Development of Children's Noncompliance Strategies from Toddlerhood to Age 5.

Examined were the development and correlates of children's strategies for resisting maternal control. Subjects were 51 dyads consisting of depressed or nondepressed mothers and their young. Children were 1.5 to 3.5 years of age at first observation and 5 years old during the second. Data on parent and child behaviors were coded from 9 hours of videotapes of spontaneous interactions. Active and passive forms of noncompliance were distinguished; active noncompliance behaviors were also coded in terms of their quality as interpersonal influence strategies. Findings indicated that developmental changes in children's responses to control were consistent with a perspective on noncompliance that emphasizes children's growth as autonomous agents and developing social skills. Aversive strategies such as passive noncompliance and direct defiance decreased with age while relatively more sophisticated forms of resistance, simple refusal and negotiation, increased with age. Both compliance and quality of noncompliance were predictable over time. Children 5 years of age who used skillful forms of noncompliance tended to use skillful strategies when making requests. At both ages only unskillful forms of noncompliance were related to maternal perceptions of children's maladjustment. During toddlerhood only unskillful forms of noncompliance were associated with observed negative affect in the mother. Overall, boys used more defiance and refusals than girls. Girls were more compliant than boys in families with well mothers. (Author/RH)