| Abstract: | The manner in which maternal, family, and child characteristics; personal well-being and health; intrafamily functioning and support; and several dimensions of informal support were related to five different maternal styles of interaction was examined. The subjects were 102 mothers of retarded, handicapped, and developmentally at-risk young children. The mothers completed several self-report measures of well-being and support, were interviewed about their personal social networks, and were observed interacting with their child in a free-play episode. Canonical correlation analysis showed that there were multiple determinants of interactive styles, although there was considerable specificity with respect to the particular variables that were related to the five interactive styles. Social support was related significantly to four of the maternal interactive styles, which indicates that the parenting behavior was influenced in part by factors other than the individual characteristics of the dyad members. |
