Parental Manipulation of Compliance and Noncompliance in Normal and Deviant Children

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Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to examine if parents can manipulate child compliance and, if they can, to determine what parental behavior changes occur in order to accomplish this child behavior change. A second purpose was to examine if parents of deviant and normal children could equally and effectively manipulate child compliance. Ten mothers and their clinic-referred children and ten mothers and their nonclinic children served as subjects. All mothers were seen in a laboratory setting and instructed in one phase to make their children look compliant and in another phase to look noncompliant. All parents subsequently issued 20 standard commands to their children. The results indicated that mothers could manipulate child compliance. Mothers of deviant and normal children did not differ in their ability to change child compliance or in the behaviors they used to obtain compliance and noncompliance. Clinic-referred children were perceived as more deviant by their mothers and displayed less compliance and more general deviant behavior during the standard command situation.