical and non clinical groups. It has been extensively used for measuring anxiety, appearing in over 3000 studies (Speilberger, 1989), and has also been used cross culturally.51
Parenting and Mother-Child Relationships
Interview with mother
Mothers were asked to give detailed descriptions of the child’s behaviour and their responses to the child’s behaviour. Particular attention was paid to mother-child interactions relating to maternal warmth, control and discipline. Global overall ratings of the quality of parenting were made immediately following the interview, according to a standardised coding scheme, using information from the entire interview on the following variables:
Expressed Warmth,52
Sensitive Responding, was rated on a 5 point scale from 0 (none) to 4 (very sensitive responding), and measured the mother’s ability to read the child’s fears and anxieties and respond appropriately to them through discussion and dialogue. Mothers who had little sympathy for any difficulties experienced by the child, and showed limited ability to recognise anxiety or worry in their child, were given a rating of 1. The child in this instance would often be left to resolve difficulties on their own. Mothers were given a rating of 2 when they appropriately responded to their child’s worries, fears and anxieties in a systematic was rated on a 6 point scale from 0 (none) to 5 (high). Tone of voice, facial expression and gestures when speaking about the child, spontaneous expressions of warmth, sympathy and concern about the child’s difficulties (if any) and interest in the child as a person were all taken into account during coding. Where definite clear-cut warmth, enthusiasm, interest in and enjoyment of the child were apparent in mothers, ratings of 4 or 5 were made depending on the amount of warmth and enthusiasm expressed. When mothers showed definite understanding, sympathy and concern but only limited warmth, ratings of 2 or 3 were made. When mothers showed little or no understanding, sympathy or concern and no warmth, enthusiasm, interest and enjoyment of the child, ratings of 0 or 1 were made.
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Quek, Low, Razack, Loh and Chua, 2004; Hishinuma et al., 2001
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See Appendix I for a sample of the coding scheme for Expressed Warmth from the accompanying coding manual.
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and comforting manner. For this rating, mothers often responded in the same style, irrespective of the problem. A rating of 3 was given to mothers when they recognised anxieties and worries from non-verbal cues and were able to anticipate situations which caused this anxiety in the child. A rating of 4 was made when mothers showed the same behaviours as 3, but also recognised the child as an individual, helping them actively deal with problems and trying to ensure that their child would learn from the experience and would be better placed to cope in the future.
Child-Centredness,53
Mother-Child Interaction, was rated on a 5-point scale from 0 (very low) to 4 (very high), and measured how much time the mother and child spent in each other’s company and enjoyed spending time together. The ratings were also based on the extent of affection the child and mother showed to one another and the extent to which the mother took responsibility for the child.
was rated on a four point scale from 0 (little or none) to 3 (enmeshed), and measured the degree to which family life and the emotional functioning of the mother were centred on the child, the degree of over-protectiveness or over-concern the mother had towards the child and the degree to which the mother had interests other than the child. It also took into account the extent to which the mother was willing to leave her child with other caretakers or be separated from the child, the ability to see the child as an individual with separate needs and desires, the extent to which the mother inhibited the child from age- appropriate independent activities, as well as any comments from the mother e.g. referring to how the child could not manage without the mother or the mother could not manage without the child, or suggesting the child could not easily be cared for by anyone else.
Expressed Criticism,54
Maternal Control, was rated on a 5 point scale from 0 (little or no control) to 4 (over controlling), and measured the extent to which the mother was in control of the child’s behaviour and how much authority she used in parenting. Mothers were given a rating of 0 was assessed on a 4 point scale from 0 (considerable) to 3 (no criticism), and measured the degree to which the mother was critical of the child. A rating of 3 was made when mothers showed criticism towards their child throughout most of the interview.
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Originally labelled Emotional Over-Involvement in the Quinton and Rutter, 1988 interview
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Expressed Criticism was re-coded from Criticism and reversed in order. The new scale became: 0 (considerable criticism through interview), 1 (moderate), 2 (some) and 3 (no criticism)
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when the mother-child relationship was dominated by the child, with the child getting their own way and the mother making little parental attempts at control in or outside the home. A rating of 1 was made when the mother made intermittent attempts at control, but these were irregular and ineffective. A rating of 2 was made when mothers used authority when it was needed, but this tended to be reactive rather than anticipatory. Mothers who exerted flexible control both inside and outside the home, handled disputes with give and take whilst maintaining a consistent but flexible posture, and who clearly set boundaries in a way that helped the child control his/her own environment without being reactive were given a rating of 3. A rating of 4 was made when mothers were over controlling and restrictive, such that the child had little opportunity for exercising initiative, or to developing control over their environment and relationships.
Overt Discipline55
Intra-class correlation coefficients for Expressed Warmth, Sensitive Responding, Child- Centredness, Mother-Child Interaction, Expressed Criticism, Maternal Control and Overt Discipline respectively were .68, .52, .65, .68, .56, .77 and .86.
was rated on a 5 point scale from 0 (none) to 4 (aggressive), and measured the extent to which the mother lost her temper and was likely to raise her voice in a disciplinary situation. Mothers who never smacked, shouted or lost their temper with their child were given a rating of 0. A rating of 1 was made when parents showed not more than occasional irritability and loss of temper only in extreme and atypical circumstances. A rating of 2 was made when mothers showed fairly frequent low level irritability with occasional loss of temper. When irritability most often associated with a loss of temper and shouting, mothers were given a rating of 3. In this instance, mothers often showed anger with an element of short term loss of control. A rating of 4 was made when mothers showed an assertion of authority usually associated with a loss of control of temper and often with threats of physical punishment towards their child.
The interview was also coded for aspects of mother-child relationship relating to supervision, control and discipline according to a standardised coding scheme. When the mother allowed the child’s exploration of the outside world while still maintaining safety and control, this was considered optimum supervision. Supervision included the following variables:
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Chaperonage, was rated on a 7 point scale from 0 (not allowed to play with other children) to 6 (allowed to play with unknown children, territory undefined), and assessed the mother’s rules for the child concerning playing with other children (known or unknown). A rating of 0 was made when mothers were over concerned about their child’s whereabouts and did not allow their children to play with other children outside of school. Mothers who permitted their children to play with other children only in their own home were given a rating of 1. A rating of 2 was made when mothers were more flexible, allowing their children to play in their own home as well as in a well known other child’s home. Mothers who permitted their child to play outdoors on a well known patch, with other known children, were given a rating of 3. However, when the child played on a well known patch with children unknown to the mother, a rating of 4 was made. When the child was allowed to play in undefined territory, with known children, mothers were given a rating of 5. A rating of 6 was made when the child was permitted to play with unknown children in undefined territory. In this instance, mothers were unconcerned about the child’s companions when the child was outside the home, and the child had no clear time to be home.
Outside Boundaries,56
Intra-class correlation coefficients for Chaperonage and Outside Boundaries were found to be .68 and .73 respectively.
was rated on a 5 point scale from 0 (not allowed out) to 4 (no specified territory), and assessed the mother’s rules for their child with regards to playing outdoors. Mothers who did not permit their child to play outdoors were given a rating of 0. When mothers permitted their child to play only on a known territory, a rating of 1 was made. However, a rating of 2 was made when the child occasionally played on unknown territory. When the child frequently played on unknown territory, a rating of 3 was made. A rating of 4 was made, when mothers did not specify any territory for their child to play on. In this instance the mothers were unconcerned about their child’s whereabouts when outside of the home.
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101 Control included the following variable:
Control of Bedtime, was rated on a 5 point scale from 1 (controlled by child) to 5 (parents inflexible), and assessed whether it was the parent or the child who was in control of bedtime, and decided bedtime rules. A rating of 1 was made either if child was left to decide when he/she went to bed, or if the child effectively got his/her own way following parental attempts to enforce an earlier bedtime. For this rating to be made it was necessary that the parents necessarily gave up attempts of trying to get the child to go to bed. When parents made consistent attempts to get child to bed and appeared to have some influence on the time of the child going to bed, a rating of 2 was made. In this instance, the general impression was that the child still controlled bedtime. A rating of 3 was made if the parents were generally in control of the time the child went to bed, but exercised a substantial degree of flexibility over this during weekdays in term time, as well as during the holidays. Substantial flexibility would involve the parents often allowing the child to stay up beyond a defined bedtime, for example, in order to watch a particular television programme. When this pattern involved the child being up regularly more than an hour beyond the stated bedtime, then a rating of 2 rather than 3 was made. When parents gave this permissiveness, during term-time only on Friday or Saturday nights, or during holiday periods, a rating of 4 was made. A rating of 5 was made when the parents provided a set bedtime for the child and this was adhered to, not only during school days but also during holiday times as well. The intra-class correlation coefficient for Control of Bedtime was found to be .74.
Discipline included the following variables:
Frequency of Battle, was rated on a 4 point scale from 0 (never) to 4 (all the time), and assessed the frequency over the past three months that confrontations occurred between the mother and child.
Level of Battle, was rated on a 4 point scale from 0 (no confrontations) to 3 (major battles), and assessed the type of confrontation between mother and child. A rating of 0 was made when there were no confrontations between mother and child. When mothers reported minor episodes of confrontation, (i.e. control incidents not lasting in total more than 5 minutes), a rating of 1 was made, regardless of the frequency of these confrontations or disciplinary interchanges. A rating of 2 was made when the confrontations continued for longer than 5 minutes or if they usually involved loss of temper, or some definite disciplinary activity (e.g.
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sending the child to his/her room). When incidents lasted for half an hour or longer and involved loss of temper on one or both sides, a rating of 3 was made.
Resolution, was rated on a 3 point scale from 0 (full) to 2 (none), and assessed the degree to which both parties made an effort to sort out the problem in question. Resolution was assessed independently of the general outcome of the interaction in terms of who got his or her own way. It was indicated by the degree to which both parties made an effort to sort out the problem in question. A rating of 0 was made when both parties apologised and/or the mother and the child satisfactorily worked out their differences (i.e. a compromise was reached). The argument subject was not brought up again soon after resolution. When the outcome of the argument was somewhat mixed (e.g. the child may have said sorry but this may have been of mixed emotions), or only aspects of the argument were resolved, or if the topic of the argument was suddenly changed, a rating of 2 was made. In these instances the problem in question was not dealt with properly and issues were not faced adequately by the mother and the child. A rating of 3 was made when the fighting continued and neither mother