Verbal-nonverbal congruence in normal and delinquent families

Assessed affect expression for both normal and delinquent families (N = 5 families) in three communication channels (verbal, tonal and facial); group differences in channel inconsistency were determined. Interactions that involved mother-father, mother-son, and father-son were assessed independently. Analysis of variance procedures yielded a number of group differences in total affect expression and verbal-nonverbal inconsistency. When co-variance procedures controlled for demographic differences, however, reliable differences between normal and delinquent families no longer obtained. Findings are discussed in terms of results from previous encoding studies and the relationships among affect expression, diagnostic status, and demographic variations.