Observed maternal strategies and children's health locus of control in low-income Mexican American families

This study examined the relationship among mothers' health locus of control (HLOC) beliefs, their socialization strategies, and their children's BLOC beliefs in 80 low-income Mexican American families. Maternal socialization strategies were assessed from videotaped interactions of mothers and childr en engaged in a structured task. Factor analysis of the coded strategies yi elded 4 factors: Tell Answer, Teaching, Clarify, and Reinforce. Findings in dicated that maternal-health-internally scores negatively predicted mothers ' use of the Tell Answer strategies and positively predicted their use of T eaching strategies. Mothers who believed that Powerful Others (e.g., health professionals) controlled their health were more likely to use the Tell An swer strategy. In contrast, mothers who believed that health was due to cha nce were less likely to use Teaching. Maternal use of Teaching strategies p redicted children's internal HLOC, whereas maternal Tell Answer strategies predicted children's external HLOC. Findings suggest that mothers' HLOC bel iefs influence the socialization strategies they use and that these strateg ies are associated with children's HLOC beliefs.