What did mummy say? Dyadic interactions between young "hard to manage" children and their mothers

Thirty preschoolers rated as "hard to manage" on Goodman's (R. Goodman, 1997) Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), and a group of matched control children were observed and recorded on audiotape at home, interacting with their mothers (Time 1). At the 18-month follow-up home visits (Time 2), the children and mothers were filmed across 4 observation settings. Mother-child interactions were rated on affect, control, responsiveness and "connectedness" of communication. At Time 1, mothers of the "hard to manage" group used more negative control and engaged in fewer connected conversations than did mothers in the control group. At Time 2, mothers of the "hard to manage" group displayed higher levels of negative control and lower levels of positive control. These results are discussed in terms of the importance of examining connected communication and different observation contexts when examining dyadic mother-child interactions.