O’Connor et al.
Social Learning Theory
• Reminder! – SLT involves observational learning of
modelled behaviour
• Mediational processes:
• Attention
• Retention
• Reproduction
• Motivation
SLT and Development
• SLT suggests that most human behaviour is learned
through modelling
• Bandura (1977) argued that children often acquire and
emulate their parents’ behaviour
• Interventions to improve child behavior using SLT have
focused on altering the quality of parenting
• For example, positive attention and praise for the child’s
desirable behavior
• This contrasts with attachment theory which focuses on
the bond between a child and their caregiver
O’Connor et al. (2013)
• Aim: to see if interventions based on Social Learning
Theory would improve the quality of parent-child
relationships derived from Attachment Theory
O’Connor et al. (2013) - Procedure
• Took place between 2001-2004 in a deprived London borough
• All 672 reception and Y1 pupils in the borough were screened for
emotional and behavioural difficulty using questionnaires
• 99% of sent questionnaires were completed by teachers, 79% by
parents
• Used the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman &
Scott, 1999) and the DSM IV diagnosis of oppositional-defiance
disorder
• Scores given by parents and teacher were added together and
only children scoring higher than the top 18% of the national
distribution were categorised as ‘high risk’, while all other
children were categorised as ‘low risk’
O’Connor et al. (2013) - Procedure
• This was a randomized controlled trial
• Classrooms were assigned to a treatment randomly by
a statistician
• Four schools, eight classes in total over three years
• Total of 24 class treatments
• Mean of 28 pupils per class, total of 672 children
• 16 children excluded due to ineligibility (10 due to
language issues, 6 due to developmental problems)
O’Connor et al. (2013) - Procedure
• There were between five and nine high-risk children per
class, who were randomized in a ratio of 2:1 to be
approached for the study
• There were 18 to 23 low-risk children per class, who were
randomized in a ratio of 1:2
• There were 233 parents who were sent letters describing
the study and inviting them to participate; 174 (75%)
agreed
• Written informed consent was obtained from parents and
the local research ethics committee approved the study
O’Connor et al. (2013) - Procedure
• All pre-and post-treatment parent–child interaction data were
collected from home visits by two trained developmental
researchers blind to intervention status
• Follow-up measures were collected 1 year later (approximately 6
months after the end of treatment)
• 152 families of the original sample size of 174 families (87%)
were successfully reassessed
• Reassessment was carried out with home visits where three
interaction tasks were recorded on video
• The video recordings were then coded by independent
researchers who had no knowledge of the families or their
treatment status. Coders all had at least a college degree and
experience in psychology research
O’Connor et al. (2013) - Procedure
• Three tasks were carried out during the home visit
1. 10-min free play session with a designated set of toys brought
by the interviewer; no specific instructions were given to the
parent by the experimenter except ‘‘to play as you normally
would”.
2. 10-min highly structured challenge in which parent and child
were instructed to construct a difficult LEGO object from a
picture; in this task the parent was not allowed to touch the
LEGO bricks (only verbal instruction was allowed)
3. Toy clean-up session in which the first 5 min were coded;
minimal instructions were provided to the parent (‘‘We’d like
you to get your child to tidy up the toys before we move on to
the next thing’’)
O’Connor et al. (2013) - Procedure
• A separate visit took place in the child’s school
• Children were individually administered the
Manchester Child Attachment Story Task in a private
setting with a trained developmental researcher
• The treatment intervention consisted of eighteen
sessions - a 12-week parenting program with a 6-week
literacy program
• The parenting program was the 12-week Incredible
Years (IY; Webster-Stratton,1984) school-age program
O’Connor et al. (2013) - Procedure
• The literacy program was a shortened 6-week version
of the SPOKES manualized program
• Control group had no intervention
• For all families, a GP (doctor), school-based drop-in
service, and specialist mental health service were
available
• Attachment was scored using Coding of Attachment-
Related Parenting (Matias, Scott, & O’Connor, 2006), a
global measure of parent–child interaction quality
O’Connor et al. (2013) - Procedure
• Level and intensity were scored on a 7-point Likert scale
• Two attachment-related parenting behaviors were assessed
1. Sensitive Responding - assesses the degree to which the parent
shows awareness of the child’s needs and sensitivity to his or her
signals, promotes the child’s autonomy, adopts the child’s
psychological point of view, and physically or verbally expresses
warmth toward the child
2. Mutuality - reflects the degree to which each member of the pair
seems to willingly accept and seek the other’s involvement in a joint
activity, build on each other’s input and coordinate their
efforts/actions while conducting a task together, maintain shared
attention and fluid conversation, reciprocate positive affectionate
behaviors, and keep physical proximity/closeness when interacting
with one another
O’Connor et al. (2013) - Results
• The average number of sessions attended in the
intervention group was five (SD=5.7), with a median of
two and a range of zero to 18
• Social learning theory intervention significantly affected
attachment theory measures: parents receiving the
Incredible Years (plus reading program) intervention
demonstrated improvements in their sensitive responding
to the child, as rated by researchers blind to treatment
status
• No evidence that the intervention produced a positive
change in the children’s attachment representations
derived from a narrative measure
O’Connor et al. (2013) - Conclusion
• Standard social learning theory–based parenting
interventions can change broader aspects of parent–
child relationship quality (attachment)