Mental Disturbed Parents

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125
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British Journal of Developmental Psychology (2006), 24, 125–149
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Conversations around homework: Links to

parental mental health, family characteristics
and child psychological functioning
Lynne Murray1*, Matt Woolgar1, Carla Martins2, Anna Christaki1,

Alison Hipwell3 and Peter Cooper1
1
School of Psychology, The University of Reading, UK
2
Dep Psicologia IEP, Universidade Do Minho, Portugal
3
University of Pittsburgh, USA
Parents are increasingly expected to supplement their children’s school-based learning

by providing support for children’s homework. However, parents’ capacities to provide
such support may vary and may be limited by the experience of depression. This may
have implications for child development. In the course of a prospective, longitudinal
study of children of postnatally depressed and healthy mothers, we observed mothers
(N ¼ 88) and fathers (N ¼ 78) at home during maths homework interactions with their
8-year-old children. The quality of parental communication was rated and analysed in
relation to child functioning. The quality of communication of each of the parents was
related to their mental state, social class and IQ. While postnatal depression was not
directly related to child development, there was some evidence of the influence of
maternal depression occurring in the child’s school years. Different aspects of parental
communication with the child showed specific associations with different child
outcomes, over and above the influence of family characteristics. In particular, child
school attainment and IQ were associated with parental strategies to encourage
representational thinking and mastery motivation, whereas child behavioural
adjustment at school and self-esteem were linked to the degree of parental emotional
support and low levels of coercion. Notably, the influence of maternal homework
support was more strongly related to child outcome than was paternal support, a
pattern reflected in mothers’ greater involvement in children’s schools and school-
related activities. Some parents may need guidance in how to support their children’s
homework if it is to be of benefit to child functioning.
Effects of depression on parenting and child development

The experience of clinical depression typically makes it hard for parents to engage with
their children in an appropriately responsive fashion and, in turn, evidence has
* Correspondence should be addressed to Professor Lynne Murray, School of Psychology, The University of Reading, 3 Earley
Gate, Whiteknights, Reading, Berkshire, RG6 6AL, UK (e-mail: lynne.murray@reading.ac.uk).
DOI:10.1348/026151005X83568
126 Lynne Murray et al.
accumulated to show that parental depression, including maternal depression occurring

after childbirth, is associated with a number of problems in early child development (see
Murray & Cooper, 2003). Because parent-child interactions in the context of depression
may show a wide range of difficulties that are not always evident in the volunteer
samples often studied in developmental psychology, examination of the links between
specific aspects of parenting style in these populations and different kinds of child
outcome may be particularly illuminating when seeking to understand the role of
parental communication in child functioning. For example, in our own prospective,
longitudinal study of the development of children of postnatally depressed and healthy
mothers (Murray, 1992), we found particular patterns of communication between
depressed mothers and their infants to be associated with specific child developmental
difficulties. Thus, whereas depressed mothers’ lack of active engagement with the infant
and difficulty in focusing on infant experience was associated with poorer infant
cognitive functioning (Murray, Fiori-Cowley, Hooper, & Cooper, 1996; Murray,
Kempton, Woolgar, & Hooper, 1993), raised levels of hostility (also more prevalent
among postnatally depressed mothers than healthy mothers) were predictive of the
child’s feelings of low self-worth (Murray, Woolgar, Hipwell, & Cooper, 2001) and the
development of conduct problems (Morrell & Murray, 2003).
For some postnatally depressed mothers the depressive episode following delivery
quickly remits, whereas for others episodes are chronic and recurrent and, as the child
develops, mothers experiencing prolonged depression may find it particularly hard to
manage the changing demands on their capacity to support their child. We previously
assessed the children in our longitudinal study as they adjusted to the challenges of
starting school at age five: we identified a number of child social difficulties associated
with maternal postnatal depression (Murray et al., 1999) as well as child adjustment
problems arising in the context of more recent, as well as postnatal, maternal episodes
(Sinclair & Murray, 1998). Our next assessment of this sample took place when the
children were 8 years old. At this point in their development, children are faced with
considerable demands to meet the academic standards of the school curriculum and, in
seeking to understand how maternal depression and any associated patterns of
parenting might affect the child’s development at this stage, we therefore considered it
would be particularly fruitful to focus on the way in which parents communicated with
their children during school-relevant homework tasks.
Homework as a context for studying parent-child interactions

Children have been required to supplement their learning in school by doing homework
ever since the mid-nineteenth century (Gordon, 1980), the amount and nature varying
according to educational and political fashion. Research on the value of homework in
promoting school achievement suggests positive benefits at secondary school but the
effects are far less clear for younger children (Cooper, Lindsay, Nye, & Greathouse,
1998). In both the USA and the UK, parents have been increasingly encouraged to
involve themselves in their children’s education in recent years (Cowan & Traill, 1998;
UK Department of Education and Skills, 2004; Grolnick & Slowiaczek, 1994; Shumow,
1998; US Department of Education, 1994). Homework is considered a particularly
important bridge between home and school and one that may play a potentially
important role in enhancing the child’s performance (Grolnick & Slowiaczek, 1994;
Senechal & Le Fevre, 2002). On the parents’ side, homework is something that they
expect their children to do; parents also expect and aim to help their children with
Conversations around homework 127
homework (Epstein, 1986; Keys, Harris, & Fernandes, 1995; MacBeath & Turner, 1990;
Cowan & Hallam, 1999). Nevertheless, parents may not always feel well-equipped to
help their children and interactions with the child during attempts to help with
homework can be challenging and, at times, conflictual (Cowan & Traill, 1998; Levin
et al., 1997). This may be particularly likely in relation to mathematics, where the
strategies taught in school may differ from those used by the parents (Shumow, 1998).
The degree to which depression may influence the parents’ ability to provide scholastic
support has been little researched to date. However, a study by Goldsmith and Rogoff
(1995) comparing the behaviour of dysphoric and non-dysphoric women in interactions
with 5- to 6-year-old children showed that those with dysphoric symptoms had
particular difficulties with structured teaching tasks, being less sensitive to both the
child’s emotional cues and the child’s understanding of the problem.
Dimensions of parental scholastic support and their role in child development

There is consistent evidence that the nature of parent-child problem-solving interactions
and support for children’s school-based activities is associated with longer term child
outcomes, including both academic achievement (Estrada, Arsenio, Hess, & Holloway,
1987) and behavioural adjustment and peer relationships (Johnson & Jason, 1994).
A number of dimensions of parental communication during problem-solving have been
considered important in promoting child progress and adjustment. One is that of the
motivational framework within which any tutoring takes place; in particular, the degree
to which the parent stimulates the child’s enthusiasm and sense of mastery (Diaz, Neal,
& Vachio, 1991; Nolen-Hoeksema, Wolfson, Mumme, & Guskin, 1995; Ratner & Stettnet,
1991; Vygotsky, 1962, 1978). A second dimension concerns the parents’ teaching role
and their ability to help the child understand the problem and find appropriate
strategies for its solution. In this regard, the degree to which the parent encourages
independent representational understanding, rather than simply identifying the
relevant elements of the task for them, has been emphasized (Diaz et al., 1991; Hubbs-
Tait, McDonald-Culp, Culp, & Miller, 2002; Landry, Smith, Swank, & Miller-Loncar, 2000;
Sigel, 1982). The issue of high rates of parental coercive control or intrusiveness during
problem-solving tasks has also been highlighted (Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 1995), with
evidence that such behaviour is associated not only with poor child cognitive outcomes
(Culp, Hubbs-Tait, Culp, & Starost, 2000; Egeland, Pianta, & O’Brien, 1993) but also with
general child behaviour problems (Dodge, Pettit, & Bates, 1997; Nix et al., 1999). Finally,
a number of studies have shown the importance of parental emotional support during
problem-solving (Barocas et al., 1991; Diaz et al., 1991). Notably, however, it seems to be
low-level emotional support that is of particular benefit to the child, whereas clear
parental statements of praise may actually be unhelpful (Fagot & Gauvain, 1997).
The role of fathers

In contrast to the volume of research on the role that mothers play in their children’s
development, the contribution of fathers has seldom been studied (Lamb, 1997). With
regard to child scholastic achievements, this may, in part, stem from the fact that
mothers play a more active role than fathers in liaising between school and home
(David, 2002), and spend more time with children on homework-related activities
(Laasko, 1995; MacLeod, 1996). Aside from the issue of the relatively greater maternal
involvement in children’s schooling, there is also evidence that, despite broad
communalities in the communicative strategies of mothers and fathers, there are key
differences (Jain, Belsky, & Crnic, 1996; Laasko, 1995). In the context of maternal
depression, the role of fathers may become particularly important. For example, studies
of infants of depressed mothers have shown that infants who become distressed and
withdrawn in the context of interactions with their mothers can be alert and well-
regulated when interacting with their healthy fathers (Hossain, Field, Gonzalez,
Malphurs, & Del Valle, 1994). In the current study, therefore, we included fathers as well
as mothers and examined the nature of their homework interactions with the child, as
well as the extent of their overall involvement with the child’s schoolwork.
Design of current study

We conducted naturalistic observations of the 8-year-old children of postnatally
depressed and control mothers as they completed mathematics problems in their home
in the presence of each of their parents. We focused on four key aspects of parental
discourse with the child during the homework tasks: (i) the promotion of positive
mastery motivation, (ii) the promotion of independent representational understanding,
(iii) the provision of general emotional support, and (iv) the presence of coercive
control. We examined these communication styles in relation to parental mental state
and family characteristics. While we anticipated that mothers who had experienced
postnatal depression might have residual difficulties in their interactions with their
child, we predicted that mothers who had experienced depression during the child’s
school years would experience particular problems in negotiating the demands of
supporting their child during homework. Both previous results for this sample (Murray
et al., 1996, 1993; Murray, Hipwell, Hooper, Stein, & Cooper, 1996) and wider research
on the effects of depression on parent-child interactions (see review by Goodman &
Gotlib [1999]) have shown increased rates of hostility and coercion, and poorer capacity
to focus on the child’s agenda and promote the child’s cognitive development in
depressed mothers. We anticipated, therefore, that depressed maternal mood would
interfere with all four dimensions of parental homework support. In addition to
examining the role of parental mental state, other key family variables that could be
expected to have an impact on parenting and child outcomes were investigated, namely,
social class, parental conflict and IQ. We investigated the associations between parents’
behaviour with their child during homework and the child’s development, and, in
particular, their functioning in school. This included their performance on school
achievement tests, IQ, general adjustment to school and their level of self-esteem. Since
parental behaviour with the child is likely to be influenced by child, as well as family,
characteristics, we also took into account the child’s functioning at the time of
the previous assessment at 5 years in each of the domains of child outcome assessed in
the current phase of the study. Given the central importance that parental support of the
child’s school functioning may have in child adjustment and performance, we predicted
that the nature of parental behaviour during homework would show associations with
child outcome, even when parental and family background factors and child
characteristics were taken into account. Moreover, in view of the accumulating
evidence for the specificity of relationships between parental and child behaviours, we
predicted that particular aspects of parenting during the homework task would be
differentially associated with distinct kinds of child outcome. Specifically, we expected
that the promotion of both positive mastery motivation and independent
representational thinking would be associated with positive child performance in
school achievement tests and high IQ. We also expected that the provision of general
emotional support and the absence of coercive control would be associated with high
self-esteem and good behavioural adjustment. Finally, in line with previous research, we
predicted that the contribution of maternal behaviour to child outcome would be
greater than that of paternal behaviour and that this would be reflected in differences in
the extent of mothers’ and fathers’ general involvement in their children’s schoolwork
and activities.
Method
Participants
Participants were originally recruited from a representative community sample of 702
primiparous women and their healthy, full-term infants. Mothers were screened at six
weeks with the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale (EPDS; Cox, Holden, & Sagovsky,
1987); those with scores indicating probable depression were interviewed. Sixty-one
women had experienced an episode of depression meeting research diagnostic criteria
(Spitzer, Endicott, & Robins, 1978) since delivery. After every alternate case was
identified (for the last six months of recruitment, after every case was identified),
potentially psychiatrically well controls were randomly selected from those with low
EPDS scores (i.e. 9 or less) and these women were interviewed to confirm that no
depression had occurred either prior to or since delivery. Forty-two women were
selected as controls. All but three of the 103 women identified for recruitment
(each from the depressed group) agreed to participate in the study. Mothers and their
children were assessed at 18 months and again at 5 years. The current assessment took
place when the children were aged 8 years. At this point, 55 of the mothers and children
in the index group and 41 in the control group (94.8% and 97.6%, respectively, of those
originally recruited) were seen again. We also attempted to assess as many of the
children’s fathers as possible: this was achieved for 46 (83.6%) of the index group and
35 (85.4%) of the controls. Sample characteristics are shown in Table 1.
Procedure
The study children and their mothers initially visited the university research unit where
a range of assessments were conducted, including measurement of the child’s IQ, self-
esteem and their performance on a set of mathematics problems. The mother’s mental
state and IQ were also assessed and she was asked about her relationship with her
partner and her involvement with the child’s schoolwork and activities. Her permission
was sought to obtain teacher reports of the child’s behaviour and their performance on
school achievement tests. Two visits were subsequently made to the family home; on
one occasion the child was observed with their mother and on the other with their
father, each time completing a different set of mathematics problems. The order of both
the observation of mother and father and the allocation of the two sets of mathematics
problems was randomized. The parents were each asked to give the kind of back-up
support to the child that they might ordinarily do at home. The researcher set a video-
camera to record a view of both child and parent and left the room for a 20 minute
period while the homework task was completed. In the case of fathers, who had not
previously attended the research unit assessment, the researcher then conducted
mental state and IQ assessments and interviewed the father to ascertain his involvement
in the child’s schoolwork and activities.
Table 1. Characteristics of the sample at eight and a half years
Control Index Statistics
No. assessed at 2 months/ 812 years 42/41 58/55

Age of child (in months) at 812 year 103.20 (3.30) 103.4 (2.34) tð93Þ ¼ 0:35
assessment (M [SD ])
Proportion of boys 47% 54% x2 ð1Þ ¼ 0:39
Social class I, II and II non-manual 67% 64% x2 ð1Þ ¼ 0:76
Maternal mental state
Postnatal depression 0% 100%
Current depression (812 years) 2.4% 14.5% x2 ð1Þ ¼ 4:05*
5–812 years depression 19.5% 49.1% x2 ð1Þ ¼ 8:87**
No. months depressed during 2.32 (4.05) 16.82 (13.61) tð94Þ ¼ 26:60***
child’s lifetime (M [SD ])
Paternal mental state
Current disorder (812 years) 5.7% 17.4% x2 ð1Þ ¼ 2:50
5–812 years disorder 17.1% 30.4% x2 ð1Þ ¼ 1:89
Parental conflict
Criticism score (M [SD ]) 3.66 (2.13) 5.53 (2.00) tð82Þ ¼ 24:14***
*p , :05; **p , :01; ***p , :001:
Measures
Parent measures
Mental state. Maternal mental state when child was aged 8 years was assessed using the
affective disorders section of the structured clinical interview for DSM diagnoses (SCID;
First, Spitzer, & Williams, 1996) to determine whether or not the mother was currently
depressed. Mothers were also questioned using the same schedule about their mood
since the previous assessment at 5 years and the timing of any episodes of depression
was recorded. Mothers had similarly been interviewed at 5 years and 18 months;
together, the information from these three interviews, along with that identifying the
presence or absence of depression in the first three months post-partum, was used to
derive the following mental state variables: (i) post-partum depression, (ii) current or
recent depression (defined as occurring within the previous 12 months) (iii) depression
occurring during the child’s school years (i.e. between 5 and 8 years) and the overall
duration of the child’s exposure to depression (calculated in months). Fathers were also
interviewed, using the full SCID. This was used, as for the mothers, to ascertain their
current and recent mental state as well as whether they had experienced an episode of
disorder in the child’s school years. However, since the fathers had not previously been
interviewed, it was not considered possible to obtain valid information concerning the
occurrence of any episodes prior to this time. Since the number of fathers who
experienced any one diagnosis in the time period concerned was small (depression:
N ¼ 18; alcohol abuse: N ¼ 3; an anxiety disorder: N ¼ 10), fathers were categorized
for each time period as having either experienced or not experienced any diagnosis.
Maternal and Paternal IQ. The National Adult Reading Test (NART; Nelson &
Willison, 1991) was administered to provide a measure of overall IQ. In normal
populations, scores on the NART correlate highly with those on standard IQ tests. The
measure is widely used in research and clinical practice to estimate IQ in populations
with neurological or psychiatric disorders, as it overcomes the difficulty that symptoms
(e.g. retardation) may interfere with performance in standard IQ assessments and make
the estimation of IQ invalid.
Parental conflict. In order to assess the quality of parental relationship, the Dyadic
adjustment scale (DAS; Spanier, 1976) questionnaire was completed, with additional
items to assess perceived and felt criticism (Hooley & Teasdale, 1989).
Parental involvement. Parents were asked a series of structured questions about
their participation in the child’s school (e.g. running clubs, serving as parent governor,
assisting in class) and their involvement in the child’s school-related work and activities
(e.g. accompanying child to museums/sites relevant to school projects, helping child
find source materials from libraries/Internet sites). Parents were also asked about their
involvement in the child’s other non-school based activities (e.g. sports interests,
hobbies). Involvement in each area was rated on a 5-point scale.
Homework materials
Three sets of mathematics problems were compiled from the Primary Maths Bank
(Pollitt & Munro, 1989). This is a Rasch-calibrated set of items of varying difficulty
covering the range of mathematics taught to children in school between the ages of 7
and 13 years, from which questions may be selected and mixed to construct extended
tests. Each of the three sets in the current study comprised 25 items, including
computation, concepts and problem-solving, money, measures, time, fractions and
shape. The three sets were comparable in terms of their level of difficulty: Set A:
M ¼ 48:52 (SD ¼ 6:4), range 35.3–59.6; Set B: M ¼ 48:19 (SD ¼ 6:78), range 35.9–60.4;
Set C: M ¼ 48:90 (SD ¼ 6:46), range 37.9–61.9.
Set A was used when the children visited the research unit to establish each child’s
level of ability; Sets B and C were used at home, one with each parent. To ensure that the
children were all posed with a similar, moderate degree of challenge, they were asked to
start the sets at home at the point just before they started failing items on Set A.
Parental homework support dimensions. Videotapes of parent-child discourse
during the homework sessions were transcribed1. Separate utterances were identified
on the basis of timing and intonational cues, as well as their content. Utterances were
examined in conjunction with the video and, for each one, the presence or absence of
each of the four dimensions of parental behaviour was recorded by a researcher who
had no other information concerning the children and their families. A random sample
of homework interactions for 10 of the children was scored by a second researcher.
(1) Promotion of mastery motivation: the parent shows positive enthusiasm for the
task, their willingness to help and encourages the child. For example: ‘Oh, let’s
have a go at that one, you can do it with the scales – OK?’; ‘Shall I just show you
that one to get you started?’
(2) Promotion of representational understanding: the parent may give information
about the principles involved in the problem. For example: ‘It’s like saying, for
example, that if there were two bowls and you have one of them, you have the
same proportion of bowls as if there were four and you had two; you have half in
each case.’ Alternatively, the parent may offer suggestions involving the principles
of the problem. For example: ‘There might be a number you can multiply the top
1
Poor audio quality prevented scoring in a few cases.
one by. Then multiply the bottom one by the same number and it will equal one of
these’; ‘Perhaps you could use what you did for the question about the cost of
pencils’.
(3) Provision of general low-level emotional support: the parent demonstrates their
psychological availability and supportive awareness of the child by means of back-
up, affirmative comments (it is important to note that such comments were not
confined to times when the child was completing the problem successfully, but
could just as well be made as the child struggled with the task). For example: ‘yes,
that’s it’; ‘OK, you’re starting there, then’; ‘mm, mm, right’; ‘I see what you’re
doing’.
(4) Coercive control: The parent speaks forcibly and gives a strong directive for the
child to do something. For example: ‘Write that down there: : :put the 1 in the
right hand column’; ‘Now add 7 plus 8’.
Child measures: 8 year outcomes

School academic achievement. Results of the children’s performance on the National
Curriculum Tests at Key Stage 1 (SATS) in English, Mathematics and Science were
obtained. Scores across the three subjects were highly correlated (at least .57 between
any two tests) and the mean score for the three tests was used to characterize the level of
the children’s school achievement.
IQ. Four subscales from the WISC-III UK (Wechsler, 1992) were used – similarities
and vocabulary (both verbal), and block design and object assembly (both
performance); the prorated, scaled verbal and performance scores were summed to
give the Full scale IQ.
Self-esteem. The Perceived competence scale for children (Harter, 1982) was
administered. The total score was used as an overall measure of child self-esteem.
Adjustment at school. Teachers completed the teacher form of the Rutter scale
(Rutter, 1967). This questionnaire has been widely used in research and clinical practice
to identify children with clinically significant behaviour problems in the context of
school. A total score of nine or above was taken to reflect the presence of at least a
moderate level of disturbance.
Child measures: 5 year outcomes

IQ. The McCarthy scales of children’s abilities (McCarthy, 1972) were administered
(Murray et al., 1996); the total score on the General Cognitive Index (GCI) was used as a
measure of IQ at 5 years.
Self-esteem. The children’s behaviour during a competitive card game with a friend
was recorded at 5 years (Murray et al., 2001) and the child’s expression of low self-worth
during the procedure was used as an index of low self-esteem.
Adjustment at school. The Preschool Behaviour Checklist (PBCL; McGuire &
Richman, 1988) was completed by the children’s teachers (Sinclair & Murray, 1998).
Total scores were used as a measure of the level of child behavioural disturbance.
Data analytic strategy

First we conducted descriptive analyses of the parental homework communication
variables and compared the characteristics of mothers’ and fathers’ behaviour. We then
conducted univariate correlational analyses; these were used, first, to examine how
parental mental state and wider family circumstances were related to parental behaviour
with the child and the child’s development and, second, to examine the relations
between each parent’s behaviour with the child during homework and the child’s
functioning. Finally, a series of regression analyses with blocked entry procedures was
performed to examine the influence of parental homework support on child outcome,
having taken relevant parental and family characteristics, as well as the child’s previous
performance in each domain of functioning, into account.
Results
Characteristics of homework communication in mothers and fathers
The total scores for the dimensions of homework support were expressed as
percentages of the total number of utterances. Inspection of the distributions of scores
on each of the parental homework support dimensions showed only those for coercive
control to be normally distributed.
Normality of distribution for the other variables was achieved by means of log
transformations. All dimensions showed good inter-rater reliability; kappas were as
follows: promotion of mastery motivation: .73; promotion of representational
understanding: .78; provision of emotional support: .94; coercive control: .88.
The characteristics of maternal and paternal homework communication (untrans-
formed scores) are shown in Fig. 1. There was considerable variability among the
parents; some interactions showed high levels of coercive control and low levels of
emotional support or promotion of the child’s motivation and understanding about the
task, whereas other parents were highly supportive and facilitated their children’s
endeavours. Overall, as can be seen from Fig. 1, mothers and fathers differed little from
each other on most dimensions of homework support (coercive control: z ¼ 0:67;
promotion of independent representational understanding: z ¼ 1:76; emotional
support: z ¼ 1:54). If anything, fathers tended to show a more optimal pattern and
this was significant in the promotion of mastery motivation dimension (z ¼ 2:07,
p , :05). While mothers’ and fathers’ styles of homework communication of were
broadly similar, the degree of general involvement in both the child’s school and their
school-related activities showed striking differences between the two parents, with
mothers being more involved than fathers (z ¼ 4.23, p , :001 and z ¼ 5:36, p , :001,
for school and school-related activities, respectively). By contrast, the two parents’
involvement in other aspects of the children’s lives did not differ (z ¼ 0:88; see Fig. 2).
Parental mental state, family characteristics, child gender and homework support
and their relation to child functioning
Table 2 shows the univariate correlations (Pearson, point-biserial etc., as appropriate)
between parental and family variables, child gender and parental homework support
behaviours. It also shows the associations between these variables and the measures of
child functioning. Postnatal depression showed no association with any dimension of
maternal communication with the child, nor was it associated with child outcome. The
same was true for the overall duration of the child’s exposure to maternal depression.
By contrast, current and more recent maternal depression was associated with poorer
support for the child in each dimension of homework discourse (i.e. more coercive
control, less emotional support and less promotion of mastery motivation and
representational understanding) and, with the exception of child IQ, generally poorer
50 80
40
60
30
40
20
20
10
0
0
Emotional support Coercive control
50 40
40
30
20 10
10
0
Representational understanding Mastery motivation
Mother Father
Figure 1. Homework support by mothers (N ¼ 78) and fathers (N ¼ 78).
child functioning. Paternal mental disorder showed only one significant association
with the nature of homework communication, with more coercive control occurring
in the context of current disorder. Current paternal disorder was also linked to a
greater likelihood of child behaviour problems in school. In general, middle-class
parents and those with higher IQs showed better patterns of homework support than
other parents; in turn, their children had better outcomes. These patterns of
association were similar for mothers and fathers, although links were generally
stronger for maternal variables.
The quality of parental homework communication (particularly mothers’ homework
communication) was associated with a number of child outcomes. With regard to child
IQ, mothers who promoted mastery motivation and representational understanding,
provided more emotional support and expressed less coercive control during the
interaction had children with higher scores, as did fathers who gave more emotional
support. Associations with child academic achievement, as assessed by the SATS,
broadly paralleled those for IQ; in the main, these were somewhat weaker than those
concerning child IQ, although some additional associations emerged. Thus, in addition
to the positive influence of maternal emotional support and low rates of coercive
Maternal (N= 78) and paternal (N=78) involvement in school and home
3.5
3
Mother
Father
2.5
1.5
0.5
0
Involvement Involvement Involvement
at home at school in school work
Figure 2. Maternal (N ¼ 78) and paternal (N ¼ 78) involvement in school and home.
control, paternal promotion of mastery motivation and low levels of coercive control
were associated with better results on the SATS.
Children’s self-esteem was related to most dimensions of maternal homework
communication, but not with paternal interactions. Finally, children whose mothers
exhibited more emotional support and whose fathers promoted more mastery
motivation and expressed less coercive control were amongst the better adjusted at
school.
Multivariate analyses
Given the associations between different aspects of homework support, and between
mental state and other family characteristics, and the parents’ behaviour with the child,
the question arises of whether particular aspects of homework communication were
important and whether these influenced child functioning over and above the effects of
parental and family variables. This central question was addressed by means of
multivariate regressions. In addition, since child characteristics could themselves have
influenced parental behaviour, regression analyses also took into account the child’s
previous functioning in each domain of development. In the initial analysis (shown as
model 1 in Tables 3 to 6) we determined the relative contribution of the different
homework communication variables; in order to avoid prematurely deleting variables,
we retained those where p , :15 for subsequent analysis. In the subsequent, main
model (shown as model 2 in Tables 3 to 6), variables were entered in two blocks. The
first block consists of two types of variables: the developmentally equivalent variable to
that predicted at 8 years, as previously assessed at age 5 (i.e. for child IQ and academic
achievement, we controlled for previous child IQ [GCI]; for child self-esteem, we
controlled for earlier expressions of low self-worth; and for child behavioural
136
Table 2. Associations among parental homework dimensions, child gender, wider family characteristics and child outcome
Maternal homework (N ¼ 88) Paternal homework (N ¼ 78) Child outcome
Academic Self- School

Mastery Repres. Emotional Coercive Mastery Repres. Emotional Coercive IQ achievement esteem maladjustment
motivation understanding support control motivation understanding support control (N ¼ 88) (N ¼ 70) (N ¼ 87) (N ¼ 80)
Lynne Murray et al.

Child gender (N ¼ 88) .092 2 .099 2 .143 .020 2 .127 2 .145 .180 .079 .146 2 .017 .011 .368**
Social class (N ¼ 88) 2 .085 2 .300** 2 .347** .368*** 2 .173 2 .212þ 2 .368** .307** 2 .379*** 2 .182 .093 .201þ
Maternal variables (N ¼ 88)
PND 2 .026 2 .146 .023 .019 – – – – .132 2 .096 .019 .123
Current depression 2 .235* 2 .220* 2 .215* .253* – – – – 2 .160 2 .315** 2 .117 .162
5–8 years depression 2 .157 2 .047 2 .240* .169 – – – – 2 .076 2 .290* 2 .254* .227*
No. months depressed 2 .030 2 .107 2 .149 .046 – – – – .014 2 .140 .011 .100
IQ .239* .242* .343** 2 .361** – – – – .364*** .295* .075 2 .214þ
Paternal variables (N ¼ 78)
Current disorder – – – – 2 .207þ 2 .068 2 .090 .278* .064 2 .040 2 .218þ .334**
5–8 years disorder – – – – 2 .010 2 .120 .033 .058 .192þ 2 .025 2 .141 .328**
IQ – – – – .210þ .066 .285* 2 .363** .343** .402** 2 .057 2 .168
Parental conflict (N ¼ 84) 2 .049 2 .027 2 .096 .058 2 .154 2 .108 2 .238* .254* 2 .026 2 .110 2 .189þ 2 .035
Maternal homework (N ¼ 88)
Mastery motivation – .427*** .053 2 .423*** – – – – .227* .244* .244* 2 .083
Repres. understanding – – .138 2 .525*** – – – – .289** .077 .117 2 .135
Emotional support – – – 2 .526*** – – – – .363** .183 .318** 2 .368**
Coercive control – – – – – – – – 2 .305** 2 .301* 2 .389*** .220þ
Paternal homework (N ¼ 78)
Mastery motivation .129 – – – – .174 2 .195þ 2 .421*** .050 .331** .018 2 .399**
Repres. understanding – .234* – – – – 2 .023 2 .426*** 2 .083 .104 2 .106 2 .129
Emotional support – – .353** – – – – 2 .417*** .280* .173 .207þ 2 .076
Coercive control – – – .456*** – – – – 2 .221þ 2 .406** 2 .162 .266*
þ
p , :10; *p , :05; **p , :01; ***p , :001.
Repres. understanding ¼ representational understanding.

Table 3. Regression models for child IQ based on maternal, paternal and parental predictors
Maternal predictors Paternal predictors Parental predictors

(N ¼ 88) (N ¼ 78) (N ¼ 78)
b t b t b t
Model 1
M promotion of 0.14 1.23 0.12 0.96
mastery motivation
M promotion of repres. 0.21 1.70þ 0.30 2.10*
understanding
M emotional support 0.35 2.95** 0.20 1.47þ þ
M coercive control 0.05 0.33 0.06 0.35
P promotion of mastery 0.04 0.28 2 0.03 20.22
motivation
P promotion of repres. 2 0.17 2 1.31 2 0.18 21.44
understanding
P emotional support 0.20 1.45 0.13 0.91
P coercive control 2 0.19 2 1.15 2 0.08 20.51
Model F Fð4; 83Þ ¼ 5:33, Fð4; 73Þ ¼ 2:37, Fð8; 69Þ ¼ 2:73,
p , :001 p , :10 p , :05
Model 2
Step 1
GCI (5 years) 0.49 5.33*** 0.43 4.18*** 0.43 4.20***
Child gender 0.15 1.78þ 0.17 1.78þ 0.18 1.86þ
Social class 20.19 2 2.04* 2 0.09 2 0.73 2 0.11 20.88
Maternal depression 0.17 1.89þ 0.15 1.50
(5–8 years)
Maternal IQ 0.21 2.26* 0.17 1.64
Paternal disorder 0.11 1.09 0.10 1.06
(5–8 years)
Paternal IQ 0.17 1.44 0.12 1.01
p , :001, R 2 ¼ :43 p , :001, R 2 ¼ :36 p , :001, R 2 ¼ :40
Step 2
GCI (5 years) 0.46 4.98*** – – 0.40 3.89***
Child gender 0.19 2.23* – – 0.20 2.20*
Social class 20.13 2 1.31 – – 2 0.06 20.50
Maternal depression 0.17 1.93þ 0.17 1.73þ
(5–8 years)
Maternal IQ 0.15 1.62 0.09 0.86
Paternal disorder – – 0.09 0.92
(5–8 years)
Paternal IQ – – 0.11 0.95
M promotion of mastery – – – –
motivation
M promotion of repres. 0.19 2.13* 0.23 2.31*
understanding
M emotional support 0.12 1.26 0.12 1.12
Table 3. (Continued)

(N ¼ 88) (N ¼ 78) (N ¼ 78)
b t b t b t
M coercive control – – – –
P promotion of mastery – – – –
motivation
P promotion of repres. – – – –
understanding
P emotional support – – – –
P coercive control – – – –
Model F Fð7; 78Þ ¼ 9:92, Fð9; 66Þ ¼ 6:14,
p , :001, DR 2 ¼ :04, p , :001, DR 2 ¼ :05,
Fð2; 78Þ ¼ 3:07, Fð2; 66Þ ¼ 3:29,
p , :05 p , :05
þþ
p , :15;þp , :10; *p , :05; **p , :01; ***p , :001:
adjustment in school at age 8, we controlled for the child’s score at 5 years on the PBCL),
and predictors comprising parental and family characteristics as well as child gender.
With regard to parental mental health, only the occurrence of disorder in the period 5 to
8 years was considered. This was, first, because neither postnatal depression nor
chronicity of child exposure showed any relation in univariate analyses with either
maternal homework dimensions or children’s outcome and, second, only small numbers
of parents experienced current disorder. In the second block, as well as previous child
functioning and parental and family characteristics, we included those homework
communication variables retained in the initial step. For each child outcome, analyses
were first carried out for mothers2 and fathers separately and then for combined mother
and father variables.
Child IQ (see Table 3)

In the analysis including maternal variables, high IQ scores at 8 years were, as expected,
predicted by better performance on the GCI at age 5; in addition, higher maternal IQ and
social class were associated with better child outcome. The occurrence of maternal
depression in the school years was, contrary to expectations, linked to higher child IQ
but this effect was not significant. Notably, maternal promotion of representational
understanding during the homework task contributed to the prediction of child IQ over
and above the influence of maternal IQ and social class; when this maternal homework
dimension was included, the effects of these other factors were no longer significant
2
The analysis for combined mother and father variables includes only those mothers for whom father data were available (i.e.
78 rather than the 88 mothers who were observed with their children and whose results are shown in the left hand columns of
Tables 3 to 6). Each analysis in these tables was repeated for the 78 mothers for whom father data were available and, as
these were found to give identical results to those for the whole sample, they are not shown.
Table 4. Regression models for child academic achievement based on maternal, paternal and parental
predictors

(N ¼ 88) (N ¼ 78) (N ¼ 78)
b t b t b t
Model 1
M promotion of mastery 0.22 1.65þ þ 0.27 1.95þ
motivation
M promotion of repres. 20.11 2 0.84 20.05 2 0.35
understanding
M emotional support 0.10 0.72 20.04 2 0.26
M coercive control 20.23 2 1.45 20.07 2 0.40
P promotion of mastery 0.19 1.22 0.17 1.07
motivation
P promotion of repres. 2 0.07 20.54 20.13 2 1.00
understanding
P emotional support 0.05 0.34 0.04 0.25
P coercive control 2 0.32 21.74þ 20.30 2 1.64þ þ
p , :06 p , :05 p , :05
Model 2
Step 1
GCI (5 years) 0.45 4.17*** 0.32 2.58* 0.32 2.62*
Child gender 0.003 0.03 2 0.05 20.43 20.04 2 0.33
Social class 0.08 0.66 0.07 0.45 0.14 0.95
Maternal depression 20.22 2 1.99þ 20.20 2 1.65
(5–8 years)
Maternal IQ 0.20 1.87þ 0.03 0.24
Paternal disorder 2 0.09 20.74 20.06 2 0.52
(5–8 years)
Paternal IQ 0.37 2.66** 0.37 2.61*
p , :001, p , :01, p , :01,
R 2 ¼ :34 R 2 ¼ :26 R 2 ¼ :29
Step 2
GCI (5 years) 0.46 4.28*** 0.29 2.36* 0.30 2.54*
Child gender .001 0.003 2 0.02 20.13 20.02 2 0.18
Social class 0.06 0.51 0.09 0.65 0.15 1.06
Maternal depression 20.19 2 1.81þ 20.16 2 1.40
(5–8 years)
Maternal IQ 0.18 1.69þ 20.02 2 0.18
Paternal disorder 2 0.05 20.43 20.02 2 0.20
(5–8 years)
Paternal IQ 0.29 2.06* 0.34 2.48*
M promotion of mastery 0.20 1.96þ 0.29 2.57*
motivation
M promotion of repres. – – – –
understanding
M emotional support – – – –

(N ¼ 88) (N ¼ 78) (N ¼ 78)
b t b t b t
motivation
understanding
P coercive control 20.25 2 1.99þ 20.16 2 1.31
p , :001, p , :01, p , :001,
DR 2 ¼ :04, DR 2 ¼ :05, DR 2 ¼ :12,
Fð1; 62Þ ¼ 3:85, Fð1; 55Þ ¼ 3:99, Fð2; 52Þ ¼ 5:12,
p , :06 p , :06 p , :01
þþ
p , :15;þp , :10; *p , :05; **p , :01; ***p , :001:
(Model 2, Step 2). By contrast, when father variables were analysed, only the effect of
child IQ at 5 years predicted 8 year functioning. When maternal and paternal variables
were considered together, it was still the case that the mother’s promotion of
representational understanding was influential, while no other variables, apart from the
child’s gender and earlier performance, were significantly associated with child IQ
scores.
Academic achievement (see Table 4)

In the analysis that included maternal variables, the only significant predictor of
child performance on the SATS was their GCI score at 5 years, with children with
higher scores at 5 years again achieving better results at 8 years. In addition, there
was a tendency for children whose mothers had been depressed at some point
between the child’s fifth and eighth year, and those with mothers with lower IQs,
to have poorer SATS results. When consideration of the mother’s interactions with
the child during homework was included, children whose mothers promoted
mastery motivation at 8 years tended to achieve better academic results,
independent of the other predictors. The analysis including father variables showed
a positive effect for higher paternal IQ and previous child performance, and a
tendency for children whose fathers showed low rates of coercive control to
perform well. When mother and father behaviours were considered together, along
with the influence of previous child behaviour and paternal IQ, only the mother’s
homework communication – the promotion of mastery motivation – was
significantly associated with child SAT scores.
Self-esteem (see Table 5)

In the analysis including maternal measures, poor child self-esteem at 8 years was
unrelated to the previous expression of low self-worth. However, low social class,
Table 5. Regression models for child self-esteem based on maternal, paternal and parental predictors
Maternal Paternal Parental

predictors predictors predictors
(N ¼ 88) (N ¼ 78) (N ¼ 78)
b t b t b t
Model 1
M promotion of mastery 0.18 1.56þ þ 0.19þ þ 1.46
motivation
M promotion of repres. 20.14 2 1.18 20.13 2 0.92
understanding
M emotional support 0.18 1.50þ þ 0.17 1.20
M coercive control 20.29 2 2.01* 20.32 2 1.84þ
P promotion of mastery 2 0.01 2 0.08 20.09 2 0.69
motivation
P promotion of repres. 2 0.19 2 1.42 20.22 2 1.74þ
understanding
P emotional support 0.12 0.80 20.01 2 0.09
P coercive control 2 0.20 2 1.14 20.10 2 0.62
Model F Fð4; 82Þ ¼ 5:11, p , Fð4; 72Þ ¼ 1:48, Fð8; 68Þ ¼ 2:68,
:001 ns p , :05
Model 2
Step 1
Child self-esteem 20.11 2 1.04 2 0.15 2 1.24 20.07 2 0.62
(5 years)
Child gender 20.02 2 0.14 0.02 0.13 0.04 0.34
Social class 0.21 1.80þ 0.06 0.44 0.22 1.53
Maternal depression 20.27 2 2.36* 20.32 2 2.68**
(5–8 years)
Maternal IQ 0.08 0.69 0.20 1.65
Paternal disorder 2 0.09 2 0.76 20.05 2 0.46
(5–8 years)
Paternal IQ 2 0.03 2 0.23 20.06 2 0.44
p , :10, R 2 ¼ :11 ns, R 2 ¼ :04 p , :10, R 2 ¼ :17
Step 2
Child self-esteem 0.04 0.36 – – 0.02 0.15
(5 years)
Child gender 0.05 0.49 – – 0.04 0.35
Social class 0.34 3.19** – – 0.26 1.85þ
Maternal depression 20.26 2 2.52* 20.30 2 2.66**
(5–8 years)
Maternal IQ 20.08 2 0.79 0.05 0.45
Paternal disorder – – 20.06 2 0.58
(5–8 years)
Paternal IQ – – 20.09 2 0.68
M promotion of mastery 0.10 0.93 0.04 0.29
motivation
understanding

(N ¼ 88) (N ¼ 78) (N ¼ 78)
b t b t b t
M emotional support 0.23 1.91þ – –

M coercive control 20.35 2 2.62* 20.45 2 3.34***
motivation
P promotion of repres. – – 20.18 2 1.57
understanding
Model F Fð8; 78Þ ¼ 4:58, Fð10; 66Þ ¼ 3:11,
p , :001, p , :01,
DR 2 ¼ :21, DR 2 ¼ :16,
Fð3; 78Þ ¼ 7:93, Fð3; 66Þ ¼ 5:04,
p , :001 p , :01
þþ
p , :15;þp , :10; *p , :05; **p , :01; ***p , :001:
maternal depression occurring in the child’s school years and the mother’s use of
coercive control during the homework task were associated with low self-esteem. In
the analysis including paternal variables, none were found to predict this child
outcome and when both maternal and paternal behaviours were considered
together, the effects of maternal depression and the mother’s use of coercive
control remained significant.
School maladjustment (see Table 6)

The analysis including maternal measures showed child behaviour difficulties at school
at 8 years to be significantly predicted by problems at 5 years, as assessed by the PBCL,
and, within the maternal and family characteristics, both child gender and maternal IQ
were found to be related to child difficulties; thus, boys and children whose mothers had
lower IQ were more likely to exhibit school maladjustment than other children,
independent of earlier child adjustment. Notably, the effect of maternal depression,
evident in univariate analyses, was not significant once these other factors were
considered. When the quality of maternal homework communication was taken into
account (Model 2, Step 2), it was found to make an independent contribution to child
behaviour in school, over and above the effects of child sex and previous adjustment,
and the effect of maternal IQ was no longer significant: mothers who provided low
levels of emotional support had children who showed difficulties. With regard to
paternal variables, the occurrence of some form of psychiatric disorder in the child’s
school years was associated with child difficulties in school, over and above the
influence of previous child difficulties. However, the father’s interactions with the child
during the homework task were unrelated to child outcome on this measure, once
family and paternal characteristics were taken into account. Due to the small number of
Table 6. Regression models for child school maladjustment based on maternal, paternal and parental
predictors

(N ¼ 88) (N ¼ 78) (N ¼ 78)
b Wald b Wald b Wald
Model 1
M promotion of mastery 21.37 .11 2 5.04 .60
motivation
M promotion of repres. 20.82 .05 0.86 .02
understanding
M emotional support 212.89 6.73** 2 19.12 5.28*
M coercive control 20.004 .02 2 0.06 1.57
P promotion of mastery 222.06 7.32** 2 25.19 6.22*
motivation
P promotion of repres. 22.44 .46 2 6.39 1.48
Understanding
P emotional support 27.49 2.21þ þ 2 10.17 1.68
P coercive control 20.02 .19 2 0.04 .68
Model F x2 ¼ 13:38, x2 ¼ 16:53, x2 ¼ 26:31,
df ¼ 4, p , :01 df ¼ 4, p , :01 df ¼ 8, p , :001
Model 2
Step 1
PBCL (years) 0.19 4.10* 0.19 2.35 0.18 1.59
Child gender 3.12 5.36* 10.83 .03 11.59 .04
Social class 1.10 1.49 0.99 .48 0.80 .22
Maternal depression 1.47 2.62 1.98 2.25
(5–8 years)
Maternal IQ 20.10 3.93* 2 0.07 .79
Paternal disorder 2.96 5.28* 3.01 4.24*
(5–8 years)
Paternal IQ 20.11 1.05 2 0.06 .22
2 2 2
Model F x ¼ 28:30, x ¼ 31:78, x ¼ 35:45,
df ¼ 5, p , :001 df ¼ 5, p , :001 df ¼ 7, p , :001
Step 2
PBCL (5 years) .22 4.51* 0.02 .01 – –
Child gender 3.36 4.80* 16.57 .04 – –
Social class .98 .93 1.45 .70 – –
Maternal depression 1.52 2.23 – –
(5–8 years)
Maternal IQ 2 .08 2.01 – –
Paternal disorder 7.45 2.39 – –
(5–8 years)
Paternal IQ 20.06 .06 – –
M promotion of mastery – – – –
motivation
understanding
M emotional support 216.48 4.04* – –

(N ¼ 88) (N ¼ 78) (N ¼ 78)
b Wald b Wald b Wald
P promotion of mastery 244.08 2.50 – –
motivation
understanding
P emotional support 24.51 .07 – –
Model F x2 ¼ 33:91, df ¼ 6, x2 ¼ 41:92, df ¼ 7,
p , :001, p , :001,
Dx2 ¼ 5:62, df ¼ 1, Dx2 ¼ 9:84, df ¼ 2,
p , :05 p , :01
þþ
p , :15;þp , :10; *p , :05; **p , :01; ***p , :001:
children exhibiting significant behavioural difficulties in school (N ¼ 9), analyses could

not be conducted examining the joint contribution of maternal and paternal behaviours.
Discussion
In this study of 8-year-old children of postnatally depressed and well mothers, we used
an ecologically valid, homework-based procedure to conduct direct observations of
naturalistic interactions of direct relevance to the demands currently placed on children
and their parents. A number of features of the study are notable and extend current
findings in the literature. First, whereas studies of parental support for child problem-
solving have generally focused on single aspects of parental interaction style, the current
study examined the relative contribution of different aspects of parental engagement
with the child and addressed the question of the specificity of each sort of input’s
effects. Second, since child characteristics may themselves have an impact on parental
behaviour, we capitalized on the longitudinal investigation of this sample to take child
characteristics into account when evaluating the contribution of parental communi-
cation to child outcome. Finally, we directly observed the contribution of fathers as well
as mothers.
A number of aspects of our findings require further comment. First, in contrast to
findings for this sample earlier on in the children’s development, we found no
association between the original postnatal depressive episode and either current
maternal interactions with the child or child functioning. Maternal depression in the
child’s school years, by contrast, was associated with all aspects of maternal discourse
examined, as well as three of the four child outcomes considered. The link was
particularly evident in relation to low child self-esteem, where exposure to maternal
depression in this latter period was influential, even when taking other family
characteristics into account. For each of the other areas of functioning, however, the
strongest predictor of development at age 8 was the child’s previous performance at age
5 and when this was taken into account, along with other family characteristics, an
independent effect of maternal depression in the child’s school years was not identified.
The fact that postnatal depression was not associated with the current quality of mother-
child interactions is consistent with previous findings for this sample at 5 years (Murray
et al., 1999), together with other studies showing that remitted mothers generally show
improvements in the way they interact with their children (Campbell, Cohn, & Meyers,
1995; Mills, Puckering, Pound, & Cox, 1985). Nevertheless, the significance of postnatal
depression should not be overlooked: those mothers who experienced depression
during the child’s school years were generally mothers who had also experienced
postnatal depression. Insofar as its occurrence raises the risk of later episodes that are
themselves associated with both poor maternal interactions and child outcome, it is
therefore important that those experiencing postnatal depression are monitored
beyond the postnatal episode so that, should depression re-occur, clinical interventions
can be quickly mounted. It is also worth noting that the strong continuities in child
behaviour in school and cognitive functioning from 5 to 8 years may, in part, also reflect
an impact of postnatal depression; thus, the occurrence of behaviour problems at 5
years were predicted by postnatal episodes (Sinclair & Murray, 1998). Similarly,
particularly poor maternal interactions with the child arising in the context of the
postnatal episode were predictive of poor cognitive functioning in late infancy and
persisted to 5 years (Murray et al., 1996); such difficulties, in turn, predicted worse
outcomes on the measures of IQ and school achievements at 8 years. The fact that
patterns of achievement and behavioural adjustment evident within the first term of
school have such a strong bearing on future child performance emphasises the
importance of preschool and the earliest school experiences in launching children along
particular developmental pathways (Sylva, 1994).
With regard to the effects of parent-child discourse, we found evidence that the
current quality of parental conversations with the child during homework sessions
significantly contributed to each of the child outcomes investigated, over and above the
well-established effects of family characteristics such as family social class and parental
IQ. Indeed, in a number of instances, when the quality of parental communication during
homework was taken into account, the effects of family background variables ceased to
be significant. A number of the findings concerning the role of parental discourse with the
child are particularly notable. First, for all but one child outcome (school maladjustment)
the univariate associations obtained between aspects of fathers’ engagement and child
outcome were also obtained for maternal discourse; for school maladjustment, this was
also true for one of the two dimensions of paternal discourse, namely, the presence of
coercive control. On balance, therefore, paternal and maternal discourse styles operated
in very similar ways in relation to child outcome. Nevertheless, once the joint
contributions of maternal and paternal discourse were considered, the nature of mothers’
communication appeared to be of greater significance for child functioning than that of
fathers. This finding, based on direct observations of parent-child interactions, appears to
be part of a more general process reflected in the parents’ own reports of the extent and
nature of their involvement with their children. Thus, whereas fathers and mothers
reported similar levels of involvement in their children’s out-of-school activities, mothers
were significantly more likely than fathers to report playing an active role in their
children’s school and to spend more time assisting their children in school-related
activities. This pattern of difference in the roles of the two parents is consistent with
sociological evidence showing that mothers are far more active than fathers in
determining basic aspects of children’s educational experience (David, 2002).
A related question arises, however, of whether the different impact of mothers’ and
fathers’ conversations reflects specifically school-relevant aspects of the parents’
involvement with the child, as evidenced during the homework task, or else simply
reflects the generally greater amount of time mothers spent in interactions with their
children. In our previous investigations of the role of maternal interactions with the
child where significant associations with child cognitive development and behaviour
problems have been found, observations have been conducted during free play sessions
(Murray et al., 1996, 1993) or during an informal snack (Murray et al., 1999). This
suggests that the wider range of parent-child interactions where opportunities for
promoting the child’s cognitive development and regulating behaviour still occur may
be just as important as the specific opportunities afforded by homework tasks; this
hypothesis, however, requires a formal comparison of the effects of discourse in both
types of situation.
A third key aspect of the findings regarding the role of parental homework
communication was evidence for specificity of effects. Thus, broadly in line with our
initial predictions, we found child academic achievements and higher IQ to be promoted
by parental discourse that stimulated the child’s thinking and fostered enthusiasm for
tackling academic problems. By contrast, good emotional and behavioural outcomes
were best promoted by the parent being attentive and supportive of the child’s
endeavours and a parenting style that did not coerce or undermine the child’s efforts.
These findings are broadly consistent with those in the literature on the effects of
particular forms of parental interaction on different child outcomes, but extend previous
findings insofar as multiple measures were used simultaneously to identify the relative
importance of the different forms of input.
The findings of the present study concerning the role of parental psychiatric
problems and communication with the child about homework raise questions about
both clinical practice, particularly in relation to the long-term monitoring of those
mothers who experience depression in the postnatal months, and public policy on
education. Our observations showed striking variability in parents’ capacities to support
their children, including a significant number of parents who clearly felt helpless and
slipped into critical and coercive styles of relating that were associated with poor child
outcome. This suggests that it may be inappropriate for schools to assume parental
competence in this area and, indeed, that such an assumption may have the effect of
widening the divide between children from more privileged and less privileged
backgrounds. This suggestion is in line with previous research showing that the gap in
attainment between more and less disadvantaged children widens as a function of the
child’s reliance on home-based compared with school-based input (Heyns, 1978).
Together the findings indicate that parents themselves may require support as to
how to assist their children. Moreover, the study findings suggest areas of parental
behaviour where supportive interventions specific to the child outcomes of concern
might be targeted. If, for whatever reason, such interventions cannot be provided, then
additional school-based practices may be required to address inequalities in education
and personal opportunity.
Acknowledgements
The research was supported by the Tedworth Charitable Trust and the Medical Research Council.
We thank Wendy Gibbons, Paul Patterson and Steven Briers for assistance with coding and data
collection, and Alistair Pollitt for help with preparing homework materials.
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Copyright © The British Psychological Society

Conversations around homework: Links to

Lynne Murray1*, Matt Woolgar1, Carla Martins2, Anna Christaki1,

Parents are increasingly expected to supplement their children’s school-based learning

Effects of depression on parenting and child development

126 Lynne Murray et al.

accumulated to show that parental depression, including maternal depression occurring

Homework as a context for studying parent-child interactions

Conversations around homework 127

Dimensions of parental scholastic support and their role in child development

The role of fathers

128 Lynne Murray et al.

Design of current study

Conversations around homework 129

130 Lynne Murray et al.

Table 1. Characteristics of the sample at eight and a half years

Control Index Statistics

No. assessed at 2 months/ 812 years 42/41 58/55

*p , :05; **p , :01; ***p , :001:

Conversations around homework 131

132 Lynne Murray et al.

Child measures: 8 year outcomes

Child measures: 5 year outcomes

Data analytic strategy

Conversations around homework 133

134 Lynne Murray et al.

Emotional support Coercive control

Figure 1. Homework support by mothers (N ¼ 78) and fathers (N ¼ 78).

Conversations around homework 135

Maternal homework (N ¼ 88) Paternal homework (N ¼ 78) Child outcome

Academic Self- School

Lynne Murray et al.

Repres. understanding ¼ representational understanding.

Conversations around homework 137

Maternal predictors Paternal predictors Parental predictors

138 Lynne Murray et al.

Maternal predictors Paternal predictors Parental predictors

Child IQ (see Table 3)

Conversations around homework 139

Maternal predictors Paternal predictors Parental predictors

140 Lynne Murray et al.

Maternal predictors Paternal predictors Parental predictors

Academic achievement (see Table 4)

Self-esteem (see Table 5)

Conversations around homework 141

Maternal Paternal Parental

142 Lynne Murray et al.

Maternal Paternal Parental

M emotional support 0.23 1.91þ – –

School maladjustment (see Table 6)

Conversations around homework 143

Maternal Paternal Parental

b Wald b Wald b Wald

144 Lynne Murray et al.

Maternal Paternal Parental

b Wald b Wald b Wald

children exhibiting significant behavioural difficulties in school (N ¼ 9), analyses could

Conversations around homework 145

146 Lynne Murray et al.

Conversations around homework 147

148 Lynne Murray et al.

Grolnick, W. S., & Slowiaczek, M. L. (1994). Parents’ involvement in children’s schooling. A

Conversations around homework 149

Received 23 December 2004; revised version received 26 October 2005

p , :05; p , :01; p , :001: