Parental playing styles with children at risk for behavior problems

This study compared playing styles of parents with children at risk for behavior problems to playing styles of parents with children not at risk. Families participating in an NIMH study on the development of disruptive disorders were observed during a challenging game situation. Videotapes of the paradigm were coded separately for each parent to measure competition and empathy defined by sets of verbalizations and behaviors. Parent gender, risk status of child, and child sex were analyzed as independent variables of the study. Behavioral codes did not cluster statistically into an empathic and a competitive group; thus, each code was analyzed separately. Parent gender, child gender, and risk status were not found to be significant. One empathic code showed a significant child sex $\sp*$risk interaction. This occurred when parents alleviated frustration more with girls in the low and moderate risk groups and more with boys in the high risk group.