Construct Similarity and Maternal Warmth

In an investigation of perceived construct similarity and maternal warmth, it was found that mothers who construed themselves as being highly similar to their child manifested more warmth toward that child. Perceived construct similarity was assessed by means of a modified Rep. grid, while warmth was assessed using the Fels Warmth Scale. Social desirability scores of the mothers did not seem to influence the magnitude of this relationship. Because a number of other variables both cognitive and behavioral were included in the study, factor analyses and discriminant function analyses were used to order the data. JO of the child, contrary to predictions, did not appear to be related to any of the main variables in the study. The relationships among all the variables were discussed along with recommendations for further work in this area.