dc.description.abstract | This study was conducted to provide new knowledge pertinent to the relationships among degree of family violence, protective parenting, and children's social competence. The study examined relationships among maternal reports of family violence, maternal reports of parenting skills, teacher ratings of child behaviors, and the kindergarten child's report of his/her peer and maternal acceptance. The sampling frame was all U.C.A.P. Head Start children in six north central Oklahoma communities 10 fall of 1995, with two sites added in the fall of 1996. The sampling unit is the 112 kindergarten children and their mothers who chose to participate either in the fall of 1996 and spring of 1997 or In the fall of 1997 and spring of 1998 Field research was utilized for this study, allowing data to be collected from self-administered questionnaires that the mother completed in the presence of the researcher, child self-reports, and self-administered questionnaires completed by the child's teacher The outcomes of this study Indicate that increased maternal verbal conflict relates to increased child externalizing and internalizing behaviors, confirming that children who live in a violent family climate are directly affected by the verbal conflicts occurring in the familial environment. A portion of the study also indicates that teachers base ratings of child internalizing and externalizing behaviors on gender, whereas maternal ratings of child internalizing and externalizing behaviors reveal no association to the child�s gender. | |