ENHANCED PARENTING KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS IN MOTHERS OF PRESCHOOL-CHILDREN WITH SICKLE-CELL DISEASE

Compared 25 preschool children with sickle cell disease (SCD) to demog raphically matched healthy comparison children on maternal reports of child-rearing beliefs and practices and maternal and child behaviors r elated to social adjustment. Mothers of children with SCD possessed si gnificantly more knowledge of appropriate discipline techniques. The g roups did not differ on maternal reports of socially relevant child be havior. However, when mother-child interactions were observed in free play and structured play settings, mothers of children with SCD treate d their children as competent significantly more, and treated their ch ildren as incompetent significantly less, than comparison mothers. Mot hers of children with SCD also used significantly more reinforcement d uring the final toy pick-up condition. There were no observed differen ces between groups in the children's behavior.