Knowledge matters: the effect of maternal accuracy on children's coping, prosocial and empathic behaviour
Year: 2008
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The present study examined the role of maternal accuracy in predicting children's coping, empathy and prosocial behaviour. Mothers of 140 children 10 to 12 years of age were assessed for their accurate knowledge of the types of situations their children would find distressing and knowledge of parental interventions that would be comforting to their children. Results indicated a differential effect of accuracy, with knowledge of distressing situations predicting child empathy and for children with higher levels of anxiety, knowledge of effective comforting techniques predicting prosocial behaviour. Both types of accuracies predicted positive coping in children. Moreover, child anxiety was found to moderate the relation between knowledge of effective comforting and child positive coping and prosocial behaviour, with accuracy predicting positive child outcomes only in children with higher levels of anxiety. Overall, results indicate that mothers' accurate knowledge of children's thoughts, feelings and preferences has an impact on children's behaviour.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Vinik, Julia
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7133032969