Jamaican Mothers' Perceptions of Children's Strategies for Resisting Parental Rules and Requests

Mothers’ Perspectives on Resistance and Defiance in Middle Childhood: Promoting Autonomy and Social Skill

This study explored mothers’ perceptions of their children’s resistance to their requests and defiance of parental authority during middle childhood and early adolescence. We were interested in parental perceptions of change in resistance, their interpretations of the meaning of resistance, and parental responses to these behaviors. Forty Canadian mothers of children 9–13 years of age participated for one week in a study focused on parents’ experiences of children’s resistance and opposition. Procedures consisted of a qualitative analysis of mothers’ reports from a five-day event diary and a 1 h semi-structured interview. Mothers reported developmental changes in the quantity and quality of children’s resistance to parental requests and expectations. Most mothers reported increasing displays of defiance and direct and indirect expressions of attitude but also noted changes in the skill with which children expressed resistance. Mothers interpreted children’s resistance as annoying but normal expressions of children’s developing autonomy. Mothers supported children’s right to expression of agency through resistance but attempted to channel children’s resistance toward socially competent expressions of assertiveness. The findings have implications for a relational perspective on autonomy-supportive parenting and parents’ goals for children’s developing social competence in the 21st century.

Flirting with resistance: children's expressions of autonomy during middle childhood

PURPOSE

Developmental research suggests that children's early non-compliance can be understood as "resistance", an agentic response to parental control where children express their autonomy within a close relationship context. Research with toddlers and adolescents suggests that children's resistance strategies can be differentiated using the dimensions of assertiveness, social skill, and overt versus covert expression. This study explores children's strategies for expressing resistance during the neglected period of middle childhood.

METHOD

Forty children, 9-13 years of age, participated for 1 week in a study focused on children's experiences of socialization and parent-child relationships. Procedures included a 5-day event diary, and a 1-hour semi-structured interview about the rules and expectations in their home and their strategies of resistance.

RESULTS

Thematic analysis identified a rich repertoire of strategies for resisting unwelcome parental demands. These included overt resistance, such as negotiation, argument, and expressions of non-acceptance and covert resistance such as covert transgressions and cognitive non-acceptance of parental demands when compelled to comply.

CONCLUSION

The findings were interpreted as reflecting children's development of assertiveness and social skill as they expressed their autonomy in the interpersonal context of the interdependent but asymmetrical relationship with their parents.