母親のネガティブな情動的変化に対する歩行開始期の子どもの働きかけおよび共感的反応

抄録

　　Toddlers show more prosocial behaviors and empathic responses toward their mothers in distress situations as their autonomy and self-other distinction develop. The purpose of this study was to examine children's age-related changes of their actions and empathic responses toward their mothers in negative situations. Twenty toddlers and their mothers participated in this study when the child was one year old and again at age two. We observed the children's responses in two situations: one was with clear clues in which mothers pretended to feel pain, and another was with unclear clues, in which the mothers suddenly became indifferent to their children. The result showed that children took more appropriate coping behaviors for both situations, detected mothers' change more sensitively, and positively responded more quickly even in the situation with unclear clues when they were two years old. Children showed more empathic responses in the situation with clear clues than did in the situation with unclear clues, but age-related changes of empathic responses were common in both situations; other-oriented responses such as hypothesistesting and concern increased and self-oriented responses such as self-distress decreased with age. There were some gender differences in each situation. The implications and the future research directions are discussed.