The effect of task and maternal verbosity on compliance in toddlers

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between compliance in toddlers and maternal verbosity as well as the type of task. Mothers and their toddlers completed a warm-up task, a proactive toy clean-up task, and a prohibitive forbidden objects task. Mothers were assigned to one of two verbosity conditions (high versus low) and to one of two nurturance conditions (high versus low) where the rates of verbosity and nurturance were experimentally manipulated. It was hypothesized that toddlers would demonstrate higher noncompliance when given high levels of verbosity than toddlers given low levels of verbosity. It was expected that toddlers would demonstrate higher noncompliance when given low levels of nurturance than toddlers given high levels of nurturance. It was also expected that toddlers would demonstrate more noncompliance in the prohibitive task than they would in the proactive task. Results indicated that the rates of child compliance were related to the level of maternal verbosity with greater noncompliance being exhibited by children who received high levels of verbosity than those who received low levels of verbosity. Child compliance rates were also related to the type of task, with greater noncompliance exhibited in the proactive task versus the prohibitive task. Excessive detail about what children should or should not do appears to be related to child behavior and supports Patterson's premise of 'nattering'. Child behavior also was related to the type of task in which the child was engaged. These findings have direct implications for individuals working with or raising very young children.

Early Intervention in Pediatrics Offices for Emerging Disruptive Behavior in Toddlers

“…For example, negative parent- child interaction patterns may not be rigidly set. Furthermore, recent research indicates that early parenting behaviors such as maternal verbosity may affect toddlers’ compliance (Hakman & Sullivan, 2009). Parent-child synchrony during the toddler period has also been associated with children’s self-control (Lindsey et al, 2009).…”

The Survey of Well-Being of Young Children: Results of a Feasibility Study With American Indian and Alaska Native Communities

“…Research has suggested that only about one third of children with developmental or socioemotional problems are identified before kindergarten and that children with socioemotional problems in particular are especially underidentified (Sand et al., ). Early socioemotional problems are associated with negative health outcomes later in life, including depression, oppositional defiant or conduct disorder, poor peer relationships and social skills, internalizing and externalizing problems, poor academic performance, and psychiatric problems (Briggs‐Gowan & Carter, ; Campbell, Shaw, & Gilliom, ; Campbell, Spieker, Burchinal, & Poe, ; Fox, ; Hakman & Sullivan, ; Mesman & Koot, ; Shaw, Keenan, & Vondra, ). Increased early identification of these problems could result in more timely interventions and the reduction of problems throughout life.…”

The Effects of Parental Beliefs and Expectation on the Perception of Compliance in Adolescents

“…Adults complain that noncompliance is an important and common problem with children [1]- [3]. This has led to noncompliance in children accounting for the majority of referrals to psychologists by adults in the US [4], [5]; with the prevalent rate of noncompliance, in clinical samples, ranging from 65% to 92% [6]. Moreover, severe noncompliance is one of the criteria for a child being diagnosed as having ODD (oppositional defiant disorder), CD (conduct disorder) [4] "attention deficit hyperactivity disorder" (ADHD), mood disorders, psychotic disorders, autistic disorder [7], or being misdiagnosed as severely mentally handicapped [8].…”