CHAPTER 14

LECTURE EXTENSION

Parental Beliefs About Conflict Management
As discussed in the text, parents use different strategies to deal with conflict management-some of which are more effective than others. But what causes parents to rely on one conflict management strategy over another? A recent investigation by Perozynski and Kramer (1999) examined parental beliefs about resolving conflict and the extent to which these beliefs corresponded with their actual behavior during conflict between their children in their own home.

Some of the findings indicated parents were most likely to use strategies that corresponded to their beliefs about those conflict management strategies that they perceived to be effective in resolving child conflict and that they believed that they could perform well. For example, fathers used techniques that involved directly working with children to resolve conflicts (i.e., child-centered strategies) more often when they believed them to be relatively effective, whereas mothers used parental authority (i.e., parental control strategies) when they reported feeling confident about their ability to carry out this strategy. Further, mothers' use of passive nonintervention was associated with their beliefs that this strategy was effective and that they could perform it well.

Other results showed a lack of correlation between parental beliefs and actual behaviors. For example, both mothers and fathers used passive nonintervention more frequently than any other strategy. However, this was not the strategy that they considered to be most effective nor was it the strategy that they had the most confidence in carrying out. Parents believed child-centered and parental control strategies to be the most effective, yet they were more than three times more likely to use passive nonintervention.

Perozynski, L., & Kramer, L. (1999). Parental beliefs about managing sibling conflict. Developmental Psychology, 35, 489-499.

LEARNING ACTIVITY

Styles of Child Rearing
The text describes four styles of child rearing: authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and uninvolved. Ask students to read the text's description of each of these styles. Next, suggest that they observe and record conflicts between parents and children in a variety of public settings (e.g., shopping malls, grocery stores, and toy stores). Checkout counters where candy and other items designed to appeal to children are displayed are especially good locations for observing such interactions. Students should describe and classify parents' handling of conflicts according to Baumrind's child-rearing styles, providing a rationale for each classification. Remind students to check with store personnel before they situate themselves for an extended period of time to make observations.