This study was conducted to observe the effects of social class on the interaction of mothers and their 12-week-old infants. Data on the infants' cognitive and attentive behavior was also obtained. Each of 32 white and black infants from five different levels of social class was observed at home for two full hours of waking time. Observed infant…

Reports on the relation between childcare attitudes and mother-infant interaction, using the Maternal Attitude Scale and observation in the home. (Author)

A primary purpose of the present study was to further investigate the effects of children upon parents in order to gain a better understanding of the interactional relationship between parents and children. Subjects were 42 middle and upper-middle class parents and their daughters. Mothers and fathers were first observed separately with their…

To assess mother-child interaction, 23 mother-child pairs from the West Harlem ghetto (half lower class and half middle class Negroes) and from Washington Square (white middle class) were observed. Children were 3-year-old boys. Each pair spent 30 minutes in a laboratory playroom and were observed and tape-recorded. Children's nonverbal…

Tests the hypothesis that children in Korean American families who dropped from middle-class to working-class status after immigrating to the United States tend to perceive their mothers as less warm and accepting than do children in families retaining their middle-class status. Results with 44 families suggest the reverse. (SLD)

The purpose of this study was to generate a library of 198 specimen records of the behavior of 24 3-year-old children in different socioeconomic environments: low income urban, low income rural, and middle income urban. (A specimen record provides a continuous narrative in natural language of the behavior of an individual together with the…

Observational research was conducted in homes with a wide socioeconomic range to identify the major factors of experience that affect the development of a child's abilities. Thirty children, aged 12 to 36 months, were observed in three aspects of their environment: Human (family and peers), Static Physical (home and neighborhood), and Range of…

This study investigated the response behavior of nine infants, aged 13-15 weeks, to a recurrent pattern of visual and verbal stimuli presented by their own mothers and by female strangers. The infants were presented with the following 2-minute sequence (repeated 3 times): (1) one-half minute of an unknown female leaning over the crib with a…

This research was designed to serve two major purposes: (1) to create a substantial library of theoretically neutral observational data as permanent documentation of actual life experiences in the lives of 3-year-old children from different socioeconomic backgrounds and (2) to analyze specimen records in order (a) to describe and quantify the…

This project was designed to study the process of parents teaching preschool age children using a direct observational method. Six mothers and their own three-year-old sons from seven ethnic groups participated: middle-class Anglo, lower-class Anglo, English-speaking Mexican-American, bilingual Mexican-American; Spanish-Speaking Mexican-American,…