The Determinants of Children's Responses to Separation

Abstract

The determinants of children''s responses in an unfamiliar setting to brief separations from their mothers was studied in 50 2-yr-old children and their mothers who were observed during free play. Verbal and nonverbal behaviors of both mother and child during the free play, departure, and separation situations were recorded. Measures of the child''s and mother''s cognitive abilities and maternal cognitive sytle were also obtained. Sex and social class differences in child and maternal behaviors within each situation were examined. Three basic styles of maternal departure style were identified. One group of mothers left the room without saying anything about their departure. A second group of mothers told their children they were leaving and/or that they would return. A third group of mothers not only told their children they were leaving and/or would return, they also gave their children explicit instructions as to what to do in their absence. Factor analysis revealed 3 components of children''s departure response: protest, passive distress and active distress. Separation distress was defined as distress response to maternal absence and the primary measure of separation distress was time spent playing. Only passive distress correlated with separation distress. The greater the child''s cognitive abilities, the more information the mother gave the child regarding her absence, and the less proximal, distal and share-play interaction during free play, the less distressed the child was on maternal absence. Maternal verbal abilities, maternal cognitive style and child sex seemed to affect separation distress indirectly through their relationships to the child''s cognitive abilities. Social class was related to maternal verbal abilities and cognitive style which were indirectly related to separation distress.