MOTHERS' PERCEPTIONS OF SOCIAL BEHAVIORS OF THEIR CHILDREN WITH AND WITHOUT OTITIS MEDIA (HEARING, PARENTING, PRESCHOOL).

Abstract

This study examined the extent to which mothers of children with and without otitis-media histories differ in their perceptions of children's social behavior. Twenty-three mothers, each with two children aged 2 1/2 to 9 (30 boys, 16 girls) participated. Mothers' average age was 34. Two-thirds were full-time homemakers. Most belonged to middle-class Anglo socioeconomic status. Early recurrent otitis media (EROM) children (n = 27) had had four or more episodes before age 2 and a first episode before age 1. Mild or no otitis media (MNOM) children (n = 19) had had either fewer than four episodes before age 2 or none before age 1. Mothers rated children's social behaviors on the two-part Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory. Its intensity scale score represented frequencies with which a child showed any of 36 behaviors. Its problem scale score was the number of behaviors a mother perceived as a problem for her. Intensity scale score means did not differ significantly for EROM and MNOM children [F(1, 44) = 1.56, p ≥ .05], suggesting no differences in the frequency of occurrence of problem behaviors for the two groups. Problem scale score means differed significantly [F(1, 44) = 5.46, p < .05], suggesting that mothers perceived more behavioral problems in EROM than in MNOM children. Thirteen EROM children had conduct problems (scores above either scale's cutoff), versus two MNOM children. A significant relationship between otitis-media history and conduct problems was shown by a chi-square test [χ² (df=1)= 5.57, p < .05 . Children's age, sex, and birth order did not influence mothers' ratings. Mothers' general anxiety, measured by the Anxiety Scale Questionnaire, influenced their ratings of children's social behaviors on each individual ECBI scale, but did not have an effect after children were described as having conduct-problem or normal behavior. EROM children were rated as having conduct problems significantly more often than were MNOM children. The findings have restricted generalizability, but suggest that psychologists, pediatricians, and speech/hearing pathologists and clinicians may need to help mothers reduce children's conduct problems related to early otitis media.