Parental evaluation and its relation to shame and pride in young children

This study examines the evaluative behavior of parents toward their young children as a function of child gender. It also examines relations between parental evaluative comments and children's emotional behavior, specifically the expressions of shame and pride. Thirty intact, middle-class, Caucasian families and their 3-year-old children participated in the study. Dyadic interactions between each parent and child were videotaped across problem-solving situations. Transcripts were coded into categories of parent evaluative behavior and children's emotions were scored. Findings indicated that parents used more specific and positive, rather than global or negative evaluations. Moreover, boys received more positive evaluations while girls received more negative ones. Although children's expression of pride was not related to parental evaluative behavior, their expression of shame was related. Gender differences in parental evaluation were observed that may explain the gender differences in self-evaluation of the children themselves.