Latina mothers' characterizations of their young children with disruptive behaviors

We add to current understanding of maternal cognitions and attributions about their children with disruptive behaviors by describing and exploring mothers' naturalistic characterizations of their children. Participating mothers from Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic had 4- to 10-year-old children with disruptive behaviors. Data were collected with a structured interview that included open-ended questions, optional probes, questions with set response categories, and rating scales. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses were conducted. The three most common characterizations were "intelligent," "malcriado," (spoiled/rude mannered) and "carácter fuerte" (stubborn/willful). Cultural informants sorted these and other descriptors used by mothers into categories of their choosing which provided a basis for classifying maternal characterizations. These characterizations were statistically and significantly associated with the onset of maternal concerns, with the number of members from the mothers' social network who suggested professional services, with maternal perceptions of stigma, and with maternal ratings of the severity of the children's symptoms. Overall, mothers' naturalistic characterizations were structured differently from researcher dimensions typically used to study maternal cognitions about child behavior. © 2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.