Hi
I agree entirely with the people who have reservations about
causality from essentially correlational data, but it is
important to remember that these aren't the only kinds of studies
out there. There are also experimental studies of
parent-training programs, often with disadvantaged and
single-parent families, that show improvement in parent-child
relationships and child behavior from teaching alternative
parenting practices (i.e., practices not based on hostile and
physical responses). As in so many other areas (e.g., smoking
and lung cancer, maternal alcohol consumption and children's
cognitive performance), it is the combination of results from
different kinds of studies that allow for _some_ confidence that
the relationship might be causal. Like lung cancer and maternal
alcohol consumption, for example, this might be another area in
which animal studies could make some useful contribution to the
causal inferences.
Best wishes
Jim
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James M. Clark (204) 786-9757
Department of Psychology (204) 774-4134 Fax
University of Winnipeg 4L05D
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
CANADA http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark
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