從德行觀到教養行為─中介歷程假說

From Human Nature Belief to Parenting Behavior: Mediation Process Hypothesis

發展心理學上關於教養行為的認知基礎研究，一向將焦點置於教養觀。這方面的研究一直未能獲得較明晰的結果。本研究主張，德行觀才是德行教養行為的優勢認知基礎。德行觀會影響父母對子女德行行為的歸因歷程，並模塑他的「教養有效性信念」，從而對教養行為傾向產生影響。此一「中介歷程假說」預測：（1）德行觀與教養觀根源不同，兩者之間僅有低度相關，而前者對教養行為通常擁有較優勢的影響力。（2）德行觀對歸因歷程的影響有二：一方面，德行觀會影響父母的歸因傾向；另一方面，德行觀決定了實際歸因的意涵。這兩者共同決定了父母對子女德行表現的認知，從而導致不同的教養行為。（3）德行觀會影響父母對教養有效性的評估，從而影響及實際教養行為。研究者提供受試者五種假想的「個案」，要受試者假設這些個案是其子女，並以此立場對個案的德行表現進行歸因，評估教養有效性，並選擇教養方式。實驗操弄的獨立變項是「個案行為的中、長期一致性」，結果顯示，前述的預測均獲得肯定。

What we know about parenting cuts across two areas: parenting belief and parenting behavior. However, it has been difficult to construct an account of parental behavior based on parenting belief. The present research proposes a “mediation process hypothesis” to sketch the process form cognitive foundation to everyday parenting practice. The main arguments of this hypothesis are: (a) Human nature belief has different origin from parenting belief and is a better index of parenting behavior. (b) Human nature belief has impact both on parent's attribution of children's misbehavior and the practical meaning of attribution, which mediate parenting behavior. (c) Human nature belief has impact on parents' efficacy judgment in parenting which also mediates the parenting behavior. Two measurements of human nature belief and parenting belief and five vignettes were designed to test this hypothesis. 2011 parents and teachers responded to 18 statements as well as to the misbehavior of five story characters as if they were parents of the characters. The subjects were asked to attribute the possible cause of story characters' misbehavior and to evaluate the effectiveness of parenting in each case. The manipulation of the parenting situations is the consistency of behavior development of the story characters. As predicted, results supported almost all of the argument of the hypothesis proposed. Implications for the current findings are discussed and some suggestions are offered for researchers in the future to overcome the methodological hurdles.