Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants

Findings from Analogs: The Analog Parenting Task

Department

Psychology Department

College

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Date Range

2012-2013

Disciplines

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

Analog research using the Analog Parenting Task (APT; Zaidi et al., 1989) has proven a useful means to explore contributions to punitive parenting in a laboratory setting. The APT involves having participants view slides of child behaviors and select a disciplinary response to deal with that behavior. Scores are generated for the frequency of selecting physical discipline and for escalating to physical discipline. Data from three recent studies provide evidence of concurrent validity for this instrument (Russa & Rodriguez, 2010), and past research with the APT has yielded findings consistent with transgenerational patterns of abuse (e.g., Bower-Russa, 2005; Bower-Russa et al., 2001; Knutson & Bower, l998). Early work with the APT suggested that disciplinary attitudes partially mediate the association between disciplinary history and risk for punitive disciplinary responding (Bower-Russa, 2005). However, more recent work has taken advantage of the utility of the APT in more experimental designs. For example, in a sample of college students (n = 330), when participants are randomly assigned to conditions of frustration and nonfrustration prior to responding to the APT, it appears that frustration may activate a disciplinary schema which then becomes the primary means by which personal disciplinary history impacts disciplinary decision-making. This presentation will provide an overview of some of the latest findings in APT research, including results from a recent study in a college student population (n = 300) exploring the APT as it relates to intergenerational factors.

Conference Name

Meeting of the International Society for Research on Aggression

Conference Location

Luxembourg

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