Social Status, Attitudes Toward Pregancy and Child-Rearing Attitudes

A review of studies of social class and child-rearing behavior reveals a recurring pattern of inconsistent and contradictory findings. This paper reports the findings of a study of child-rearing attitudes expressed by women during the course of their pregnancies. The data suggest that child-rearing attitudes may be more closely associated with attitudes toward pregnancy than with social class. These findings are discussed in relation to other investigations insofar as existing contradictory findings might be explained from a conceptual rather than a methodological perspective. T Xhere has been a continuing and growing interest in both the social sources and consequences of child-rearing attitudes and practices over the past two decades. Investigations in this area have ranged from those which view child-rearing attitudes as a function of the general cultural milieu, "ethos" of the society, or other variations on the national character theme,1 to those with a more microscopic perspective which focus upon factors such as family structure, avowed desire for children, or the psychological attributes of the family member.2 Lying somewhere between these two ex*This is a revised and expanded version of a paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association, August 1961, St. Louis, Missouri. This research is supported by a grant from the Association for the Aid of Crippled Children, New York, and facilitated through the collaboration of the Institute for Health Sciences, Brown University. 1 See for example, A. J. Brodbeck, P. Nogee, and A. DiMascio, "Two Kinds of Conformity: A Study of the Riesman Typology Applied to Standards of Parental Discipline," Journal of Psychology, 41 (1956), pp. 23-45; R. J. Havighurst, "Social Class and Basic Personality Structure," Sociology and Social Research, 36 (1952), pp. 355-363; A. Inkeles, and D. J. Levinson, "National Character: The Study of Modal Personality and Socio-Cultural Systems," in G. Lindzey (Ed.) Handbook of Social Psychology (Cambridge: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1954), Ch. 26; M. L. Kohn, "Social Class and Parental Values," American Journal of Sociology, 64 (1959), pp. 337-351; J. P. Montague, "A Study of Anxiety Among English and American Boys," American Sociological Review, 21 (1956), pp. 226-227; M. K. Opler, "The Influence of Ethnic and Class Subcultures on Child Care," Social Problems, 3 (1955), pp. 12-21; T. Parsons, "Certain Primary Sources and Patterns of Aggression in the Social Structure of the Western World," Psychiatry, 10 (1947), pp. 167-181; B. C. Rosen, "The Achievement Syndrome: A Psychocultural Dimension of Social Stratification," American Sociological Review, 21 (1956), pp. 203-211. 2 See for example, T. G. Alper, T. H. Blane, and B. K. Abrams, "Reactions of Middle and Lower Class Children to Finger Paints as a Function of Class Differences in Child-Training Practices," Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 51 (19555), pp. 439-448; H. J. Angelino and E. V. Mech, "Trends in the 'Fears and Worries' of School Children as Related to Socioeconomic Status and Age," Journal of Genetic Psychology, 89 (1952), pp. 318-322; L. G. Burchinal, "Social Status, Measured Intelligence, Achievement, and Personality Adjustment of Rural Iowa Girls," Sociometry, 22 (1959), pp. 75-80; E. Milner, "Effects of Sex Role and Social Status on the Early Adolescent Personality," Genetic Psychology Monographs, 40 (1949), pp. 231-235; W. H. Sewell, and P. H. Mussen, "The Effect of Feeding, Weaning, and Scheduling Procedures on Childhood Adjustment in the Formation of Oral Symptoms," Child Deevelopment, 23 (1952), pp. 185-191. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.85 on Tue, 23 Aug 2016 04:41:38 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms