SUPPORTING FATHERS AND SUPPORTED MOTHERS IN FAMILIES WITH DISRUPTIVE BOYS - WHO ARE THEY

What are the personal characteristics of supported mothers and support ing fathers, in the context of families having disruptive boys? The su pportive and unsupportive behaviors of fathers towards mothers (N = 44 ) were rated by observers in standardized situations. Characteristics of both fathers and mothers were used to predict support: age, educati on, Ia reported parental care during childhood, symptoms of distress a nd marital satisfaction. The joint characteristics of both spouses wer e better predictors than fathers' or mothers' characteristics alone. U nexpectedly more support and less stress correlated with more unfavora ble characteristics of the father compared to the mother for the same marital dyad. Both spouses' reports on parental care were highly predi ctive of fathers' supportive and unsupportive behaviors towards mother s, whereas higher intellectual abilities of fathers predicted unsuppor tive behaviors. Results are discussed in relation to marital relations and differences between behavioral versus reported assessments of spo use support.