Perceived maternal control and support as predictors of hostile-biased attribution of intent and response selection in aggressive boys

This study examined how perceptions of maternal control and support are ass ociated with hostile-biased social information processing (SIP) among eight y-four 9- and 10-year-old aggressive boys, Subjects completed a questionnai re covering both perceived maternal control (PMC) and perceived maternal su pport (PMS), The SIP measures of hostile attribution of intent and hostile response selection were measured on the basis of responses to six ambiguous hypothetical stories depicting peer provocation. Results showed that PMC w as associated positively with both the SIP measures, whereas PMS was associ ated negatively with both the SLP measures. Also, the effects of PMC on bot h the SIP measures were extenuated by low PMS, The findings are discussed i n terms of how aggressive boys' perceptions of their relationships with the ir mothers, such as negative relational schemas, nuclear scripts, and insec ure attachment histories, favor more hostile SIP, (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.