USO DE INSTRUMENTOS VIRTUALES PARA LA PRÁCTICA MUSICAL 112

Relationship between children's perspectives o f the court proceedings and behaviour/parental discipline strategies section o f the parent interview

Table sixteen below presents significant and non-significant correlation coefficients computed between children’s acceptance of the court proceedings and the behaviour/parental discipline strategies section of the parent interview.

Table 16. Kendall tau-c correlation coefTicients between children’s acceptance of

the court proceedings and the behaviour/discipline strategies section of the parent

interview. Acceptance Good behaviour No/minor incident Mother never shouts No physical method Negative affect -0.25* -0.64** -0.16 -0.11 Negative cognition -0.22* -0.71** -0.19 -0.13 Coherence 0.18 0.17 0.21 0.44** Parental attribution 0.14 0.15 0.35* 0.19

Sixteen Kendall tau-c correlation coefiBcients were computed to examine the relationship between children’s acceptance of the court decision and the behaviour/discipline strategies section of the parent interview. Significant negative relationships exist between adult caregivers recalling no incident of bad behaviour and children currently reporting negative cognitions (Kendall*s tau-c = -0.22, p < 0.05 one-tailed) or negative affect (Kendall's tau-c = -0.25, p < 0.05 one-tailed) regarding the care proceedings. All six and seven children who report negative cognitions and affect respectively are described by their caregivers as having misbehaved in the past month. There are highly significant negative correlation coefficients between caregiver’s reporting a minor/no incident of child misbehaviour on the parent interview and children currently describing negative cognitions (Kendall's tau-c = -0.71, p < 0.01, one-tailed) and negative affect (Kendall's tau-c = -0.64, p < 0.01, one-tailed). All six and seven children who report negative thoughts and feelings respectively are reported by their caregivers to have behaved violently in the last month. A significant positive correlation exists between maltreated children attributing responsibility for entering care to their parents and caregivers reporting that the female guardian never shouted/made threats. Ten of the fourteen children who attribute responsibility for the care proceedings to their parents are described by caretakers as never punished by the female caregiver shouting/making threats (Kendall's tau-c = 0.35 p < 0.05 one-tailed) Maltreated children describing a coherent account of why they had entered care is positively associated with their caregivers reporting that the male guardian never used physical discipline strategies.

All thirteen children described by adult caregivers as never physically punished gave a coherent account of their reasons for entering care (Kendall's tau-c = 0.44, p < 0.01 one-tailed).

These findings support the hypothesis that children’s acceptance of the court proceedings was positively associated with caregiver accounts of children’s psychological well-being on the parent interview. Children’s coherence, parental attributions for the care proceedings, and positive affect and cognitions were associated with caretakers reporting fewer behaviour problems and the absence of authoritarian discipline strategies on the parent interview.

Children's acceptance o f the court proceedings and adult caresriver's accounts o f diificultv loving/caring

Table seventeen below summaries the correlation coefficients computed between children’s acceptance of the care proceedings and caregiver accounts of difficulty loving/caring for the child.

Table 17. Kendall tau-c correlation coefTicients between children’s acceptance of

the court proceedings and caregiver accounts of difficulty loving/caring

Acceptance Difficulty loving/caring

Coherence -0.46** Self-attribution -0.42* Negative affect 0.44** Negative appraisal 0.57** Past acceptance -0.68** * p < 0.05; ** p<0.01

Five Kendall tau-c correlation coefficients were computed to examine the relationship between children’s acceptance of the care proceedings and caregiver reports of difficulty loving/caring for the child on the parent interview. Children’s level of coherence in explaining the care proceedings was negatively correlated vrith adult caregivers describing the child as difficult to love/care (Kendall’s tau-c = -0.46, p < 0.01 one­ tailed). Ten of the twelve children who report a coherent understanding of the reasons for entering care are described by their caregivers as easy to love/care.

There is a significant negative relationship between children’s self-attributions about the care proceedings and caregiver’s describing the child as difficult to love/care. Nine of the eleven children described as easy to love/care attributed responsibility for entering

A negative relationship exists between maltreated children's acceptance of the court decision at the time of entering care and caregiver's perception of the child as difficult to love/care. Seven of the eight children who report believing that the decision was okay at the time of removal are described by caretakers as easy to love/care (Kendall’s tau-c = - 0.68, p < 0.01, one-tailed).

Adult caregiver appraisals of maltreated children as more difficult to love/care than other children in the family/placement are positively associated with both current child reports of negative affect (Kendall's tau-c = 0.44, p < 0.01, one-tailed), and negative appraisals of the care proceedings (Kendall's tau-c = 0.57, p < 0.01, two-tailed). All seven and nine children who describe negative affect or appraisals of the court decision respectively are perceived by caregivers as more difficult to love/care.

These findings support the hypothesis that children’s acceptance of the court proceedings is related to caregiver’s perceptions of the child’s psychological well-being, as indexed by ease of loving/caring. All five correlations between children’s acceptance of the court decision and caregiver reports of the child-caretaker relationship were statistically significant. Children’s unresolved thoughts and feelings about the care proceedings were mirrored in caretaker accounts of the child as more difficult to love/care than other children were.