Understanding how parenting behavior and authoritarian beliefs affect mothers' perceptions of parenting, attributions for children's noncompliance, and reported responses to children

This study examined whether and how parenting behavior and authoritarian beliefs affected participants’ (a) perceptions of parenting, (b) attributions for children’s noncompliance, and (c) reported emotional and behavioral responses to children. Ninety-six mothers viewed four brief videotapes depicting a parent actor directing a child actor toward a particular behavior. Parenting behavior either constrained (i.e., made more difficult) or facilitated (i.e., made easier) children’s compliance with parental directives. After viewing each videotape, mothers answered a set of questions assessing their perceptions of parenting, attributions for children’s noncompliance, and reported emotional and behavioral responses to children. Mothers also completed a short questionnaire assessing their authoritarian parenting beliefs. As hypothesized, after viewing constraining, compared to facilitative, parenting, mothers formed more negative perceptions of parenting and made less negative attributions for children’s noncompliance. There was little evidence to support the hypothesis that constraining parenting would lead to less negative reports of emotional and behavioral responses to children. In addition, as hypothesized, mothers with more authoritarian beliefs formed more intentional attributions for children’s noncompliance and reported more negative emotional and behavioral responses to children. Finally, there was no evidence that mothers’ authoritarian beliefs influenced their perceptions of parenting, attributions for children’s noncompliance, and reported responses to children differently in constraining than facilitative conditions. The results are discussed in terms of an attributional model of parenting.