PERCEPTIONS AND EVALUATIONS OF CHILD TRANSGRESSIONS AND DISCIPLINARY TECHNIQUES IN HIGH-RISK AND LOW-RISK MOTHERS AND THEIR CHILDREN

Perceptions and evaluations of children's transgressions (mora, conven tional, personal), parental disciplinary actions (power assertion, lov e withdrawal, induction), and expected outcomes (compliance) were asse ssed in matched high- and low-risk (for physical abuse) mothers and th eir children. High-risk mothers and their children evaluated conventio nal and personal transgressions as more wrong than low-risk mothers an d their children. Although both high- and low-risk mothers and their c hildren varied disciplinary responses according to the type of transgr ession, high-risk mothers used power assertion (verbal and physical fo rce) more often and induction (reasoning and explanation) less often. High-risk mothers also perceived the use of power assertion by others as more appropriate. With respect to outcomes, high-risk mothers, comp ared to low-risk mothers, expected less compliance following moral tra nsgressions and more compliance after personal transgressions. Childre n of both high- and low-risk mothers made compliance predictions follo wing moral and personal transgressions that were similar to the low-ri sk mothers' predictions.