Early Cumulative Caregiver Sensitivity and Its Relationship with Childrens Later Perceptions of Peer and Maternal Acceptance

• Main Author: Apavaloaie, Loredana
• Other Authors: DiCarlo, Cyndi
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: LSU 2008
• Subjects: Human Ecology
• Online Access: http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-10172008-144608/

The study examined the possibility of relationships between caregiver sensitivity across multiple caregivers during the childs first three years of life and both childrens later perceived peer acceptance and childrens later perceived maternal acceptance. Data were collected from 26 children, aged between 5 and 8-years old, and the 32 unique caregivers that the children had experienced during their first 36 months in child care. Assessments were made using the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children (PSPC, Harter & Pike, 1984) and the Caregiver Interaction Scale (CIS, Arnett, 1989). Correlations were calculated among the 7 primary variables for the children: number of unique caregivers, number of snapshots (i.e., points of time at which caregiver data was collected), age in months at testing, peer acceptance, maternal acceptance, average level of caregiver sensitivity, and rate of change of caregiver sensitivity. Significant positive correlations were found between perceived peer acceptance and perceived maternal acceptance. No statistically significant relationships were found among the remaining variables; that is, the measures of cumulative caregiver sensitivity did not predict the childrens later perceptions of peer acceptance or of maternal acceptance. Possible explanations for the absence of statistically significant relationships are discussed.