Children with Learning Disorders Discourse with Their Mothers: The Role of Maternal Affectivity and Psychopathology Symptoms

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the role of maternal affectivity and psychopathology symptom severity on conversational styles of mothers and their children with learning disorders during recounting stressful events. 30 Turkish mothers and their children with learning disorders (n(boy) = 20, n(girl) = 10) aged between 7 and 14 included in this study. Mother-child dyads conversed about stressful events that children experienced at school and their conversation style was coded for high elaboration and low elaboration. Maternal affectivity and psychopathology symptom severity were also measured via self-report. Lower levels of negative affectivity predicted maternal high elaboration. Maternal positive affectivity and psychopathology symptom severity did not predict mother-child dyads' conversational style. These preliminary findings suggested that lower levels of negative affectivity, reflecting on mothers being sincere and calm, provide mothers with a warm environment for elaborating on the stressful event - even though the children were not able to respond with high elaboration.