The present research explored how mothers' own childhood experiences are linked to their perceptions of their children's sleep regulation. It focused on collective sleeping; a practice used in the past in the Israeli kibbutz, and used a quasi-experimental research design to examine whether mothers who were raised in collective sleeping…

This study examined modeling and compensatory processes underlying the effects of an early paternal model on father involvement in child care. Drawing on social learning theory, it was hypothesized that father-son relationships would moderate the association between a father's involvement and his own father's involvement. A sample of 136 kibbutz…

This study explored some of the impacts of the presence of others on the most intimate human relationships: those of couples and parents and children in communal households. The shift from essentially dyadic to larger group relations in the home adds a number of complex phenomena: audiences, alternative resources, coalition partners,…

This paper considers the nature of couple and parent-child relationships when family space is public rather than private, and others are present as audiences, claimants on the intimate territory, and sources of alternative ties. Research on 35 urban communal households found an initial shift in the locus of social control. (Author)

This review of the literature about fictional and actual utopian communities focuses on parents and children in American utopias. Introductory comments explore the history and defining characteristics of utopias. The next section highlights references to women, children, education, and parenting in several fictional utopias, including Plato's…

This paper provides a descriptive summary of the historical development, the basic features, the organizational structure, the patterns of child-rearing and education, and specific research findings concerning the Kibbutz Movement in Israel. Four main types of collective settlements are described, along with the main characteristics and tenets…

Children in intentional communities interact with a wide variety of adults independently, observe many parent/child relationships, and experience their parents in roles other than parent. Informal learning experiences about subjects not usually available to children abound. Integration into a community promotes childrens' academic and social…

An interview with a mother and daughter living in an intentional community in New Hampshire explores how their choices about lifestyle have shaped them, how homeschooling worked for them, the role of other community adults in raising children, why the daughter left and later returned, and how community is more than proximity to other people. (TD)

Reveals the role of literacy in the household of an Amish family, emphasizing that reading and writing are valued for their ability to reinforce cultural ties and identification more than for their educational value. Indicates that all literacy instruction should aim to help students understand their role in their society. (SKC)

This paper describes a study comparing the development of children reared in a communal environment with that of children from upper-middle-class home environments. Variables considered were cognitive development and academic achievement. Subjects consisted of 39 children, 2 1/2 to 6 1/2 years of age, reared communally from birth, and 39…

Drawing on cross-cultural research data and related findings, this book presents a comparative examination of the socialization process in the Soviet Union and the United States, and relates the findings to the present and future societies at large. It begins with descriptive facts, examines their implications in light of data and theory from the…

Characteristics of successful living arrangements in intentional communities are presented by examining kibbutz life. The first section discusses four bases for establishing and maintaining an intentional community: interest, justice, cultural flowering, and love (deep interpersonal and intergroup relationships and religious values). The second…