Social Power as an Organizer of Relationships

运用发展心理学、社会心理学和社会神经科学的概念和测量方法，本研究考察了在家庭关系中产生、触发和维持暴力和忽视的因素。有人建议，注重密切关系中的竞争力会增加暴力的风险。那些过分专注于维持家庭权力优势的父母，预计会对孩子的行为做出不恰当的反应。在这项研究中，在孩子出生之前就确定了有可能受到虐待的父母。然后在孩子生命的头两年对家庭进行研究。人们预计，最初“权力导向”的父母(特别是如果他们的孩子有一个“难相处”的气质)会以不适应的方式来回应他们年幼的孩子。预计这类父母更有可能(A)表现出生理应激反应(例如，皮质醇的产生增加；血压水平升高)，以及(B)对儿童的行为表现出偏见的解释和回忆(例如，将儿童的行为解释为故意挑战他们的权威)。反过来，这些反应预计会增加这些父母表现出无效照顾策略的可能性，并将在身体上虐待或忽视他们的孩子。如果预测得到证实，我们对处于压力下的家庭的了解将得到改善，我们将获得新的见解，了解最有可能防止虐待儿童的预防措施。

Using concepts and measures drawn from developmental psychology, social psychology, and social neuroscience, this research examines factors that create, trigger, and maintain violence and neglect in family relationships. It is proposed that a focus on competitive power within close relationships acts to increase the risk of violence. Those parents who are overly focused on maintaining a power advantage in the family are expected to respond inappropriately to their children's behavior. In this research, parents who are at risk to become abusive are identified before the birth of a child. Families are then studied for the first two years of the child's life. It is expected that parents who are initially "power-oriented" (and especially if their children have a "difficult" temperament) will respond in maladaptive ways to their very young children. Such parents are expected to be more likely to (a) show physiological stress responses (e.g., increased production of cortisol; elevated levels of blood pressure), and (b) exhibit biased interpretation and recall of children's behaviors (e.g., interpretation of children's actions as intentional challenges to their authority). These responses, in turn, are expected to increase the likelihood that such parents will show ineffective caregiving tactics, and will either physically abuse or neglect their children. If predictions are confirmed, our understanding of families under stress will be improved, and new insight will be gained into the kinds of prevention efforts that are most likely to prevent child maltreatment.