User menu

Accès à distance ? S'identifier sur le proxy UCLouvain

Mothers' beliefs, social comparisons and self-reported childrearing behaviour: A content analysis of non-descriptive information in free descriptions of children's personality

Primary tabs

Vandenplas-Holper, Christiane [UCL] Roskam, Isabelle [UCL] Pirot, Laurence [UCL]

The present study analyses free descriptions that mothers made of their child's personality. 210 descriptions of 3- and 9-year-old children were collected and analysed with respect to the five-factor model of personality. According to a first content analysis frame, personality descriptors, mainly trait adjectives and behavioural descriptors, have been coded with respect to the five factors of personality. Although mothers were only asked to describe their children's personality, their descriptions included different types of non-descriptive information. Mothers use social comparisons; they refer to stability or change as their child grows older and to consistency or inconsistency across contexts and moments; they give explanations of their child's personality. Finally, they refer to various forms of their childrearing behaviour. These qualifiers of the children's personality have been coded according to a second frame for content analysis and analysed with respect to the children's age, gender and mothers' educational level. They have also been correlated with the positive and negative polarity of the descriptors of personality. Finally, a microanalysis has been carried out for stability vs. change across time and consistency vs. inconsistency across situations and moments. Results indicate that mothers of 3-year-olds refer more often to stimulating childrearing behaviour than mothers of 9-year-olds. Explanations provided by mothers vary according to their educational level. Mothers referred more to intraindividual variations according to time and situations for girls than for boys. It also appeared that mothers qualified behaviour or traits that they thought were not "normal''. Furthermore they considered change in a positive direction and described their child's behaviour and traits as inconsistent across situations and moments.

Document type Article de périodique (Journal article) – Article de recherche
Publication date 2006
Language Anglais
Journal information "European Journal of Developmental Psychology" - Vol. 3, no. 4, p. 338-356 (2006)
Peer reviewed yes
Publisher Psychology Press (Hove)
issn 1740-5629
e-issn 1740-5610
Publication status Publié
Affiliation UCL
Links
  1. Augoustinos M., Social cognition (1995)
  2. Bacon M. K., Thinking about the family: Views of parents and children, 3 (1986)
  3. Block Jeanne H., Differential Premises Arising from Differential Socialization of the Sexes: Some Conjectures, 10.2307/1129799
  4. Bowers Kenneth S., Situationism in psychology: An analysis and a critique., 10.1037/h0035592
  5. Costa Paul T., McCrae Robert R., Personality in adulthood: A six-year longitudinal study of self-reports and spouse ratings on the NEO Personality Inventory., 10.1037/0022-3514.54.5.853
  6. Costa P. T., The adult years. Continuity and change, 45 (1991)
  7. de Wolff Marianne S., van IJzendoorn Marinus H., Sensitivity and Attachment: A Meta-Analysis on Parental Antecedents of Infant Attachment, 10.2307/1132107
  8. Fagot B. I., Handbook of parenting, 1, 163 (1995)
  9. Gartrell C. D., Relative deprivation: Specification, development and integration (2002)
  10. Gerris Jan R. M., Dekovic Maja, Janssens Jan M. A. M., The Relationship between Social Class and Childrearing Behaviors: Parents' Perspective Taking and Value Orientations, 10.2307/353786
  11. Riese Marilyn L., Assessment of behavioral patterns in neonates, 10.1016/s0163-6383(83)80032-0
  12. Harkness S., Parents' cultural belief systems, 291 (1996)
  13. Hirsjärvi Sirkka, Perälä-Littunen Satu, Parental beliefs and their role in child-rearing, 10.1007/bf03172996
  14. Hoff-Ginsberg E., Handbook of parenting, 1, 161 (1995)
  15. Hoffman Martin L., Altruistic behavior and the parent-child relationship., 10.1037/h0076825
  16. Jacobs Janis E., Eccles Jacquelynne S., The impact of mothers' gender-role stereotypic beliefs on mothers' and children's ability perceptions., 10.1037/0022-3514.63.6.932
  17. Kochanska G., International Journal of Behavioral Development, 11, 517 (1987)
  18. Kohn M. L., Human life cycle, 541 (1975)
  19. Kohnstamm G. A., Parental descriptions of child personality: Developmental antecedents of the Big Five? (1998)
  20. Kohnstamm G., Life-span developmental psychology, 399 (1998)
  21. Kohnstamm, G. A., Slotboom, A. M. and Elphik, E. 1992. “Lexicon van persoonlijkheidsuitspraken gedaan door ouders over kinderen in de leeftijd van 8 en 9 jaar”. The Netherlands [Lexicon of personality-related statements made by parents of eight- and nine-year-old children]. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Psychology, Rijksuniversiteit Leiden
  22. Lautrey J., Intelligence, classe sociale et pratiques éducatives (1980)
  23. McGillicuddy-De Lisi A. V., Parental belief systems: The psychological consequences for children, 7 (1985)
  24. Miller S. A., Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 26, 135 (1980)
  25. Mills R. S., Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 61, 494 (1992)
  26. Mischel Walter, Toward a cognitive social learning reconceptualization of personality., 10.1037/h0035002
  27. Mischel Walter, Shoda Yuichi, A cognitive-affective system theory of personality: Reconceptualizing situations, dispositions, dynamics, and invariance in personality structure., 10.1037/0033-295x.102.2.246
  28. Mischel Walter, Shoda Yuichi, RECONCILING PROCESSING DYNAMICS AND PERSONALITY DISPOSITIONS, 10.1146/annurev.psych.49.1.229
  29. O'Brien Marion, Peyton Vicki, Mistry Rashmita, Hruda Ludmila, Jacobs Anne, Caldera Yvonne, Huston Aletha, Roy Carolyn, 10.1023/a:1007036600980
  30. Palacios J., International Journal of Behavioral Development, 13, 137 (1990)
  31. Pêcheux Marie-Germaine, Comment les parents se représentent-ils le développement précoce ?, 10.3406/psy.1999.28505
  32. Roskam Isabelle, Rating of personality of normally-developing and mentally disabled children and the mothers’ beliefs about their child’s development, 10.1007/bf03173533
  33. Roskam I., European Review of Applied Psychology, 51, 289 (2001)
  34. Sameroff A. J., Parental belief systems. The psychological consequences for children, 83 (1985)
  35. Sigel I. E., Thinking about the family: Views of parents and children, 35 (1986)
  36. Sigel I. E., Parents' cultural belief systems, 83 (1996)
  37. Vandenplas-Holper Christiane, Nursery school teacher's control beliefs, beliefs about development and education, and educational action, 10.1016/s0193-3973(96)90037-4
  38. Vandenplas-Holper C., Le développement psychologique à l'âge adulte et pendant la vieillesse. Maturité et sagesse (2003)
  39. Vandenplas-Holper C., Bulletin de Psychologie, 427, 87 (1996)
  40. Vandenplas-Holper Christiane, Paternostre-Verdickt Laetitia, Seynhaeve Isabel, Les stratégies directives et les stratégies de distanciation des mères dans un jeu de construction et de faire-semblant, 10.3917/enf.543.0277
  41. Wilson Anne E., Ross Michael, From chump to champ: People's appraisals of their earlier and present selves., 10.1037/0022-3514.80.4.572
Bibliographic reference Vandenplas-Holper, Christiane ; Roskam, Isabelle ; Pirot, Laurence. Mothers' beliefs, social comparisons and self-reported childrearing behaviour: A content analysis of non-descriptive information in free descriptions of children's personality. In: European Journal of Developmental Psychology, Vol. 3, no. 4, p. 338-356 (2006)
Permanent URL http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/38791