THE EMPIRICAL STUDY OF MOTHER-SON INTERACTIONS

Three groups of mother-son dyads interacted with the Interpersonal Game Test. Each group consisted of 10 dyads in which the sons had been designated as aggressive, withdrawn, or controls on the basis of therapists' ratings and scores on a behavioral checklist. Various patterns of interacting were identified (e.g., competitive, dominant-submissive) and some differences in mother-son interactions seemed related to aggression/withdrawal in children. The potential advantages of a procedure such as the Interpersonal Game Test over more conventional procedures for assessing family interactions were discussed.