SELF-PERCEIVED COMPETENCIES OF LATENCY AGE CHILDREN OF CHRONICALLY, PHYSICALLY ILL MOTHERS AS A FUNCTION OF MATERNAL PSYCHOSOCIAL ADJUSTMENT TO ILLNESS AND CHILDREN'S REPORTS OF MOTHERING BEHAVIORS.
Contributors: New York University.
Published: 1993
Number of pages: 141
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Psychology, Developmental.
Description: Respondents consisted of 61 six to 14 year old children and their chronically ill mothers who primarily resided on the east coast. All of the subjects were interviewed in the home. Data were generated from four questionnaires and were analyzed using multiple regression techniques. A descriptive multivariate design was used to test three hypotheses. (a) There will be a positive relationship between maternal psychosocial adjustment to chronic illness and the child's self-perceived competencies, independent of sex, grade level and children's reports of mothering behaviors. (b) There will be a positive relationship between children's reports of mothering behaviors and the child's self-perceived competence, independent of sex, grade level, and maternal psychosocial adjustment to chronic illness. (c) There is an interaction between children's reports of mothering behaviors and maternal psychosocial adjustment to chronic illness with respect to the child's self-perceived competencies. Specifically, the higher the children's reports of mothering behavior score the stronger the positive relationship of maternal psychosocial adjustment to self-perceived competence.

Only hypothesis "a" was supported. There was a significant positive relationship between maternal psychosocial adjustment to chronic illness and the child's self-perceived competence independent of sex, grade level and children's reports of mothering behavior (R$\sp2$(ch) =.089, p $<$.05). Additional findings included a highly significant relationship between self-perceived competence and maternal acceptance and a positive relationship between self-perceived competence and psychological autonomy. Negative correlations were found between self-perceived competent scores and the number of hospitalizations by the mother, and the mother's dissatisfaction with her own childrearing. One unanticipated finding was a highly significant relationship between maternal psychosocial adjustment to illness and maternal acceptance. Implications are discussed and recommendations for future refinement of the theory and research design are made.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-08, Section: B, page: 4083.

Thesis (PH.D.)--NEW YORK UNIVERSITY, 1993.

School code: 0146.