ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some limitations of those theories and of early attempts at measuring parent–child interaction. It also discusses the state of the art of measuring parent–child interaction and presents both recommendations and caveats for program directors and evaluators. The chapter focuses on the mother and child; cultural absolutism; the deficit model; and nonobservational methods of measurement. Parent education and support programs are predicated on the notion that interventions with children in isolation from the family context often lack impact and staying power. The theories, drawn largely from the fields of psychoanalysis and learning theory, paid little attention to the child's role in socialization. Cultural bias "results not so much from the imposition of the researcher's own cultural values as from reliance on theoretical models that do not acknowledge culture at all". The chapter discusses the major considerations involved in observational measurement of parent–child interaction.
