The Journal of Genetic Psychology Research and Theory on Human Development
ISSN: 0022-1325 (Print) 1940-0896 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vgnt20
Mothers With Hostile, Type A Predisposing ChildRearing Practices Katrl Räikkönen & Liisa Keltikangas-Järvinen To cite this article: Katrl Räikkönen & Liisa Keltikangas-Järvinen (1992) Mothers With Hostile, Type A Predisposing Child-Rearing Practices, The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 153:3, 343-354, DOI: 10.1080/00221325.1992.10753729 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00221325.1992.10753729
Published online: 21 Oct 2013.
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Citing articles: 4 View citing articles
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Date: 05 November 2015, At: 18:34
Th e Juumal of G enetic Psvcholor;y, 153(3) . 343- 354
Downloaded by [York University Libraries] at 18:34 05 November 2015
Mothers With Hostile, Type A Predisposing Child-Rearing Practices KATRI RAIKKONEN LIISA KELTIKANGAS-JARVINEN Department of Psychology University of Helsinki
ABSTRACT The authors examined characteristics of Finnish mothers (N = 924) who use hostile child-rearing practices (i.e. , they ignore the child , are punitive and irritable , and perceive the child as a burden), practices that have been shown (Raikkonen & Kelt ikangas-Jarvinen, 1992) to predispose children to Type A behavior. The results of this study indicate that two factors- Type A behavior in the mothers and the mothers ' sociodemographic background (low occupational status, low educational level and young age)-increase the probability of the mothers' treating their children in a hostile manner. Also , the mothers of boys in this study reported more hostile child-rearing practices than the mothers of girls did.
DESPITE INCREASING CONTROVERSIAL EVIDENCE , the Type A behavior pattern , namely, an impatient, aggressive, hostile, time-urgent, and achievement oriented lifestyle (Friedman & Rosenman, 1959), remains the most documented psychological risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD). The issue of the developmental origins of this multidimensional construct has excited much interest. Type A behavior may be determined both by hereditary and by environmental factors. According to Matthews and Rakaczky ( 1986), some facets of Type A behavior, but not the overall Type A behavior, may be genetically based. A hereditary component has been detected in certain styles of speech and in potential for hostility (Matthews & Rakaczky; Matthews, Rosenman, Dembroski , Harris, & MacDougall, 1984), in the hard-driving, competitive aspect of Type A behavior (Matthews & Krantz, 1976) , and in the impatience-aggression and competitive-achievement aspects of Type A behavior
Address correspondence to Katri Riiikkonen , Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, Fabianinkatu 28, SF-00100 Helsinki , Finland. 34 3
Downloaded by [York University Libraries] at 18:34 05 November 2015
344
Th e J01mwl of Gene1ic Psychologv
(Mei ninger, Hayman, Coates & Gallagher, 1988). Meininger et al. have offered additional support for a hereditary basis for overall Type A behavior. However, in some studies (Cannelli et al. , J 988; Rahe, Herving & Rosenman, 1978) the estimates of hereditary Type A behavior have been fairly low, s ugges ting that there is no clear evidence that Type A behavior is hereditary. Heredity may also contribute to the development of Type A behavior in an indirect fashion. Temperament (considered to be a broad disposition to behave in a certain style), which may have a hereditary component (Buss & Plomin, 1975) , may underlie Type A behavior (Carmelli et al., 1988 ; Matthe ws & Rakaczky, 1986 ; Matthews et a!., 1984). Influenced by certain environmental challenges and stressors , a child who is tem peramentally prone to Type A behavior initially expresses an approximation of this behavior. Environmental factors influencing the development of Type A behavior may operate either directly (through imitation or modeling of the parents' Type A behavior) or indirectly (through certain child-rearing practices) . A resemblance in Type A behavior between parents and their children has been demonstrated (Bortner, Rosenman & Friedman, 1970; Matthews & Krantz , 1976; Matthews et al. , 1984) , suggesting that children may be likely to imitate or model Type A behavior. Evidence also suggests that parents and careg ivers are likely to respond to the behavior of their Type A children differently from the way they respond to the behavior of their non-Type A children. For in stance , fathers of Type A boys reported setting more high achievement goals for their sons and perceived more often that these goals were not met than fathers of non-Type A boys did (Kliewer & Weidner, 1987). Mothers have also been shown to push their Type A children harder (even after success ful performances) and to give them fewer positive evaluations relative to the evaluations they give to their non-Type A children (Matthews , 1977). Our previous finding (Raikkonen & Keltikangas-Jarvinen , 1992) emphasizes the significance of certain child-rearing practices in the development of Type A behavior. We found that the combination of a mother's (a) strict disciplinary style when her child was young, (b) tendency to emotionally reject her child, and (c) feeling that her child was burdensome and has prevented her self-fulfillment were associated with the impatience-aggression aspect of Type A behavior in adolescence. The Type A impatient and aggressive behav" iors have been shown to reflect the pathogenic component of this behavior pattern that is associated with a high somatic CHD risk factor level (Keltikangas-Jarvinen & Raikkonen , 1989) . The particular combination of maternal attitudes toward the child, as found in our study, (i.e., being punitive and irritable , ignoring the child and perceiving the child as a burden) was labeled by Schaefer (1959) as a hostile child-rearing practice. Previous studies have mainly examined the effect of parental childrearing practices in performance situations on the development of children's Type A behavior. The focus of these studies has bee n on parental standards
Downloaded by [York University Libraries] at 18:34 05 November 2015
Riiikk o ncn & Kcltikangas- Jiirvi ne n
345
of performance (e.g .. goals set by the pare nts for the childre n) and on the quantity and quality of re inforceme nt given the children by the parents. Little atte nti o n , however, has been focused on the psyc holog ical characteri stic s of parents who enhance and maintain their children's Type A behav ior through certain child-rearin g practices. In the present study we exam ined the characteristics of mothers who were shown in our prev ious study (Riiikkone n & Ke ltikangas-Jiirvine n , 1992) to predi spose the ir childre n to behave in a pathogenic Type A manne r as a result of their hostile child-rearing practices. The vari ab les we used to characterize the mothers were Type A behavior (respecting it s multidimensionality) and soc iode mographic background variables (shown to be associated with Type A behavior in prev ious studies, e .g., Riiikkonen, 1990; Rii ikko ne n & Ke ltikangas-Jiirvinen , 1989).
Method Subjects The subjects, iden tifi ed from the Cardiovascular Ri sk in Young Finns Study (Akerbl om et al. , 199 1), were the mothers of those childre n who formed the 6- and 9-year-o ld age cohorts in the aforementi o ned study. Nine hundred twenty- fo ur mothers (mea n age = 37.4 ± 6.8) participated in the current stud y, which was the 3-year follow-up examination of the Cardiovascular Ri sk in Yo ung Finns Study, performed when the children were aged 9 and 12 . A detailed description of the current sample is given by Keltikangas-Jiirvinen and Riiikko nen ( 1992) . In the Cardiovascular Ri sk in Young Finns Study the development of C HD ri sk fac tors was followed in 3 ,596 children and adolescents, aged 3 to 18 at the baseline , for a pe ri od o f 9 years. The desig n of the study is described in detai I by A kerblom et al. ( 1991 ).
Measures Hostile child-rearing practices. We created a scale assessing hostile childrearing practices (i. e., ig noring the child, being punitive , and seeing the child as a burden) by se lecting the most representative ite ms of those child-rearing factors that were able to pred ict pathogenic Type A behav ior in adolescence. Assessment of hostile child -rearing practices was based on the Aggressiveness of the Child questionnaire , derived from the Health Examination S urvey (Well s, 1980), and the Mother's Attitudes Towards the Child questio nn aire derived from the Operation Family Study (Makkonen et al., 198 1). The Aggressiveness of the Child questionnaire described dimensions of physical aggress ion of the child (e.g., the child often pu shes, hits , or provokes other children by acc ide nt ) and di sc iplinary style of the mo ther (e.g., di sc i-
Downloaded by [York University Libraries] at 18:34 05 November 2015
346
Th e Journal of Generic Ps ycholog y
plinary punishments are regularly used in response to the child 's aggressive behavior) . The Mother's Attitudes Towards the Child questionnaire also described two dimensions: the child's emotional significance to the mother (e.g. , the child is significant to me) and the mother 's tolerance toward the child (e. g. , the child is a burden to me). Factor structures of these scales and more detailed information regarding these questionnaires are available in Raikkonen and Keltikangas-Jarvinen ( 1992). Mother's disciplinary style, child 's emotional significance to the mother, and mother 's tolerance toward the child are the factors that predict pathogenic Type A beh avior in adolescence. Schaefer's ( 1959) description enabled us to classify these factors as hostile child-rearing practices . The scale assessing hostile child-rearing practices consists of I0 items ranging from totally agree (I) to totally disagree (5) rated on a 5-point Likerttype scale. An overall score and three factor-analytically (principal factor analysis with an oblique rotation) derived subscale scores (factor scores) addressing the disciplinary style of the mother, the child 's emotional significance to the mother, and the mother's tolerance toward the child are obtained. A low score indicates more hostile child-rearing practices.
Type A behavior. Type A behavior of the mothers was self-rated with the Framingham Type A Scale (FTAS; Haynes , Levine , Scotch , Feinleib & Kannel, 1978) , which consists of two subscales, trait-related and job-related. The trait-related subscale includes six items related to general feelings, such as feeling pressed for time; being competitive, hard-driving , and dominating; having a strong need to excel; eating quickly; and getting upset when forced to wait. Five items of the trait-related subscale employ a 4-point scale ranging from very well (I) to not at all (4 ), and the impatience item is measured with a yes- no format. The job-related subscale includes four yes-no questions related to job stress (often feeling very pressed for time; thinking about work after working hours; feeling stretched to the very limit of one's energy and capacity; and often feeling uncertain , uncomfortable, or dissatisfied about one 's performance at work). The responses to the subscale questions are averaged (trait-related subscale,M = 15 .8 ± 2.8;job-relatedsubscale , M = 6.4 ± l.l) . lnthepresent study a median was used as the cutoff point, and those who scored below the median were classified as Type A. Sociodemographic background variables. Age, marital status, place of residence , educational attainment, and occupational status were used as sociodemographic variables. Age was divided on the basis of quartile splits into three subgroups: below (mother's age below 31 years), above (mother 's age above 37 years) or between (mother 's age from 31 through 37 years). Marital status was dichotomized into married mothers and single mothers . Place of
Rii ikko ne n & Ke ltikangas- Jii rv ine n
347
Downloaded by [York University Libraries] at 18:34 05 November 2015
residence was dichotomized into rural and urban. Educational level was placed on a 4-point scale: elementary school (I) , junior high school (2) , college level (3), and university level (4). Occupational status was cl ass ified according to the system used by the Central Statistical Office of Finland (which follows the recommendation of the United Nations for the 1980 censuses [United Nations, 1978]) , classifying persons as entrepreneurs (I) , employees (2), unpaid family workers (c), and miscellaneous (d).
Procedure Questionnaires concerned with the variables of the present study were mail ed to the mothers to be completed at home a few weeks before their children parti cipated in the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study medical examination. The association between mothers' Type A behavior, their sociodemographic background , and their hostile child-rearing practices was determined by multivariate analyses of covariance (MANCOYA). The dependent variables were the three subscales of hostile child-rearing practices. Type A behavior and the sociodemographic background variables of the mothers served as grouping variables , and age and sex of the child served as covari ates. The analysis of covariance was adopted because both the child's gender and age were shown to be important variables. Whenever a significant multivariate effect was revealed , a univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to specify the effect. We also used a univariate analysis of covariance when the overall score of hostile child-rearing practices operated as a dependent variable.
Results Intercorrelations (Pearson's r) between the subscale scores of the hostile child-rearing practices ranged from . 16 to .26. Because our sample was large, the scores were all statistically significant but accounted for little of the variance. The mothers of boys reported more hostile child-rearing practices overall, F(l, 903) = 20.0, p < .001 , and a lower tolerance toward the child , F(l , 903) = 34.8, p < .001, than the mothers of girls did. Also , mothers' tolerance toward their children appeared to increase with the children's age, F( I , 903) = 14.3, p < .001. Trait-related Type A behavior had a significant multivariate effect on hostile child-rearing practices F(3, 872) = 5 .6 , p < .001. Mothers with Type A traits (i.e. , those with low scores on the trait-related subscale) showed a lower tolerance toward the child, lower emotional significance, and a more strict di sc iplinary style than the mothers without Type A traits did (see Table I).
Type A behavior Trait-re lated subscale Type A Non-Type A Job-re lated subscale Type A Non-Type A Sociodemographic background Ed ucational level Elementary Jun ior hi gh College University Occupational status En trepreneurs Employees Unpaid fam ily workers
Variable
- 0.09 0.09
5. 1*** 4 .2 5.3* 4.9 4 .5 4. 1 4.0* 4.8 4.8
42.1 43 .3 4 1.4 42.5 42.6 43 .8 43.7 42 .9 42 .0
1.0
1.0 1.1
- 007 0 .01 0 .00
1.4 0.9 1.0 1. 1
0.9
1.1 **
1.0*** 0.9
SD
0.04 0.03 0 .01
-0. 11
-0. 10 0.15
4 .9*** 4.5
M
42.2 43.3
SD
Overall score M
Tolerance toward child
l.3
- 0.09 - 0.03 0.06 0. 12
0.8 0 .9 1.0
0. 14 0 .04 - 0.06
1.1 0.7 0.8
1.0* 0.9
1.0* 0.9
SD
- 0.07 0.07
- 0.05 0.07
M
Emotional significance
Hostile chi ld-rearing practices
0. 12
0.34 0.07
-0 .35 - 0.05 0.03 0.38
- 0. 11 0 .1 2
- 0.06 0.09
M
1.1
0.6*** 0.9
0.8*** 1.1 1.0 0.6
1.1 *** 0.8
1.0* 0.9
SD
Disciplinary style
TABLE 1 Means and Standard Deviations of Hostile Child-Rearing Practices of the Mothers by Type A Behavior and Sociodemographic Background
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"'
Cl
"' §_
~
"'-.
;l
w ~ cc
*p :s .05. **p :s .OJ. ***p < .001.
Place of residence Rural Urban Marital status Married Single
> 37 37-31 < 31
Miscellaneous Age
Variable SD
4 .6 5.0 4.6 5.8
42 .8 41.9
4.8* * 4.6 5.0
5.1
42.9 42.4
43.3 42 .6 41.8
42.2
M
Overall score
0.02 - 0 08
0.04 - 0.05
0. 18 - 0 .05 - 0.1 0
0.07
M
0.9 1.2
1.0 1. 1
1.0** 0.9 1.0
0.9
SD
Tolerance toward chi ld
0.03 - 0.11
0.07 - 0.07
0.07 0.03 - 014
- 0.08
M
0.9 1.0
0.9 1.1
I. I * 0.9 1. 1
.2
SD
Emotional significance
Hostile chi ld-rearin g practices
TABLE I (continued)
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0.01 - 0.12
- 0.02 0.03
0.08 0.01 - 0. 11
- 0 . 14
M
1.0 1.1
0.9 1.0
1.0* 0.9 1.1
1.0
SD
Disciplinary sty le
0'
\()
..,.w
::
('J
:;
ISSN: 0022-1325 (Print) 1940-0896 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vgnt20
Mothers With Hostile, Type A Predisposing ChildRearing Practices Katrl Räikkönen & Liisa Keltikangas-Järvinen To cite this article: Katrl Räikkönen & Liisa Keltikangas-Järvinen (1992) Mothers With Hostile, Type A Predisposing Child-Rearing Practices, The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 153:3, 343-354, DOI: 10.1080/00221325.1992.10753729 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00221325.1992.10753729
Published online: 21 Oct 2013.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 4
View related articles
Citing articles: 4 View citing articles
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=vgnt20 Download by: [York University Libraries]
Date: 05 November 2015, At: 18:34
Th e Juumal of G enetic Psvcholor;y, 153(3) . 343- 354
Downloaded by [York University Libraries] at 18:34 05 November 2015
Mothers With Hostile, Type A Predisposing Child-Rearing Practices KATRI RAIKKONEN LIISA KELTIKANGAS-JARVINEN Department of Psychology University of Helsinki
ABSTRACT The authors examined characteristics of Finnish mothers (N = 924) who use hostile child-rearing practices (i.e. , they ignore the child , are punitive and irritable , and perceive the child as a burden), practices that have been shown (Raikkonen & Kelt ikangas-Jarvinen, 1992) to predispose children to Type A behavior. The results of this study indicate that two factors- Type A behavior in the mothers and the mothers ' sociodemographic background (low occupational status, low educational level and young age)-increase the probability of the mothers' treating their children in a hostile manner. Also , the mothers of boys in this study reported more hostile child-rearing practices than the mothers of girls did.
DESPITE INCREASING CONTROVERSIAL EVIDENCE , the Type A behavior pattern , namely, an impatient, aggressive, hostile, time-urgent, and achievement oriented lifestyle (Friedman & Rosenman, 1959), remains the most documented psychological risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD). The issue of the developmental origins of this multidimensional construct has excited much interest. Type A behavior may be determined both by hereditary and by environmental factors. According to Matthews and Rakaczky ( 1986), some facets of Type A behavior, but not the overall Type A behavior, may be genetically based. A hereditary component has been detected in certain styles of speech and in potential for hostility (Matthews & Rakaczky; Matthews, Rosenman, Dembroski , Harris, & MacDougall, 1984), in the hard-driving, competitive aspect of Type A behavior (Matthews & Krantz, 1976) , and in the impatience-aggression and competitive-achievement aspects of Type A behavior
Address correspondence to Katri Riiikkonen , Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, Fabianinkatu 28, SF-00100 Helsinki , Finland. 34 3
Downloaded by [York University Libraries] at 18:34 05 November 2015
344
Th e J01mwl of Gene1ic Psychologv
(Mei ninger, Hayman, Coates & Gallagher, 1988). Meininger et al. have offered additional support for a hereditary basis for overall Type A behavior. However, in some studies (Cannelli et al. , J 988; Rahe, Herving & Rosenman, 1978) the estimates of hereditary Type A behavior have been fairly low, s ugges ting that there is no clear evidence that Type A behavior is hereditary. Heredity may also contribute to the development of Type A behavior in an indirect fashion. Temperament (considered to be a broad disposition to behave in a certain style), which may have a hereditary component (Buss & Plomin, 1975) , may underlie Type A behavior (Carmelli et al., 1988 ; Matthe ws & Rakaczky, 1986 ; Matthews et a!., 1984). Influenced by certain environmental challenges and stressors , a child who is tem peramentally prone to Type A behavior initially expresses an approximation of this behavior. Environmental factors influencing the development of Type A behavior may operate either directly (through imitation or modeling of the parents' Type A behavior) or indirectly (through certain child-rearing practices) . A resemblance in Type A behavior between parents and their children has been demonstrated (Bortner, Rosenman & Friedman, 1970; Matthews & Krantz , 1976; Matthews et al. , 1984) , suggesting that children may be likely to imitate or model Type A behavior. Evidence also suggests that parents and careg ivers are likely to respond to the behavior of their Type A children differently from the way they respond to the behavior of their non-Type A children. For in stance , fathers of Type A boys reported setting more high achievement goals for their sons and perceived more often that these goals were not met than fathers of non-Type A boys did (Kliewer & Weidner, 1987). Mothers have also been shown to push their Type A children harder (even after success ful performances) and to give them fewer positive evaluations relative to the evaluations they give to their non-Type A children (Matthews , 1977). Our previous finding (Raikkonen & Keltikangas-Jarvinen , 1992) emphasizes the significance of certain child-rearing practices in the development of Type A behavior. We found that the combination of a mother's (a) strict disciplinary style when her child was young, (b) tendency to emotionally reject her child, and (c) feeling that her child was burdensome and has prevented her self-fulfillment were associated with the impatience-aggression aspect of Type A behavior in adolescence. The Type A impatient and aggressive behav" iors have been shown to reflect the pathogenic component of this behavior pattern that is associated with a high somatic CHD risk factor level (Keltikangas-Jarvinen & Raikkonen , 1989) . The particular combination of maternal attitudes toward the child, as found in our study, (i.e., being punitive and irritable , ignoring the child and perceiving the child as a burden) was labeled by Schaefer (1959) as a hostile child-rearing practice. Previous studies have mainly examined the effect of parental childrearing practices in performance situations on the development of children's Type A behavior. The focus of these studies has bee n on parental standards
Downloaded by [York University Libraries] at 18:34 05 November 2015
Riiikk o ncn & Kcltikangas- Jiirvi ne n
345
of performance (e.g .. goals set by the pare nts for the childre n) and on the quantity and quality of re inforceme nt given the children by the parents. Little atte nti o n , however, has been focused on the psyc holog ical characteri stic s of parents who enhance and maintain their children's Type A behav ior through certain child-rearin g practices. In the present study we exam ined the characteristics of mothers who were shown in our prev ious study (Riiikkone n & Ke ltikangas-Jiirvine n , 1992) to predi spose the ir childre n to behave in a pathogenic Type A manne r as a result of their hostile child-rearing practices. The vari ab les we used to characterize the mothers were Type A behavior (respecting it s multidimensionality) and soc iode mographic background variables (shown to be associated with Type A behavior in prev ious studies, e .g., Riiikkonen, 1990; Rii ikko ne n & Ke ltikangas-Jiirvinen , 1989).
Method Subjects The subjects, iden tifi ed from the Cardiovascular Ri sk in Young Finns Study (Akerbl om et al. , 199 1), were the mothers of those childre n who formed the 6- and 9-year-o ld age cohorts in the aforementi o ned study. Nine hundred twenty- fo ur mothers (mea n age = 37.4 ± 6.8) participated in the current stud y, which was the 3-year follow-up examination of the Cardiovascular Ri sk in Yo ung Finns Study, performed when the children were aged 9 and 12 . A detailed description of the current sample is given by Keltikangas-Jiirvinen and Riiikko nen ( 1992) . In the Cardiovascular Ri sk in Young Finns Study the development of C HD ri sk fac tors was followed in 3 ,596 children and adolescents, aged 3 to 18 at the baseline , for a pe ri od o f 9 years. The desig n of the study is described in detai I by A kerblom et al. ( 1991 ).
Measures Hostile child-rearing practices. We created a scale assessing hostile childrearing practices (i. e., ig noring the child, being punitive , and seeing the child as a burden) by se lecting the most representative ite ms of those child-rearing factors that were able to pred ict pathogenic Type A behav ior in adolescence. Assessment of hostile child -rearing practices was based on the Aggressiveness of the Child questionnaire , derived from the Health Examination S urvey (Well s, 1980), and the Mother's Attitudes Towards the Child questio nn aire derived from the Operation Family Study (Makkonen et al., 198 1). The Aggressiveness of the Child questionnaire described dimensions of physical aggress ion of the child (e.g., the child often pu shes, hits , or provokes other children by acc ide nt ) and di sc iplinary style of the mo ther (e.g., di sc i-
Downloaded by [York University Libraries] at 18:34 05 November 2015
346
Th e Journal of Generic Ps ycholog y
plinary punishments are regularly used in response to the child 's aggressive behavior) . The Mother's Attitudes Towards the Child questionnaire also described two dimensions: the child's emotional significance to the mother (e.g. , the child is significant to me) and the mother 's tolerance toward the child (e. g. , the child is a burden to me). Factor structures of these scales and more detailed information regarding these questionnaires are available in Raikkonen and Keltikangas-Jarvinen ( 1992). Mother's disciplinary style, child 's emotional significance to the mother, and mother 's tolerance toward the child are the factors that predict pathogenic Type A beh avior in adolescence. Schaefer's ( 1959) description enabled us to classify these factors as hostile child-rearing practices . The scale assessing hostile child-rearing practices consists of I0 items ranging from totally agree (I) to totally disagree (5) rated on a 5-point Likerttype scale. An overall score and three factor-analytically (principal factor analysis with an oblique rotation) derived subscale scores (factor scores) addressing the disciplinary style of the mother, the child 's emotional significance to the mother, and the mother's tolerance toward the child are obtained. A low score indicates more hostile child-rearing practices.
Type A behavior. Type A behavior of the mothers was self-rated with the Framingham Type A Scale (FTAS; Haynes , Levine , Scotch , Feinleib & Kannel, 1978) , which consists of two subscales, trait-related and job-related. The trait-related subscale includes six items related to general feelings, such as feeling pressed for time; being competitive, hard-driving , and dominating; having a strong need to excel; eating quickly; and getting upset when forced to wait. Five items of the trait-related subscale employ a 4-point scale ranging from very well (I) to not at all (4 ), and the impatience item is measured with a yes- no format. The job-related subscale includes four yes-no questions related to job stress (often feeling very pressed for time; thinking about work after working hours; feeling stretched to the very limit of one's energy and capacity; and often feeling uncertain , uncomfortable, or dissatisfied about one 's performance at work). The responses to the subscale questions are averaged (trait-related subscale,M = 15 .8 ± 2.8;job-relatedsubscale , M = 6.4 ± l.l) . lnthepresent study a median was used as the cutoff point, and those who scored below the median were classified as Type A. Sociodemographic background variables. Age, marital status, place of residence , educational attainment, and occupational status were used as sociodemographic variables. Age was divided on the basis of quartile splits into three subgroups: below (mother's age below 31 years), above (mother 's age above 37 years) or between (mother 's age from 31 through 37 years). Marital status was dichotomized into married mothers and single mothers . Place of
Rii ikko ne n & Ke ltikangas- Jii rv ine n
347
Downloaded by [York University Libraries] at 18:34 05 November 2015
residence was dichotomized into rural and urban. Educational level was placed on a 4-point scale: elementary school (I) , junior high school (2) , college level (3), and university level (4). Occupational status was cl ass ified according to the system used by the Central Statistical Office of Finland (which follows the recommendation of the United Nations for the 1980 censuses [United Nations, 1978]) , classifying persons as entrepreneurs (I) , employees (2), unpaid family workers (c), and miscellaneous (d).
Procedure Questionnaires concerned with the variables of the present study were mail ed to the mothers to be completed at home a few weeks before their children parti cipated in the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study medical examination. The association between mothers' Type A behavior, their sociodemographic background , and their hostile child-rearing practices was determined by multivariate analyses of covariance (MANCOYA). The dependent variables were the three subscales of hostile child-rearing practices. Type A behavior and the sociodemographic background variables of the mothers served as grouping variables , and age and sex of the child served as covari ates. The analysis of covariance was adopted because both the child's gender and age were shown to be important variables. Whenever a significant multivariate effect was revealed , a univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to specify the effect. We also used a univariate analysis of covariance when the overall score of hostile child-rearing practices operated as a dependent variable.
Results Intercorrelations (Pearson's r) between the subscale scores of the hostile child-rearing practices ranged from . 16 to .26. Because our sample was large, the scores were all statistically significant but accounted for little of the variance. The mothers of boys reported more hostile child-rearing practices overall, F(l, 903) = 20.0, p < .001 , and a lower tolerance toward the child , F(l , 903) = 34.8, p < .001, than the mothers of girls did. Also , mothers' tolerance toward their children appeared to increase with the children's age, F( I , 903) = 14.3, p < .001. Trait-related Type A behavior had a significant multivariate effect on hostile child-rearing practices F(3, 872) = 5 .6 , p < .001. Mothers with Type A traits (i.e. , those with low scores on the trait-related subscale) showed a lower tolerance toward the child, lower emotional significance, and a more strict di sc iplinary style than the mothers without Type A traits did (see Table I).
Type A behavior Trait-re lated subscale Type A Non-Type A Job-re lated subscale Type A Non-Type A Sociodemographic background Ed ucational level Elementary Jun ior hi gh College University Occupational status En trepreneurs Employees Unpaid fam ily workers
Variable
- 0.09 0.09
5. 1*** 4 .2 5.3* 4.9 4 .5 4. 1 4.0* 4.8 4.8
42.1 43 .3 4 1.4 42.5 42.6 43 .8 43.7 42 .9 42 .0
1.0
1.0 1.1
- 007 0 .01 0 .00
1.4 0.9 1.0 1. 1
0.9
1.1 **
1.0*** 0.9
SD
0.04 0.03 0 .01
-0. 11
-0. 10 0.15
4 .9*** 4.5
M
42.2 43.3
SD
Overall score M
Tolerance toward child
l.3
- 0.09 - 0.03 0.06 0. 12
0.8 0 .9 1.0
0. 14 0 .04 - 0.06
1.1 0.7 0.8
1.0* 0.9
1.0* 0.9
SD
- 0.07 0.07
- 0.05 0.07
M
Emotional significance
Hostile chi ld-rearing practices
0. 12
0.34 0.07
-0 .35 - 0.05 0.03 0.38
- 0. 11 0 .1 2
- 0.06 0.09
M
1.1
0.6*** 0.9
0.8*** 1.1 1.0 0.6
1.1 *** 0.8
1.0* 0.9
SD
Disciplinary style
TABLE 1 Means and Standard Deviations of Hostile Child-Rearing Practices of the Mothers by Type A Behavior and Sociodemographic Background
Downloaded by [York University Libraries] at 18:34 05 November 2015
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w ~ cc
*p :s .05. **p :s .OJ. ***p < .001.
Place of residence Rural Urban Marital status Married Single
> 37 37-31 < 31
Miscellaneous Age
Variable SD
4 .6 5.0 4.6 5.8
42 .8 41.9
4.8* * 4.6 5.0
5.1
42.9 42.4
43.3 42 .6 41.8
42.2
M
Overall score
0.02 - 0 08
0.04 - 0.05
0. 18 - 0 .05 - 0.1 0
0.07
M
0.9 1.2
1.0 1. 1
1.0** 0.9 1.0
0.9
SD
Tolerance toward chi ld
0.03 - 0.11
0.07 - 0.07
0.07 0.03 - 014
- 0.08
M
0.9 1.0
0.9 1.1
I. I * 0.9 1. 1
.2
SD
Emotional significance
Hostile chi ld-rearin g practices
TABLE I (continued)
Downloaded by [York University Libraries] at 18:34 05 November 2015
0.01 - 0.12
- 0.02 0.03
0.08 0.01 - 0. 11
- 0 . 14
M
1.0 1.1
0.9 1.0
1.0* 0.9 1.1
1.0
SD
Disciplinary sty le
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