Preschool Intervention, Social Class, and Parent-Child Interaction Differences

The interactions of 30 mother-child dyads were examined in the context of social class and early age family intervention effects. Communication characteristics were analyzed from taped responses to hypothetical child-rearing problems obtained during a semi-structured interview conducted in the home. Of the three experimental groups, untreated middle socioeconomic status (SES) and treated low SES families were more active and less punitive than untreated low SES dyads. Experimental dyads agreed with each other in the discussion of hypothetical situations more often than those in the two control groups. Middle SES dyads interrupted more frequently than those in the low SES groups. The results are discussed in the context of research on family environments and of long-term early intervention effects on family interaction characteristics.