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related to a positive approach with children and positively related to intolerance of their children's negative behaviors.
Socioeconomic disadvantage has also been identified as a characteristic of a subset of families in which a child is clinic-referred for significant behavior problems. Dodge, Pettit, and Bates (1994) found in a sample of 585 children followed from kindergarten to third grade that there was a linear relationship between the risk of developing behavior problems and lower SES. Dumas (1984) found that, in a treatment outcome study of a clinic-referred sample of children with behavior problems, a significant portion of the families (approximately 50%) were classified in the high socio-economic disadvantage range.
The relationship between these familial and environmental stressors and the
development of behavior problems has yet to be determined. However, Dumas's (1984) work indicated that specific interaction patterns differentiated mothers with lower socioeconomic status from those with higher socioeconomic status which may account for the greater numbers of lower status families in clinic-referred groups. Additionally, there is clear evidence that fathers' interaction styles are influenced by their socioeconomic circumstances (Radin & Epstein, 1975; Roberts, 1987). Mother-Child Interactions
Specific behaviors and interaction patterns have also been found to distinguish
children with significant behavior problems from non-referred children. The vast majority of literature on parent-child interactions has focused on the mother-child dyad. Although a variety of behavioral coding systems have been employed to study children with