A Cross-Cultural Study of the Relationship Between Resistance to Temptation and Maternal Communication.

The primary purpose of the present investigation is to study the relation between maternal communication and the child's resistance to temptation during an experimental task, among Italian and Canadian families. The nature of maternal communication was assessed by analyzing the verbal behavior of the mother while in discussion with her child. A series of mother-child pairs were given three experimental tasks which required that mother and child reach a concensus. The tasks were designed so as to stimulate discussion between mother and child, as well as to provide the mother with an opportunity to exercise her authority over her child. The discussions between mother and child were analyzed according to a schema based on the assumption that there are four basic functions of human speech: to teach, to please, to demand, and to defend oneself. An additional purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between the nature of maternal and paternal control and the child's resistance to temptation. The extent and nature of familial control was assessed by means of a questionnaire which was filled out by the child. Positive control is defined as the encouragement of the child to feel some responsibility toward some positively defined goal. Negative control is defined as a barrier, limitation, or restriction imposed by the parent on the child's activities. (Author/JM)