Nonassertive expression of parental approval and disapproval and its relationship to child disturbance

Assertiveness and affective quality of voice intonation were compared for approving, neutral, and disapproving statements made by 20 sets of parents of elementary-aged children who demonstrated emotional or behavioral disturbances in school and 20 sets of parents of "normal" control children. For mothers, a significant interaction (p = .01) was found between parental group and verbal affect: mothers of "normal" control children demonstrated more assertive voice intonation when expressing affective verbal content (approval or disapproval) than when making neutral statements; mothers of "disturbed" children demonstrated less assertive voice intonation when expressing affective verbal content than when making neutral statements. Differences between mothers on affective quality of voice did not reach statistical significance. No significant differences were found for fathers.