The grassroots parent-based effort to reform public education predated, by more than a decade, the national awakening to problems in the schools. It began when parents became aware that the educational establishment perceived its "duty" to mold children's attitudes as a higher priority than the school's cognitive function and certainly…

This document describes a study that analyzed the influence of French family organization on the development of a child's personality when the mother has a professional job. Included with the study is the questionnaire used to collect information about the different ways used by the mother to characterize the stability or instability of family…

To discover what part parent impartiality might play in creating a climate in which each individual child can prosper, 198 college students from a large Midwestern urban university were questioned about their perceptions of their parents' behavior during the time that they were growing up. The first section of the survey consisted of 50 questions…

Presented in both the English and Spanish Language versions is a booklet which describes what parents can do at home and in the school to support and encourage their children's success in school and college. Discussion emphasizes the extent to which parents influence their children's attitudes about learning and school, and points out that parent…

To examine the relationship between parent and child news media use within specific age groups and to evaluate the stability of this use over time, 501 parent child pairs were interviewed by telephone in the winter and again in the fall of 1980 on their political views, social values, and media use. Findings on exposure to five types of…

The present study investigated whether parents' own behaviors and beliefs or their interpretations of their children's behaviors relate more closely to children's own mathematics achievement beliefs. Age and sex differences in children's perceptions of their parents' beliefs were explored. A total of 740 children in fifth through twelfth grades…

A study compared the scores of Catholic and public school students at three different grade levels on educationally pertinent characteristics such as race, ability, level of parental education, amount of homework, and high school curricular track. Subjects, approximately 2,000 Catholic school students and 30,000 public school students in grades 3,…

Progress in developmental/social psychology has occurred in three major areas: (1) knowledge of cognitive development, (2) knowledge involving the various concepts related to the self, and (3) knowledge of how to take explicit account of social context. These areas can be integrated by taking a "life course approach," which emphasizes the…

Over the past decade, gradual changes have occurred in some aspects of the social roles taken by men and women. More women with children work outside the home and some men have become very involved in caring for their children. Whether or not such changes have influenced the thinking of members of traditional families and influence parent/child…

This paper summarizes the components of effective parenting for which substantial empirical support is available and discusses the problems inherent in attempts to determine the characteristics of effective parents in order to amend the process of socialization through the modification of parent styles. The aspects of effective parenting discussed…

This document contains the papers presented at a conference that addressed the paucity of research on the relationship between schooling and adolescent development. The first four papers with reaction/comment statements focus on the following topics: (1) distinguishing the appropriate responsibilities of schools to adolescent development; (2)…

Instead of merely correlating the amount of time a child is read to with gross measures of language development or reading achievement, researchers need to examine closely, through naturalistic studies, the underlying construction and organization of story book reading events between parent and child. The notion of scaffolding, in which the adult…

Sex differences in children's physical activity levels, and associations between girls' activity level, childrearing characteristics and parent-child play behavior were investigated in a quasi-naturalistic situation. As part of a longitudinal project, 144 third grade children were videotaped in a 1-hour play session with one of their parents. A…

A study evaluated career attainment and job satisfaction of young adults from nonmetropolitan Washington and identified factors influencing them. Results were based on data collected in a 1973 mail survey of members of high school classes graduating in 1965 and 1966. Career attainment was measured by occupation, earnings, place of work, and…

IN 1960 AT TORONTO, CANADA, A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF ACHIEVEMENT WAS BEGUN IN JUNIOR KINDERGARTEN WITH 8,695 CHILDREN. THE OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY WERE (1) TO EVALUATE THE EFFECT OF JUNIOR KINDERGARTEN ATTENDANCE ON THE ACHIEVEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN, AND (2) TO EXAMINE THE NATURE OF THE WORLD OF JUNIOR AND SENIOR KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN.…