GROWTH
AND
DEVELOPMENT
Ix.
Child-Training
Practices
in Negro
Families
in
Nashville,
Tennessee
Ann E. Dickerson, M.A., E. Perry Crump, M.D., and Carrell P. Horton, MA.
Department of Pediatrics, George W. Hubbard Hospital of Mehamj Medical College
- Ti1iis investigation was supported by a research grant (IIG-3761 [CE]) from the National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service.
ADDRESS: (E.P.C.) Nashville 8, Tennessee.
43
PEI)IATIII(:S, July 1981
LTHOUGH every child must learn to live
in the society of which he is a member, available empirical data reveal a wide
variety of child-training practices directing
him toward his goal. This diversity in
train-ing patterns is not confined to special seg-ments of society but permeates all levels of the social strata. In our complex social order, the child must begin early to learn
how to get along with others and to manage his everyday living. From this standpoint, the primary developmental activities of the infant and preschool child involve the acquisition of techniques and skills of self-feeding, toiletry and dressing. The
geo-graphic location, social class, ethnic group
and religious sect to which the child
be-longs admittedly exert some influence on how and when he accomplishes these tasks.
Scientific investigation of child-training practices began primarily during this
cen-tury; nevertheless, there is still a dearth of
systematic data available on the subject. As might be expected, during the time that scientific study has been conducted in this field, ideas on child training have changed. Stendler1 scanned the first issue of each of three popular magazines for women, Ladies’
Home Journal, Woman’s Home Companion
and Good Housekeeping, of each decade
between 1890 and 1949, for articles dealing with child-training; she found three
differ-ent schools of thought prevailing. From 1890 to 1910, “a highly sentimental ap-proach” to child rearing was practiced while
“a rigid disciplinary approach” was common
from 1910 to 1930. In the 1940’s, a change
toward “self-regulation and understanding
of the child” was advocated. At the end of the decade emphasis was being placed on mothering, delayed toilet training and late
weaning. The 1955 edition of Infant Care2
still advocated self-regulation in the feeding of infants, and toilet training beginning “well along in the second year, or even later.” Senn,3 however, observed that “at the present time evidence is mounting to indicate that child-care practices are turn-ing away from the permissive approach toward the opposite extreme of coercion.” The first in a series of psychoiogic studies of children at various ages was published in
1951 by Roberts and Schoeiikopf.4 This in-vestigation was concerned with the study of the eating, sleeping and elimination prac-tices of children aged 2% years, as reported
by their mothers, and the sample consisted of 783 children from Rochester, Minnesota. In the area of feeding practices, the authors found that 25 of the 783 subjects still used a bottle at the age of 23 years. The mothers
of these children considered this prolonged use of the bottle a feeding problem. With respect to elimination practices, the
ma-jority of the children in the study (88.1%) had achieved satisfactory bowel control, although only 41.2% were found reliably dry
all the time. There was a statistically
sig-nificant sex difference in both bowel and bladder control, in favor of tile girls. Thus, the data from this study support the idea that it is more difficult to toilet train boys than girls.
Davis and Havighurst5 reported a study of social class and color differences in
middle-class, 52 white lower-class, 50 Negro middle-class, and 50 Negro lower-class mothers in Chicago. They found that there were more social-class differences than color differences. However, this over-all finding is not readily apparent when one looks at the toilet-training and weaning data only.
There was a 1-month difference in the median age for completion of bladder train-ing for Negro social classes. The greatest social-class difference among Negroes was a 5-month difference in bowel training. Hardly any difference was found in the median age for bottle weaning among the two classes and only a 1-month difference
in weaning from the breast. Toilet training among the two classes of white children occurred within weeks of each other. There was a 2-month difference in bottle weaning among the two classes and a 1-month dif-ference in the median age for weaning from the breast. Among white children, the middle class completed all these practices, with the exception of bladder training, be-fore the lower class. The Negro middle class completed all the previously men-tioned toilet training and feeding practices earlier than the Negro lower class.
As a part of a larger study,6 the staff of
the Laboratory of Human Development at
Harvard University studied the child-rear-ing methods of a group of 379 mothers who had one child in a public school kinder-garten. The subjects lived in one of two
suburbs of a large New England
metropoli-tan area. An analysis of the methods of child rearing in the two social classes, upper-middle and upper-lower, indicated that the
classes did not differ significantly in feeding practices. However, the upper-middle-class mothers started and completed bowel train-ing a little later than the upper-lower-class mothers. The latter group of mothers were more insistent and unyielding in toilet-training practices.
When mother’s education, mother’s age, and parents’ ethnic origin were held con-stant, social-class differences were still found between the two groups of mothers. Upper-middle class mothers were more
per-missive and less demanding in these child-training practices.
In a more detailed reportT of this study, it is stated that the better educated mothers, regardless of their socioeconomic status, and the middle-class mothers, regardless of their education, were somewhat less severe in toilet-training methods.
A study’ was made for the purpose of
comparing child-rearing practices of work-ing-class and middle-class mothers in Call-fornia with those just described.5’ Inter-views were held with each of 74 mothers, each of whom had one preschool child be-tween the ages of 2% and 5 years. The sample was about evenly divided, on the Warner scale of occupation amid income, between the two classes. The middle-class mothers were found to be less severe in
toilet training, and thus it was concluded
that there was “a need for revising our ideas about social class differences in
child-rear-ing practices.”
The purpose of the present studs’ is to
analyze the child-training practices of a group of Negro mothers in a southern
corn-munity (Nashville, Tennessee) and to corn-pare the findings with those of related
in-vestigations.
METHODS AND MATERIALS
The subjects in this study consisted of 144 Negro mothers and their children, 69 boys
and 75 girls, between ti’e ages of 15 and 30 months. The children represented a small sample of subjects derived from a larger longitudinal study of the growth and de-velopment of Negro children from birth to 5 years of age. The mothers did not know that they too were subjects for the smaller study.
The mothers and their children did not miss more than one visit to the clinic during the 15-month span of the study. The mean maternal age, at the time of birth of the child, was 25.8 years. The mean last grade completed by the mothers was the tenth,
while the modal last grade C0m1)leted was
On a socioeconomic-status index9 designed for the project, 10 of the subjects were placed in Group I (the lowest group), 73 in Group II, 46 in Group III and 12 in Group IV.
This study was focused upon the mothers’
child-training practices in the area of toilet-ing, feeding and dressing. Assessment of progress in these areas is included in the personal-social section of the Gesell Dc-velopmental Scheduies.1#{176} The data for this study were obtained when the psychologist interviewed the mother during the ad-ministration of the Gesell Schedule, and all data, with the exception of that on breast
feeding, were obtained when the mother brought the child in at ages 15, 18, 21, 24 and 30 months. The information on the mci-clence and duration of breast feeding was derived from feeding histories taken from the mothers at the time of breast feeding.
Gesell designates the period from 15 to 36 months as the period of later infancy. in the area of feeding, the following items are
included on the schedule for this period:
“no bottle” amid “inhibited grasp dish” at the 15-month level; “feeds self in part,
spilling” and “hands empty dish to mother”
at the 18-month level; “handles cup well” at
the 21-month level; “inhibits turning spoon”
at the 24-month level; and “pours from pitcher” and “feeds self well, no spilling” at the 36-month level.’#{176}
In the area of toileting, the items appear-ing during this age-period include “bowel control,” “partial toilet regulation,” and “indicates wet pants” at the 15-month level; “daytime regulation” at the 18-month level; and “dry nights, taken up” and “verbalizes
needs consistently” at the 24-month level. Geseil expects the child to ask for the toilet, as well as for food and drink, at the age
of 21 months; this, however, is included in the area of communication on the schedule. He also expects the child to be assuming
responsibility in the area of toileting by the age of 36 months, but this is not found on the schedule.
By the age of 15 rnonths, Gesell expects
the child to co-operate in dressing; no
reference was made to this performance because it appears on the schedule at the
52-week level. However, data are available OIl the other items included in this cate-gory for this period: “pulls on simple gar-ment” at 24 months, and “puts on shoes” and “unbuttons accessible buttons” at 36 months.
The Geseil Schedules were administered
without deviation, except in two instances.
Due to the delay in discarding the bottle and assuming responsibility for toiieting, which became apparent early in the study, the psychologist continued to question the mothers about these practices beyond the point indicated on the Gesell Schedules.
Snce all of the data came from mothers’
reports, it is subject to most of the liabilities associated with such data. Because of the limited educational background of the mothers and their unfamiliarity with the material involved, the examiner exercised
discretion and care in using simple ques-tions. These were, nevertheless, worded in a manner which required more than a “yes”
or “no” answer whenever possible. Mothers were also asked to give examples to sup-port their answers if any discrepancies or incongruities were noted. However, at no time during the study did the mothers know that they were being studied.
The data received from interviews and feeding histories were statistically analyzed by chi-square tests of significance for the purpose of determining which of several variables have a significant influence on the child-training practices of the mothers. The
variables studied were socioeconomic status, education of the mother, sex of the
child involved in the study, and the number of older children in the family.
Toilet Practices
RESULTS
Analysis of the data revealed that the children in this sample did not meet the norms of the Gesell Developmental Schedules in the area of toilet training,
Age (Months)
30
27
Gesell Median for
24 . Norm This Study
2t.U
8.
2
I1
1.1.
8
-____
Indicates PrttI Bowel Doyt,m. Asks for V.rboii,, wet Pont* R.guiat,oi, Control R.gution Toilet Neids
Toilet Ptactices COnIA$t,tIy
FIG. 1. Gesell norm for age at which various toilet practices should be achieved, compared with
median age from present study. with toilet training at the age of 15 months.
Three-fifths (60.7%) of the children indicated their wet pants at the age of 15 months; however, a majority of the subjects were not partially toilet trained until the age of
18 months. Very few (11%) of the subjects
met the 18-month norm for regulated
day-time control, but almost half (45.1%) of the
sample did ask for the toilet at some time
by the age of 21 months. The median age
for fairly consistent verbalizing of toilet needs in the sample is 30 months. In Figure 1 the Gesell norms for achieving various practices are compared with the median ages for the same practices found in this
study.
If one assumes that bladder control is established when the child verbalizes his toilet needs with fair consistency, then the data indicate that the median age for estab-lishment of bladder control in this sample is 30 months. However, this age is much later
tilan that found in both middle-class and lower-class Negroes in the study by Davis and Havighurst.5 It is also about 6 months later than the median age for completion
of bladder training found among whites in
this same study. However, only 41.2% of the children in the Rochester report4 were re-liably dry all the time by the age of 30
months, as compared with 50.7% of our sample. This indicates that, over a span of
years, mothers have become more lenient in this aspect of toilet training. Unfortunately,
the report by Sears et al.7 does not provide data on this phase of toilet training.
Mothers in our study were not quite as slow, in regard to training for bowel control, when compared with the subjects in the report by Davis and Havighurst. Almost half (47.9%) of the subjects in our study
had developed bowel control by the age of
18 months. This is close to the median age for establishment of such cOiltrol in the
Negro lower class and white middle and
lower classes in the Davis study, and is the median age for the New England sample.7 Our data, on the whole, however, present a picture of leniency on the part
of the mothers in the area of bladder train-ing, except when compared with the most
recent data available in comparative
in-vestigations.
INFLUENCE OF SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS:
The data were further analyzed to de-termine the relationship, if any, between socioeconomic status of the family and the toilet-training practices of the mother.
There were no significant differences be-tween the ages at which partial toilet
train-ing was achieved with children in the van-ous socioeconomic groups. However, 50%
of the subjects in Group I (lowest socio-economic level) were partially trained at the age of 15 months, while only 18.2% of those
in Group IV (highest socioeconomic level) were similarly trained by this age. A ma-jonity of the children in Group IV were not partially toilet trained nor bowel trained until after the age of 18 months. Group I was the only category in which the majority
were bowel trained by the age of 18 months. This pattern of earlier bowel training in the
lower class was also found by Sears et a!.
in Group IV were so trained at this time (see Table I).
The only significant relationship found iietweeii socioeconomic status and toilet-training practices in the present study was related to verbalizing toilet needs (chi square significant at the 5% level). More children in Group IV (highest socioeco-nomic group) consistently verbalized their toilet needs at the age of 24 months than
tllose in any other group. However, this finding may be related to the observation
reported from other 12 that
chil-dren in the higher socioeconomic brackets
are more advanced in their language de-velopment than their peers of the same age
in lower socioeconomic levels. Thus, our data seem to support White’s8 conclusion that a revision is needed in those concepts dealing with social-class differences in re-lation to child-rearing. The data indicate that, for the most part, there are no sig-nificant differences in the toilet-training practices of the mothers in the different socioeconomic categories. If such differ-ences exist, they were not discernible upon
analysis of the information obtained in this
study. Where a difference is suggested, the trend is toward more permissiveness by mothers in the higher groups.
INFLUENCE OF Monwn’s EDUCATION: Data from the interviews were analyzed to
determine if any significant patterns of child-rearing could be detected among
mothers of a particular educational level. A majority of the children whose mothers
had some high school or college training
were partially toilet trained and had estab-lished bowel control by the age of 18 months. The majority of those mothers who had an eighth-grade education, or less, did not accomplish these two aspects of toilet training until after the age of 18 months. However, neither this relationship nor any others studied involving the educational
level of the mother and her toilet-training practices were found to be statistically sig-nificant (Table II).
SEX DIFFERENCES: Statistically significant
sex differences in the ages at which boys
and girls master various aspects of toilet training have been reported previously, and girls excelled over boys. Although our data revealed no statistically significant sex differences, Table III will show that such a
trend exists. A majority of the girls were
partially toilet trained and had established bowel control by the age of 18 months, in
contradistinction to the boys. Although a majority of both boys and girls indicated
when their pants were wet by the age of
15 months, a larger percentage of the latter
(65.3%) than of the former (55.7%) did this.
The median age at which girls began asking for the toilet was 21 months. The median
age for boys was beyond 24 months.
Studies in language development have shown that girls are more advanced in
Ian-guage than boys of the same ‘
Thus, girls would be expected to be more advanced than boys in verbalizing their toilet needs. This notwithstanding, language is not considered of major importance in the other aspects of toilet training studied; nevertheless, in all of these, more girls than
boys were trained at the various age levels
in the study.
Feeding Practices
The data revealed that 59% of the mothers breast-fed their children, and the range in the duration of breast-feeding was from less than 1 week to 19 months. The median
length for breast-feeding was 3 months; however, the mode was 6 weeks. In their
study of feeding practices, Sears et al.7
found that 39% of the mothers breast-fed
their children, the majority for less than three months. The most recent edition of
Infant Care2 indicates that there is an
ad-vantage in starting to breast-feed a baby,
if only for a month or 6 weeks. Moreover, it suggested as good practice to continue breast-feeding for 7 or 8 months, weaning being fairly easy at this time.
Only 13.9% of all the mothers breast-fed their children for 7 or more months. Among the Negroes in the Davis and Havighurst study, the median duration of
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ARTICLES
class and the lower class respectively.
Although the relationship was not statis-tically significant in the present study, there was observed a trend toward a decrease in the incidence of breast-feeding with an in-crease in socioeconomic status (Table IV). In the highest socioeconomic group, two-thirds of the mothers did not breast-feed their children at all, while in the lowest class only 27.3% failed to do so. None of the mothers in the highest class (Group IV) breast-fed their children for 7 months or
over; however, 27.3% of those in the lowest
class (Group I) did.
The data were analyzed to determine the relationship, if any, between the educa-tional level of the mother and whether or not she breast-fed her child. Less than half (47.4%) of those mothers who had from 1 to 4 years of college education prac-ticed breast-feeding, while two-thirds of the mothers with less than an eighth-grade education breast-fed their children. This relationship was not statistically significant, nor was any significant association found between the educational level of the mother and the length of the breast-feeding.
Never-theless, a trend toward more breast-feeding
as socioeconomic status decreased was re-vealed.
Complete data were available on the bottle-feeding practices of 127 mothers. The median age in this sample for discard-ing the bottle was 24 months (Figure 2). Only 6.3% of the children were weaned at
15 months, and by the age of 18 months only 11% had discarded the bottle; by 30 months, 20.5 per cent were still drinking from the bottle.
Table V shows the relationship between the age by which the bottle was discarded and the socioeconomic status of the family, education of the mother, sex of the child and the number of older siblings. There was no statistically significant association be-tween socioeconomic status and the age at which the bottle was discarded. Although
LENGTII OF BREAST-FEEDING, BY SOCIOECONOMIC GROUP AND BY EDUCATION OF MOTIIEII
(in percentages)
Length of
Breast-Feeding
(tito)
Socioecono,n ic (;rl4J
I N= 11
II
N= 71
III
N=J,J
IV
N= 12
Edneation tf ilother
< Grade 8 Grade 8 Grade 11-12
N= 21 ‘V= 20 N =
(ollege
(‘-.4 yr,
01’ more)
N= 19
>7 7.3 15.5 . 19.0 15.0 1’3.4 5.3
‘2-7 9.1
<2 36.4
25.4 24.4
22.5 14.6
16.7
16.7
19.0 35.0 20.7 15.8
8.6 5.() O.7
None 27.3 36.6 48.8 66.7
Cumuiative Percent
70
50
3’
10
5 8 24 27
50
TABLE IV
the highest (Group IV) and the lowest
(
Group I) socioeconomic groups were weaned by the age of 24 months. The median age for bottle-weaning in the two middle groups was after 24 months of age.None of the children whose mothers had
less than an eighth grade education was
weaned from the bottle before the age of 21 months. However, the relationship between
education of the mother and the age at which the bottle was discarded was not
statistically significant. This
notwithstand-ing, a higher percentage of children whose mothers had only an eighth-grade education
21
Age of Child
(Months)
FIG. 2. Cumulative percentage curve for age which l)Ottle “as discarded by 127 children.
83.3 25.O 45.1
were bottle-weaned by 15 months than those whose mothers were classified in any other educational group. Likewise, a smaller percentage of this group used a bottle be-yond 30 months than was found in any other educational group.
No statistically significant sex difference
was found in regard to bottle weaning. However, more boys were weaned by 15 months and more girls were drinking from a bottle after the age of 30 months. A ma-jority of the boys were weaned by 24 months, and the majority of the girls were weaned by 30 months.
The number of older children in the family was not related to the age at which bottle-weaning occurred.
The median age for discarding the bottle in our sample is a year later than that found among Negroes in the Davis and
Havig-hurst study.5 The median age for
bottle-weaning in the group studied by Sears
et al. was at least 9 months earlier than
the median for our study. Only 6.3% of the children were weaned from the bottle at Gesell’s expected age of 15 months. Roberts and Schoellkopf4 found 3.2% of their sub-jects still using a bottle at the age of 30
months; 20.5% of our subjects were still
us-30 ing a bottle at this age. These authors found that such prolonged use of a bottle is con-at sidered a feeding problem by the mothers
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ARTICLES 51
question arises, in view of our findings: “Can one consider bottle usage at this age a feeding problem in this sample when the practice is common to one-fifth of the pop-ulation studied?” There were no data availa-ble to determine the mothers’ attitude
toward this practice.
Although the median age for discarding
the bottle was 24 months, 61.5% of the total sample were handling a cup well by the time they were 15 months old, 6 months earlier than the Gesell norm. About the same number (63.2%) also were feeding themselves in part at this age, and half of them were handing an empty dish when finished eating. By the age of 30 months, 82.6% of those children for whom data were available (115) were feeding themselves and spilling little. This appears on the Gesell Schedule at the 36-month level.
The children in the sample met Gesell’s
norm for inhibiting the grasp of a dish at
15 months (78.4%) and for inhibiting a turn-ing spoon at 24 months (73.6%). Although there were no data available on the subjects at 36 months, the investigators assumed that these subjects would meet the Gesell norm at this age level for pouring well from a pitcher, since 40% of the 1 15 for whom data were available had accomplished this by the age of 30 months. The Gesell norms for these practices are compared with the median ages found in this study in Figure 3.
Dressing Practices
“Pulls on simple garment” at the 24-month level is the first item representing the area of self-dressing on the Gesell Schedule for the period between ages 15 and 30 months. By this time 66% of the sample in
our study could put on a simple garment, and almost half (48%) were doing this by the age of 21 months. Hence the data seem to indicate that the mothers in our sample encouraged self-help in the area of dressing.
Altilough no significant relationship was found between this child-training practice and educational or socioeconomic back-ground of the mother, the data did show
tilat three-fourths (75.5%) of those children
Aae (Months)
Gss.li Present
Norm Sludy
36
3
24.
24
18
5
2
Bottle Handles Feeds S.tf Hands Feeds Self Inhits
Discarded Cup Welt ,n Port Erty Dish SpdIs Lithe Tie,ing Spoon
Feeding Proctices
52 CHILD-TRAINING PRACTICES
Fic. 3. Gesell norm for various feeding practices compared with median age at which practice was
achieved in the present study.
whose mothers Ilad some college experience
were pulling on simple garments at 21 months of age. A comparable percentage
(72.7%) of those children whose families were in the highest socioeconomic group were also putting on simple garments at 21 months of age. A majority of the chil-dren, whose mothers had less education or whose families were in lower socioeconomic groups, did not reach this stage of develop-ment until they were 24 months old.
By the age of 36 months Gesell expects the child to put on his shoes; however they
may be placed incorrectly. Of the 115 chil-dren for whom data were available, 64.3% could put on their shoes at the age of 30 months. Among these, this skill had been achieved by exactly half of the boys and over three-fourths (76.7%) of the girls. This sex difference was significant at the 0.01 level. More girls (78%) than boys (59.2%)
were unbuttoning accessible buttons at this age (Table VI). This difference was signifi-cant at the 0.05 level. Taking the sample as a whole, 67.8% of the children could un-button accessible buttons at the age of 30 months.
CONCLUSIONS
Toilet Training
The complete data on the toilet-training practices of the mothers in this study pre-sent a picture of delayed training in this area. For the most part, the ages at which
various aspects of toilet training were ac-complished were not related significantly to the socioeconomic status of the family, the educational level of the mother or the sex of the child involved. The data did show a significant relationship (0.05) be-tween the age that the child fairly con-sistently verbalized his toilet needs; those children in the highest socioeconomic group were more likely to accomplish this earlier. There was evidence that the children in the
lowest socioeconomic group were toilet trained in some aspects before those in
higher groups. However, the general picture is one of little difference in the socioeco-nomic groups in regard to toilet training. The educational level of the mothers had no significant effect on their toilet-training practices. There was a trend toward earlier
training of girls, but no significant sex
dif-ference was revealed. It is possible that the delay in beginning toilet training is re-sponsible for the absence of significant re-lationships between the age toilet training is completed and the variables studied. Sears et al.7 found that later toilet training
was accomplished faster; unfortunately, the
data in this study do not furnish such infor-mation, which would be valuable in view of the findings regarding the delay in toilet
training.
TABLE VI
SEX OF Cnii.u AND AGE AT \\III(II $EI.E(TEI) .(TM OF
DRESSING ARE PEi.mFoImIF:D (in percentages)
Buttons
Accessi-Puts on Shoes
vieisutlons
Age
----
---
_____
(mo) .%fale Female I Mate Female
.v = .54 N = 60 1 N = 54 N = 59
30 .5(1.0 76.7 .59. 78.0
ARTICLES
Feeding Practices
The findings in our study regarding
feeding practices indicate that at least one of every two mothers breast-fed their child. There were no statistically significant rela-tionships between the presence or absence of breast-feeding and the educational level of the mother or the socioeconomic status of the family. However, there was a trend toward a decrease in the practice of breast-feeding with an increase in socioeconomic
status. Analysis of the findings regarding
other feeding practices revealed a marked
leniency in regard to the practice of
bottle-feeding. The most recent edition of Infant
Care2
advocates bottle-weaning when thecilild can handle a cup well. Although 61.5% of the sample were handling a cup well at 15 months, only 11% of them were weanedl by the age of 18 months; the median age for discarding the bottle was 24 months.
Tilus it appears that tile children were ready for weaning, but the mothers pro-longed bottle-feeding. Socioeconomic status, educational level of the mother, sex of the
child and the number of older siblings were
not significantly related to the age at which weaning occurred. In spite of tile lag ill
tlliS one practice, tile mothers in our study trained their children in various other feed-ing practices, such as handling a cup well,
handing an empty dish and feeding tilem-selves, earlier than the Gesell norm. In all
other phases of feeding practice, tile
chil-dren met the Gesell norm.
Dressing Practices
All the data regarding dressing practices
indicate that the mothers in the study en-courage self-help and independence in the development of daily habits related to
dressing. The median age for putting on shoes and unbuttoning accessible buttons in this sample is at least 6 months earlier than the Gesell norm. The median age for pull-ing on a simple garment was probably closer to 21 months than to Gesell’s 24
months. The age by which the child
accom-pushed these tasks was not significantly
re-lated to the family’s socioeconomic status, the mother’s education or the number of older children in the family; however, there
was a statistically significant sex difference. More girls than boys had accomplished the tasks of putting on shoes and unbuttoning accessible buttons by the age of 30 months.
SUMMARY
Within tile framework of a project
de-signed to study the growth and develop-ment of Negro children, a longitudinal study was conducted for the purpose of analyzing the child-training practices of a group of mothers whose children were
sub-jects of the project, and comparing these
findings with those from related investiga-tions. The study was focused upon the child-training practices of 144 mothers in the areas of toileting, feeding, and dressing when their children were between 15 and 30 months of age. The data for this study were obtained when the psychologist inter-viewed the mothers during the administra-tion of the Gesell Developmental Schedules. Assessment of progress in the areas of toilet-ing, feeding and dressing is included in the personal-social area of the Gesell Schedules.
It is apparent from the results of this
study that mothers encouraged self-help
and independence in the areas of dressing and feeding, with the exception of the use of a bottle. However, in the category of
toileting this was not true, inasmuch as emphasis upon self-management in daily
toilet habits seemed to be at a minimum. These findings indicate that the mothers were permissive vith regard to
toilet-training and weaning. These practices and
their patterns of breast-feeding agree with
those practices advocated by the most re-cent edition of Infant Care.
The mother’s educational level, the sex of the child, or the number of children in the family were not found to be significantly related to the child-training practices used
child-54 CHILD-TRAINING PRACTICES
rearing practices.” It is, of course, recog-nized that the lack of significant differences
or relationships in this study does not prove that no such differences or relationships exist. It does, however, indicate that none
can be recognized for this population from the available data. Differences in attitude as well as practice, on the part of the mothers, may well be prevalent; but they apparently are not reflected in the de-velopment of the children in the areas of toiletry, feeding and dressing as measured
by the Gesell Schedules.
REFERENCES
1. Stendler, C. B. : Sixty years of child training practices. J. Pediat., 36:122, 1950.
2 Infant Care, Social Security Administration Publication No. 8. U.S. Department of
Health, Education, and Welfare, Children’s
Bureau, 1955.
3. Senn, M. J. E. : Fads and facts as the bases of child-care practices. Children, 4:43, 1957.
4. Roberts, K. E., and Schoellkopf,
J.
A. : Eating, sleeping, and elimination practices of agroup of two-and-one-half-year-old children. Amer. J. Dis. Child., 82:121, 137, 1951.
5. Davis, A., and Havighurst, R. J.: Social class and color differences in child rearing. Amer.
Soc. Rev., 11:698, 1946.
6. Maccoby, E. E., and Gibbs, P. K. : Methods of child-rearing in two social classes, in
Readings in Child Development, edited by Martin, W. E., and Stendler, C. B. New
York, Harcourt, 1954, pp. 380-396.
7. Sears, R. R., et al.: Patterns of Child Rearing.
Evanston, Illinois, Row, Peterson, and Co., 1957.
8. White, M. S.: Effects of social class position on child-rearing practices and child behavior. Amer. Psychol., 10:440, 1955.
9. Crump, E. P., et al.: Growth and development:
I. Relation of birth weight in Negro infants
to sex, maternal age, parity, prenatal care, and socio-economic status. J. Pediat., 51:678, 1957.
10. Gesell, A., and Amatruda, C. S.: Developmental
Diagnosis, Normal and Abnormal Child
De-velopment, Ed. 2. New York, Hoeber, 1947. 11. McCarthy, D., in Manual of Child Psychology,
edited by Carmichael, L. New York, Wiley,
1946, Chapt. 10.
12. Irwin, 0. C. : Infant speech : the effect of family occupational status and of age on sound frequency. J. Speech and Hearing
Disorders, 13:320, 1948.
13. Irwin, 0. C. : Infant speech : the effect of farn-ily occupational status and of age on use of sound types. J. Speech and Hearing Dis-orders, 13:2.24, 1948.
14. Young, F. M.: An Analysis of Certain Variables
in a Developmental Study of Language
(Genetic Psychology Monograph, No. 22), Provincetown, Journal Press, 1941.
MOLECULAR GENETICS AND HUMAN
Dis-EASE, Lytt I. Gardner, Editor. Springfield,
Illinois, Thomas, 1961, 297 pp., $11.50.
This book contains a selection of
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