Maternal child-rearing styles and the social shills of learning disabled boys

This investigation of the relations between maternal childrearing styles and the social skills of learning disabled children occurred in two parts. In the first part, the authors assembled an instrument to study dimensions of maternal behavior which appear to influence the development of children's social skills. This interview/observation schedule, the Home Environmental Process Inventory (HEPI), was administered in 15 homes. In the second part of this study, two measures of social skills, role taking and interpersonal problem-solving, were administered to each learning disabled child in each of those homes. The c'ata were analyzed using correlational techniques. Some maternal behaviors, such as Press for Othercentered Expectation, correlated highly with children's scores on the social measures. Research which attempts to explore relationships between specific parental behaviors and the social skills of the ID child is likely to increase our knowledge of the etiology of social competence among learning disabled children.