How do children react to maternal i-messages and inductive reasoning

What is it about?

The sample was composed of 527 Chinese students studying at primary four to form three in Hong Kong. Participants rated their affective reactions and behavioural tendencies to videotaped parent disciplinary messages. Results showed that children are most receptive to mothers' I-messages revealing parental distress, next comes You-messages in the form of inductive reasoning, then I-messages revealing anger whereas they are most antagonistic towards You-messages implying criticising. Implications for parent education practice are discussed.

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Why is it important?

The study investigated the affective reactions (unhappiness, animosity and compassion) and behavioural tendencies (antagonistic and conciliatory) of Chinese children to four kinds of maternal communicative behaviours, namely, I-message revealing primary feelings, I-message revealing anger, You-message implying moralising, and You-message implying criticising.