Parent-child decision making in childrens clothing stores

Jean C. Darian

The author Jean C. Darian is Associate Professor of Marketing, Rider University, Lawrenceville, New Jersey, USA. Abstract This research analyses the in-store behaviour of children and their parents while shopping for childrens clothing. Data were collected by unobtrusively observing and recording the behavior of parents and children in retail stores. Results indicate that a purchase was more likely where both parties were highly involved in the search, the interaction was collaborative, the parent had positive evaluations of quality, price, practicality and style, the child had positive evaluations of price, style and colour, and the salesperson addressed the needs of both the parent and the child. It is recommended that retailers strategies for merchandise selection, sales force training and in-store promotions, address the needs of both parent and child.

Children are frequent and active shoppers. McNeal (1990) found that children aged ten years averaged about 250 store visits a year. Furthermore, Lackman and Lanasa (1993) note that the inuence of children in consumer decision making appears to be growing, possibly due to greater afuence, higher consumer socialization of children, and increasing independence of children as more mothers work outside the home. This trend represents an opportunity for marketers, but the response of parents and the impact on the family is unclear. On the one hand, parents generally encourage their children to consume as early as possible (McNeal, 1987), and buy them well-known brand-name products. A recent survey indicated that children are very capable of making choices between brands, and that a majority of parents are content for this to happen (Shannon, 1997). In addition, children with the latest brand name products reect favorably on their parents nancial status. It is also possible that parents enjoy consuming vicariously through their children. Veblen (1899) saw wives and children playing a decorative and expressive role for families. Given the increase in the prevalence of working wives during the past few decades, the role of wives as objects of vicarious consumption may be declining, possibly shifting the focus onto children. On the other hand, once children enter school and are increasingly inuenced by their peers, many parents feel subject to excessive demands for products such as expensive high-fashion clothing. This raises an ethical issue for rms marketing to children. In their marketing efforts, rms need to avoid infringing on parental prerogatives (Grossbart et al., 1991). This issue has been addressed under the label of child pester power, where children who have been targeted with commercial messages harass their parents into buying products (Marshall, 1997; Tylee, 1997). Surveys indicate that consumers see childrens advertising as disruptive to parent-child relationships (Martin, 1997). The bulk of research on children as consumers has been in the area of advertising to children and consumer socialization (McNeal, 1987). However, although the
Support for this research was provided by a Rider University Summer Fellowship.

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management Volume 26 Number 11 1998 pp. 421428 MCB University Press ISSN 0959-0552

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prestige-oriented national brands of clothing, e.g. Guess jeans, are heavily advertised, a more recent growth in marketing of clothing to children has come from new fashion-oriented childrens stores which use little advertising, e.g. GapKids. Promotion focuses on personal selling, retail displays and promotional pricing. Therefore most promotion and much consumer decision making takes place in the store. In spite of this recent trend, there has been no research on the in-store behavior of children who are shopping for fashion-oriented clothing with their parents. In addition, there have been few studies on the relative inuence of parents and children as they go through the decision-making process in buying clothes. Moreover, studies based on interviews with children and parents indicate that, while there is general agreement that the inuence of children in clothing decisions is strong, children attribute more inuence to themselves than do their parents (Belch et al., 1985; Foxman et al., 1989a; 1989b). With respect to specic attributes, results of previous studies of family consumer behavior suggest that the parent plays an instrumental role, i.e. emphasizes functional factors such as determining how much to spend, and the child an expressive role emphasizing attributes such as color or style. Thus Foxman et al. (1989b) and Szybillo and Sosanie (1977) found that both parents and children perceived that children had low inuence with respect to price, and several researchers found that children are more involved in color, style and brand decisions (Belch et al., 1985; Jenkins, 1979; Nelson, 1979). This research investigates the behavior of children and their parents in stores selling childrens clothes. These include specialty stores and childrens/juniors departments of department stores. The investigation focuses on two main areas: (1) Parent-child decision making. We investigate the inuence of each party, the tone of interaction between the parent and child, the involvement of each party, the salespersons behavior, and the impact of these factors on the purchase outcome. (2) The evaluative criteria each party mentions, e.g. style, color, practicality, price, and differences between parents and children. We also examine the effect of the parents and the childs evaluations on the purchase outcome. Implications of the ndings for

retailers are discussed. These include ways to increase customer satisfaction for the parent and child, while addressing the need to avoid intruding on parental rights. Data collection The data collection method is similar to that of Atkin (1978) and Rust (1993a), i.e. to unobtrusively observe and record the behavior of parents and children in retail stores. To ensure a naturalistic investigation, disguised observation was used with observers posing as customers. Preliminary observations were made in a pilot survey, in which observers recorded 58 observations in narrative form. These were used to construct a structured observation form. Observations were conducted in various branches of two department and six specialty stores in designated areas in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Most customers were lower- to upper-middle class from suburban areas. A total of 342 observations were made. A total of 92 percent of the parents were mothers. The procedures used and the limitations of this research are discussed in the Appendix. The results are analyzed using the chisquare test for polytomous categorical variables and the t-test for comparisons of percentages between two groups. The pairedsamples t-test is used for comparisons between parents and children. The 0.05 probability level is used as the cut-off level for signicance.

Results
Level of involvement Results are shown in Table I. In general, parents played a more active role in the shopping process than their children. This is indicated by several behaviors, as well as by the observers assessment of the level of involvement in the search. Thus 50.9 percent of parents suggested entering the store, compared to 25.4 percent of children (in the remaining 23.7 percent of cases neither party made the suggestion, they just went in together). Once inside the store, parents were more likely to pick out clothing in response to retail displays, 38.3 percent versus 29.9 percent of children. Parents were also more likely to suggest trying the clothes on. Thus 79.5 percent of parents suggested trying clothes on, compared to 52.9 percent of children.

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Table I Parent and child involvement in the shopping process

Parent

Percenta Child

P
0.000 0.015 0.000 0.000 0.064 0.020

Suggested entering the store 50.9 25.4 5.62 Picked out clothes in response to retail displays 38.3 29.8 2.44 Suggested trying on clothes 79.5 52.9 6.54 Highly involved in the search 74.9 53.5 6.09 Suggested a purchase 29.2 37.4 1.86 Suggested a purchase and the other party concurredb 27.9 39.7 2.35 Notes: a N = 342 b N = 262 (these are cases where one party initiated a purchase and a purchase was made) Finally, observers judged 74.9 percent of parents to be highly involved in the search for clothing compared to only 53.5 percent of children. Interaction between parents and their children A nding that is consistent with the results of Rusts (1993b) study is that, in the majority of cases, parents and children worked together collaboratively. Where one party suggested entering the store, the other agreed without resistance 74.7 percent of the time. While in the store, 61.1 percent stayed together most of the time. When one party suggested trying on clothes, the other agreed readily in 51.8 percent of cases, and with reluctance in 34.5 percent of cases, but disagreed in only 9.6 percent of cases. In most cases the parents behavior indicated a highly collaborative interaction. Thus, in 38.6 percent of cases, the parents chief role was described as a helper, i.e. making the search easier for the child by making suggestions, picking out clothes, and/or nding the right sizes, and in 21.1 percent of cases the parent acted as an advisor, i.e. making helpful suggestions to the child. However, in 14.3 percent of cases the parent tried to persuade the child to buy something different and in 9.4 percent of cases the parents chief role was to limit the number of clothes the child could buy. In only 15.5 percent of cases did the parent select the clothes for the child regardless of whether the child wanted them. Where there was disagreement on product attributes, or on whether to buy, the parent was most likely to request, reason with, or persuade the child (81.6 percent of cases). In only 18.4 percent of cases did the parent act in an

authoritarian manner. Children were also more likely to use collaborative means of persuasion than other methods. Children used requesting, reasoning and persuasion 66.0 percent of the time. However, they were demanding 16.8 percent of the time and used tears, sulking or whining 17.2 percent of the time. This behavior suggests that there is some problem with pester power. Overall, however, observers described the relationship between the parent and child as collaborative 64.0 percent of the time. Thus it appears that parent-child decision making is generally consensual. Observers narratives conrmed this impression, and also often noted positive affectional ties between parent and child. Evaluative criteria Table II shows, for parents and for children, the percent mentioning a specied product attribute. Attributes selected for study were those most frequently mentioned in the pilot survey. As expected, parents were more likely than children to mention attributes that reected instrumental values. Thus 78.7 percent of parents mentioned price, compared to only 40.9 percent of children. In addition, quality was mentioned by 67.5
Table II Product attributes mentioned by parent and child

Attribute Quality Price Practical Style Color Note: a N = 342

Parent 67.5 78.7 64.9 70.8 68.4

Percent mentioninga Child t 50.6 40.9 50.3 74.3 72.2 6.73 13.70 6.21 1.46 1.55

P
0.000 0.000 0.000 0.146 0.123

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percent of parents, versus 50.6 percent of children, and practicality by 64.9 percent of parents but only 50.3 percent of children. There are, however, no signicant differences between parents and children in the percent mentioning the expressive attributes, with a high proportion of both parties mentioning color and style. Purchase inuence As shown in Table I, there is no signicant difference between parents and children in whether a purchase suggestion was made. When one party made a purchase suggestion the other was highly likely to concur. The parent agreed 81.6 percent of the time to the childs request and the child agreed 73.0 percent of the time to the parents suggestion. Overall, child-initiated purchases account for 39.7 percent of all purchases whereas parentinitiated purchases account for only 27.9 percent (the remaining 32.4 percent were joint decisions). The lack of signicant difference between parent and child at the purchase suggestion stage might seem surprising given the greater involvement of the parent in the shopping process. It may, however, reect the role of the parent in the process. While helping, advising, persuading and restraining, parents are narrowing down the choice of clothes for their children so that if the child nally makes the purchase suggestion, the parent is very likely to concur. Our study indicates that very few parents act in a dictatorial manner. Rather they appear to want their child to be actively involved in the process, and there are several reasons why parents may encourage their children to make the nal purchase suggestion. These include making the child happy, the childs greater knowledge of peer reactions, reducing the chance of returning the clothing, and developing the childs consumer skills. Certainly this nding suggests that the parentchild decision-making process is complex, and that measuring the relative inuence of each party is extremely difcult, both because this inuence can be subtle and indirect and because it can shift over time. The high rate of parental acceding to childrens requests is consistent with the ndings of previous studies (Atkin, 1978; Moller, 1995). Purchase outcome A high proportion, 76.6 percent, of shoppers made a purchase. Factors inuencing the purchase outcome are shown in Table III. A

Table III Factors inuencing purchase outcome

N
Involvement Both parent and child highly involved One or neither highly involved Interaction between parent and child Collaborative Other Parent-child disagreement on evaluation of merchandise Quality Disagreement No disagreement Price Disgreement No disagreement Practical Disagreement No disagreement Style Disagreement No disagreement Color Disagreement No disagreement Salespersons input: salesperson addressed the evaluative criteria of: Both parent and child Either parent or child Neither party Notes: a T-test; b Chi-square test purchase was more likely if both the parent and child were highly involved in the search, 85.7 percent, and if the interaction between the parent and the child was collaborative, 86.8 percent. On the other hand, a purchase was less likely if the parent and child disagreed on the style or color of the clothing. Thus a purchase occurred 81.3 percent of the time where there was no disagreement on style but only 63.7 percent where the parent and child disagreed. Corresponding gures

Percent purchasing

140 202

85.7 70.3 (p = 0.000)a

219 123

86.8 58.5 (p = 0.000)a

33 309

69.7 77.4 (p = 0.372)a 77.4 76.9 (p = 0.800)a 68.4 78.2 (p = 0.145)a 63.7 81.3 (p = 0.002)a 64.5 79.3 (p = 0.028)a

65 277

57 285

91 251

62 280

58 107 181

88.7 77.6 72.4 (p = 0.046)b

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are 79.3 percent versus 64.5 percent for color. Parents and children were more likely to disagree on style (31.1 percent of the time) than any other attribute. As shown in Table IV, the probability of a purchase is related to both the parents and the childs evaluation of the merchandise. For parents, this relationship holds for all attributes except color. For children, a relationship exists for price, color, and style, but not for quality and practicality. While there is some tendency for the relationship between outcome and parents evaluation to be less focused in the expressive area (color) and the childs evaluation to be less focused in the instrumental area (quality and practicality), this is not a consistent pattern. Thus, the parents evaluation on style is related to purchase outcome, as is the childs evaluation on price. A possible explanation in the case of style comes from observer narratives which indicated that parents were often negative

about style because they thought that the clothing was too body-revealing. With respect to price, we can speculate that the few children who expressed negative evaluations of the price have been under a specic budget constraint, or using their own money. In general, however, children were far less likely to mention price than any other factor or to give a negative evaluation on price. Of all the attributes mentioned, price was far more likely to receive a negative evaluation from parents than any other factor. Finally, the behavior of the salesperson inuenced the probability of a purchase. If the salesperson addressed the evaluative criteria mentioned by both the parent and the child, a purchase was more likely to be made, 88.7 percent of the time, than if he/she addressed only one of the partys criteria, 77.6 percent of the time, or than if the salesperson did not interact with them, 72.4 percent of the time.

Table IV Parent and child evaluations of merchandise and purchases outcome

Parent Attribute Quality Positive Not mentioned Negative Price Positive Not mentioned Negative Practical Positive Not mentioned Negative Style Positive Not mentioned Negative Color Positive Not mentioned Negative

Child Percent purchasing 81.2 69.4 66.7 (p = 0.034) 83.0 71.2 66.7 (p = 0.007) 84.2 73.3 58.8 (p = 0.000) 81.0 75.0 59.5 (p = 0.010)

N
213 111 18 342 188 73 81 342 171 120 51 342 200 100 42 342

Percent 62.3 32.5 5.2 100.0 55.0 21.3 23.7 100.0 50.0 35.1 14.9 100.0 58.5 29.2 12.3 100.0

N
149 169 24 342 130 202 10 342 137 170 35 342 199 88 55 342

Percent 43.6 49.4 7.0 100.0 38.0 59.1 2.9 100.0 40.1 49.7 10.2 100.0 58.2 25.7 16.1 100.0

Percent purchasing 77.9 76.9 66.7 (p = 0.481) 76.9 78.7 30.0 (p = 0.002) 79.6 74.7 74.3 (p = 0.577) 81.4 73.9 63.6 (p = 0.017) 81.1 72.6 63.4 (p = 0.029)

199 58.2 79.4 206 60.2 108 31.6 75.0 95 27.8 35 10.2 65.7 41 12.0 342 100.0 (p = 0.188) 342 100.0 Note: Chi-square test used to test for signicant difference in percent purchasing 425

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Managerial implications
A general picture that emerges from our ndings is that parents and their children are engaged in a joint process where the relative inuence of each party may shift while in the store. While it may be difcult to separate out the relative inuence of each party, it is clear that the retailer must address the needs of both parties and work to help them resolve any differences that may arise. Merchandise, promotion, and services that appeal to both parties will increase the chance of a purchase and of the group continuing to patronize the store. On the basis of a survey of chief executive ofcers of retail chains, McNeal (1987) classied retailers into children-oriented or non-children-oriented groups. Our ndings suggest that childrens clothing retailers would benet from employing several of the activities used by the children-oriented stores. For example, half of the children-oriented stores provided formal training for store personnel in serving children. Our results showed that customers were more likely to make a purchase when the salesperson addressed the evaluative criteria of both the parent and the child than when only one or neither partys criteria were addressed. We have noted that retailers must be careful about possible negative reactions from parents who might feel that retailers promotions undermine their efforts to inuence their children (Grossbart et al., 1991). Thus retailers need to address the needs of both parents and children without infringing on parental prerogatives. We should note that this is not a problem where the parent suggests a purchase but the child refuses. In this situation, if the salesperson facilitates a purchase, they are actually helping the parent. In addition, our ndings indicate that in the majority of cases the parent is highly involved and works to facilitate the shopping process, and the parent and child are working together collaboratively. In addition, if one party suggests a purchase the other is highly likely to concur. Where the interaction is collaborative, the retailers chief role is merely to facilitate the process by, for example, having attractive displays, easy-to-nd merchandise, available tting rooms and helpful salespeople. However, in the minority of cases where there is discord between the parent and child, the salesperson should be sensitive to the parents need not be undermined.

For both parent and child, the evaluation of style has a strong impact on the probability of purchasing the clothing. However, as the parent and child frequently did not agree on their evaluations of style, retailers should conduct marketing research on both parents and children to determine which styles to carry and how best to promote these styles. Where disagreements arise in the store, salespeople can suggest other merchandise. Evaluation of the color of the clothing is only significantly related to purchase for children. Therefore color selection and promotion should focus on the needs of children. An attribute that had a strong impact on the decision to purchase for the parent, but not for the child, was whether the clothing was perceived as practical. Promotion (both advertisements and personal selling) aimed at parents could emphasize the practical features of the retailers clothing. Examples of practical features are clothes that are easy to wash, and clothes that keep their shape and color after a number of washes. The price of the clothing was more likely to be mentioned by the parent than any other factor, and was also more likely to receive a negative evaluation. Where parents expressed negative attitude towards the price of the clothes, they were less likely to make a purchase. While our data would suggest that reducing prices would increase purchase rates, retailers may not want to cut into prot margins. Salespeople could stress value, and focus on those product attributes that the parent evaluated positively. We found that a purchase was much more likely if the relationship between the parent and child was collaborative rather than adversarial. Although the majority of the shoppers were collaborative, making it easier for the salesperson to work with them, a fairly large percentage had an adversarial relationship. Observer narratives indicated that conict often arose because the child was disinterested and started misbehaving, rather than because of disagreement over what clothing to purchase. Although this did not necessarily deter the parent from making a purchase, the shopping experience was unpleasant for the parent and the child, and this might make the parent less likely to return to the store for future purchases. In a recent survey, more than half of the children said that they would not shop in a store that did not excite them (Actman, 1996). This experience could be

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improved by having activities or entertainment for the children, e.g. a small playground. Also, as parents often promised the child a reward for behaving in the store, attractive small gifts could be stocked. This could improve the childs behavior while also increasing sales.

Limitations and future research

We should emphasize that these results may not apply to other products. Previous research has found that the inuence of children in decision making is product specic (Belch et al., 1985; Wells and LoSciuto, 1966), and higher for childrens clothing than for most products. There are several characteristics of childrens clothing that may account for the high inuence of children. First, it is for the childs use, not the family in general. Second, clothes are highly conspicuous products because they are worn outside the home at school and for social occasions. This means that a childs clothing will affect his/her acceptance by, and status among, peers. Thus children are highly involved in their clothing, and parents listen to their childs input because they want their children to be accepted by their peers and to be happy. Another limitation of this research is that information was limited to what took place inside the store. There was no information on what took place prior to entering the store or after leaving. Thus, in the minority of cases where the child was pestering the parent, we do not know whether the childs desire for the merchandise was stimulated mainly by advertisements, by peers, or other sources. Finally, observations were conned to two northeastern states in the USA, and do not necessarily reect behavior in other areas of the USA, or in other countries. Future research that would build on the results of this study could be conducted in two areas. First this study could be replicated in different geographical areas and for different products, to see whether the results of this study are conrmed. It would be particularly interesting to observe parents and children in grocery stores, where the parent does not normally go solely to purchase for the child, and where the issue of pester power with respect to advertising candies and snacks to children is of concern (Tylee, 1997). Second, instore observations could be combined with questioning the family. To retain the natural

behavior of each party in the store, questioning would have to take place after the store visit. Parents and children could be asked about events leading up to the store visit. This could throw light on the possible impact of advertising versus other factors inuencing the child, and how these factors come into play over the entire consumer decisionmaking process. It is possible, for example, that the generally positive tone of the parentchild interactions found in this study occurred because more negatively-toned negotiations had already been completed before entering the store.

References
Actman, H. (1996), Kids Incorporated, Sporting goods Business, Vol. 29 No. 5, pp. 52-5. Atkin, C.K. (1978), Observation of parent-child interaction in supermarket decision making, Journal of Marketing, October, pp. 41-5. Belch, G., Belch, M.A. and Ceresino, G. (1985), Parental and teenage inuences in family decision making, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 13, April, pp. 163-76. Foxman, E.R., Tansuhaj, P.S. and Ekstrom, K.M. (1989a), Adolescents inuence in family purchase decisions: a socialization perspective, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 18, pp. 159-72. Foxman, E.R., Tansuhaj, P.S., and Ekstrom, K.M. (1989b) Family members perceptions of adolescents inuence in family decision making, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 15, pp. 482-90. Grossbart, S., Carlson, L. and Walsh, A. (1991), Consumer socialization and frequency of shopping with children, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 19, Summer, pp. 155-63. Jenkins, R.L. (1979), The inuence of children in family decision making: parents perceptions, in Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 6, Association for Consumer Research, Ann Arbor, MI, pp. 413-18. Lackman, C. and Lanasa, J.M. (1993), Family decisionmaking theory: an overview and assessment, Psychology and Marketing, Vol. 10, pp. 81-93. McNeal, J. (1987), Children as Consumers, Lexington Books, Lexington, MA. McNeal, J. (1990), Children as consumers, American Demographics, Vol. 12 No. 9, pp. 36-9. Marshall, C. (1997), Protect the parents, Management Today, pp. 92-3. Martin, M.C. (1997), Childrens understanding of the intent of advertising: a meta-analysis, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 205-16. Moller, J. (1995), Childrens Purchase Request and Parental Response: Results from an Exploratory Study in Denmark, Copenhagen.

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Nelson, J.E. (1979), Children as information sources in family decisions to eat out, in Wilkie, W.L. (Ed.), Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 6, Association for Consumer Research, Ann Arbor, MI, pp. 419-23. Rust, L. (1993a), Observations: parents and children shopping together, Journal of Advertising Research, July/August, pp. 65-70. Rust, L. (1993b), Observations: how to reach children in stores, Journal of Advertising Research, November/December, pp. 67-72. Shannon, J. (1997), Children power comes of age, Marketing Week, Vol. 20 No. 27, p. 33. Szybillo, G.J. and Sosanie, A. (1977), Family decision making: husband, wife and children, in Perreault, W.D. Jr (Ed.), Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 4, Association for Consumer Research, Atlanta, GA, pp. 46-9. Turk, J.L. and Bell, N.W. (1972), Measuring power in families, Journal of Marriage and the Family, Vol. 34, pp. 215-22. Tylee, J. (1997), Should advertising take pester power seriously?, Campaign-London, Vol. 11, 18 July. Veblen, T. (1899) The Theory of the Leisure Class, Macmillan, New York, NY. Wells, W.D. and LoSciuto, L.A. (1966), Direct observation of purchasing behavior, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 3, pp. 227-33.

Appendix
Observers waited outside a designated store and when a parent-child group entered the store, they noted the behavior of the group outside the store and then followed them inside. They then observed the behavior of the group and the salesperson, while posing as customers. As the observers posed as customers, there was no reason for the parentchild group to be any more sensitized to their presence than they would be to having another shopper in the store, which is a natural situation. Observers lled out the structured observation form and also added brief narratives at the end of the form. There are several advantages of using direct observation to obtain data on parentchild decision making. First, this method provides a record of what people actually do. It does not depend on a respondents memory of past events or ability to interpret a question properly. Moreover, a survey assumes that individuals know the relative amount of influence they have, but this may not be the case. In addition, observations are not influenced by selective perception on the part of respondents or any tendency to rationalize events. We have already noted that studies have found that parents generally perceive

the influence of their children in decision making to be less than do their children. Turk and Bell (1972) found that children had power when observational methods were used, but they had no power when the same couples were asked to provide selfreports of decision-making power. In addition, the use of surveys is problematic in dealing with young children, since they generally lack the cognitive ability to respond correctly to test items. Finally, disguised observation does not require the cooperation of respondents. While observation does provide many advantages over questioning, it also has its limitations. One frequently cited disadvantage of observation is that it only provides information on behavior, not on the motives, perceptions, and attitudes affecting this behavior. This disadvantage is somewhat mitigated in our study because of the open conversations that took place between parents and their children in the store. Observers noted that the conversations in the store were sufciently open for the required information to be obtained. Another disadvantage is lack of background demographic and lifestyle information on the subjects. In addition, information was limited to what took place outside and inside the store, and so missed any search, evaluation and inuence attempts that took place prior to going to the store. The ages of the children were estimated. According to these estimates, ages were roughly equally divided between ages 5-7 years, 8-10 years, and 11-13 years. Several precautions were taken to improve accuracy. First, the structured forms provided each observer with the same detailed outline of what to look for. Second, the observer narratives gave the researcher an additional check. All data were input into the computer by the researcher, so each form was carefully checked. Third, the observers practiced lling out the forms and received feedback from the researcher before making the observations, and were therefore familiar with the forms and what to look for. Finally, observers recorded specic behaviors as well as giving general assessments. Conclusions regarding both level of involvement and interaction between parent and child were based on several measures of behavior which corroborated each other. However, in spite of these precautions, we view this study as somewhat exploratory.

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