Abstract
Four preschool children’s preferences for adult proximity were examined as a function of adult affection in a multiple baseline design. After assessing the children’s proximity preference for each of two adults, the effects of positive affection displayed by the distantly preferred adult towards the children were examined; the closer preferred adult maintained a nonin-teractive role. Changes from baseline to intervention indicated that when affection was related reciprocally and functionally to child behavior and social preference, the children preferred closer proximity to the adult displaying that affection. Discussion focuses on the contributions of the present study, suggestions for future research, and implications for examining interpersonal distance in applied settings.
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This research was based on work completed by the second author as part of an undergraduate honors thesis and was supported by the University of Kansas General Research Fund (Grant #3466-5038) to the first author; support also was made available through the John T. Stewart Children’s Center and the Bureau of Child Research through an Nichhd grant (#Hd-02528). Appreciation is extended to Fred Dunsing, Gary Von Hofmeier, Janice McCarthy, and Barbara Lynn Robertson for their assistance as adults and observers in these studies; to Dave Born, Aletha Huston, and Howard Rosenfeld for their helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript; and to the children and staff of the Edna A. Hill Child Development Laboratory.
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Morris, E.K., Smith, G.L. A Functional Analysis of Adult Affection and Children’s Interpersonal Distance. Psychol Rec 30, 155–163 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03394666
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03394666