Mother–child interactions in young children with excessive physical aggression and in typically developing young children

Abstract

Background: Among the multiple risk factors, the emergence of conduct problems in young children may be linked to harsh parenting and child’s temperamental difficulties, leading to a reciprocal early discordant relationship. Little is known about the characteristics of early parent–child interactions in young children with physical aggression. Objective: The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the characteristics of mother–child interactions in dyads referred for excessive physical aggression in young children under 5 years of age compared to mother–child interactions in typically developing young children. Method: Mother–child interactions were assessed during a free-play session in both a clinical sample ( N = 70, child mean age  = 3.5 years) and a nonclinical sample ( N = 80, child mean age  = 3.5 years) by using the Rating Scale of Interaction Style (Clark and Seifer, adapted by Molitor and Mayes). Results: Significant differences were found between several interactive features in clinical and nonclinical dyads. In clinical dyads, mothers’ behaviors were often characterized by intrusiveness and criticism toward children, and poor facilitative positioning. Children with excessive aggressive behavior often displayed poor communication, initiation of bids, and poor responsiveness toward the mother. They displayed fewer sustained bouts of play than typically developing children did. In clinical dyads, strong positive correlations were found between child responsiveness and maternal interest in engagement ( r = .41, p < .001), while the child displaying sustained bouts of play was negatively correlated with the mother’s attempts to intrude on the child’s activity ( r = .64, p < .05). Conclusions: These data show that children with excessive aggressive behavior develop disrupted mother–infant interactions from a very young age. Several negative interactive features and correlations between child behavior and maternal behavior were found in clinical samples. The effects of these features add up and probably strengthen each other, thus leading to interactive difficulties from a very young age. More attention should be paid to early parent–child interactions in case of child behavioral problems. The recognition of these interactive dysfunctions is discussed in terms of clinical implications for therapeutic interventions.