Social Power as a Regulator of Caregiving Systems

9421460拟议的研究采用社会心理学中的概念和理论，测试关于导致家庭暴力和其他功能失调的照看的风险的因素的假设。父母和孩子互动和处理社会信息的方式预计会受到人际权力观念的影响。认为孩子比自己有更多社交能力的父母，预计会对孩子明显的“挑战”做出高度反应--用负面情绪和防御性唤醒来回应。这些反应反过来调节(A)信息处理缺陷和偏见，以及(B)防御性互动策略，例如，权力主张或社会贬低。成人的“能量修复”努力随后会导致儿童的唤醒、回避反应和表现缺陷的提高。预测在包括自然主义设计和实验设计的研究中得到验证。第一项研究侧重于高、低能量成人试图教育反应灵敏和反应迟钝的儿童的信息处理模式。第二个研究集中在高、低权力父母与其子女之间的自发互动。第三项研究评估了儿童对感知能力高或低的成人的教学风格的反应(情绪、行为和认知)。这项拟议的研究测试了对造成家庭暴力和其他类型家庭冲突风险的因素的预测。那些认为自己在照看孩子的角色上权力或控制力较低的父母，预计会面临更多冲突互动的风险。当面对“困难”的儿童行为时(例如，对父母的指令反应迟缓)，“低能力”父母会做出不适应的反应(例如，他们表现出心跳加速，他们将孩子的行为理解为故意挑衅，他们试图通过言语贬损孩子或对孩子进行身体威胁来重新获得控制权)。反过来，孩子们对这种育儿方式的反应是导致冲突升级。例如，他们避开或“忽视”父母，以此作为管理自己痛苦的一种方式。此外，他们还表现出内心痛苦的迹象(例如，心率加快和其他恐惧迹象)。这些儿童的反应可能会对他们理解或遵守父母指示的能力产生负面影响。最终，一个恶性循环出现了，父母变得越来越强迫，孩子变得越来越冷漠。这些预测通过观察父母和他们自己孩子之间的自发互动，以及观察成人和无关儿童之间的教学互动来验证。这一发现将对旨在预防和补救家庭暴力的项目的设计产生影响。

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.