Social Power as a Regulator of Caregiving Systems

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9421460 The proposed research, using concepts and theories drawn from social psychology, tests hypotheses regarding factors that create risk for family violence and other dysfunctional caregiving. The ways in which parents and children interact and process social information are expected to be influenced by interpersonal power perceptions. Parents who perceive children as having more social power than self are predicted to be highly reactive to apparent "challenge" from children--responding with negative affect and defensive arousal. These responses, in turn, mediate (a) information-processing deficits and biases, and (b) defensive interaction strategies, e.g., power assertion or social derogation. Adult "power repair" efforts subsequently lead to elevated arousal, avoidance responses, and performance deficits in children. Predictions are tested within studies that include both naturalistic and experimental designs. The first study focuses on information-processing patterns of high and low power adults attempting to teach responsive versus unresponsive children. The second study focuses on spontaneous interaction between high and low power parents and their own children. The third study assesses the responses (emotional, behavioral, and cognitive) of children to the teaching style of adults with high or low perceived power. The proposed research tests predictions regarding factors that create risk for family violence and other types of family conflict. Parents who believe that they have low power or control in their caregiving role are expected to be at risk for more conflictual interactions. When confronted with "difficult" child behavior (e.g., slow response to parental directives), "low power" parents react maladaptively (e.g., they show increasing heart rate, they interpret the child's behavior as deliberately defiant, and they attempt to regain control by verbal derogation of the child or physical threats to the child). Children, in turn, react to this parenting style with responses that lead to escalating conflict. For example, they avoid or "tune out" the parent as a way of managing their own distress. Additionally, they show signs of internal distress (e.g., higher heart rate and other signs of fear). These child responses are likely to have a negative impact on their ability to understand or comply with parental directions. Ultimately, then, a vicious circle emerges in which parents become increasingly coercive and children become increasingly unresponsive. These predictions are tested by observing spontaneous interactions of parents and their own children, as well as by observing teaching interactions between adults and unrelated children. Findings will have implications for the design of programs designed to prevent and remediate family violence.