SOLITARY BEHAVIOR AND FRIENDLY SOCIAL ACTIVITY - DIFFERENTIAL GATEWAYS FOR CONDUCT PROBLEM VERSUS NORMAL CHILD-MOTHER DYADS

Compared 13 conduct problem children and their mothers with 13 normal dyads in home observations. Observations concerned child and mother re actions to episodes of the children's own solitary activity and episod es of child-mother friendly social interaction. Conditional probabilit ies of child compliance and aversive behavior showed the normal childr en to be unaffected following episodes of the activities, whereas the conduct problem children were influenced by both activities. Following episodes of social activity, these children were unlikely to act in a versive ways; following their solitary activities, they showed reducti ons in compliance as well as aversive behavior. The mothers in both gr oups reacted in positive ways following the episodes of friendly socia l interaction, and the clinic-referred mothers curbed their aversive r eactions. These mothers proved less likely to give instructions or to offer positive and aversive reactions following the children's appropr iate solitary activity, whereas the normal mothers were inclined to of fer both reactions. Discussion was geared to speculations on the behav iors of the conduct problem children and their mothers following the c hildren's solitary activities.