Child Rearing Methods and Children's Health Behavior

Author(s): Lois Pratt

Source: Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Mar., 1973), pp. 61-69
Published by: American Sociological Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2136937 .
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 ChildRearingMethodsand
Children's
HealthBehavior*
Lois PRATT
JerseyCity State College

A developmental patternof childrearingwas foundto be associatedwithbetterhealthcare

practicesby childrenthana disciplinary patternof childrearing.The developmentalmethods
includedsubstantialuse of reasonsand information,rewards,and grantingof autonomy.Based
on thesefindings and a reviewof previousresearch,the higherlevel of healthpracticesof
childrenrearedby developmental thanof thoserearedby disciplinary methodsis interpreted
as an expressionof thedifferential
effectiveness
of thesecontrastingchildrearingapproachesin
developingthechild'sresourcesand capacitiesforcopingand takingcare of himself.

THIS paperexaminestherelationship
be- emphasized anddevelopment,
growth train-
tweenmethodsof child rearingused ing for self-reliance, and guidancewith
by parentsand theirchildren'spersonal understanding, andconceived ofthechild's
healthcare practices.The child rearing role as flexible, and the "traditional" ap-
methodsto be examinedare thetendencyproach that stressedspecificbehavioral
to grantautonomy or to control,the ex- conformity and obediencein thechild,and
tentto whichreasonsand information are was basedon theuse ofdisciplinary meth-
supplied, and thetendency to rewardgood ods.
behavioror to punishmisbehavior. It was Sinceno studieswerefoundthatinvesti-
hypothesized thatchildrenwhoseparents gatedeffects on children's healthbehavior
encouragedautonomyand responsibility, of variouschild rearingmethods,there
suppliedreasonsand information, and re- wereneither firmtheoretical norclearem-
wardedgood behaviorto a greaterextent piricalprecedents on whichto base thehy-
than they punishedmisbehaviorwould pothesis. However,findings concerning the
have betterhealthpracticesthanchildren effects of childrearingmethodson other
whoseparentsmade littleattempt to de- kindsof childbehavior,such as compe-
velop informed, independent performancetency,self-reliance, self-control, self-es-
by thechild,and whoemphasized punish- teem,outgoing socialbehavior, and mental
mentto enforcebehaviorstandards. growth, are generally consistent withthe
The firstgroupof methodsare consis- hypothesis proposed here.Theseotherfind-
tentwitha "developmental" approachto ingspointtowarda generalconclusion that
childrearing in thattheyfocuson develop- use of reasons,granting of autonomy, and
ing in the childthe capacitiesneededto rewarding of good behaviorcontribute to
care for himself.The second groupare the development of children'sabilityto
labelledhere "disciplinary" methodsbe- take care of themselves, whilethe disci-
cause theyfocuson obtaining unquestion- plinary methods inhibit thedevelopment of
ingobedienceto theparents'specifications.thesecapacities.
The distinction madehereis rootedin that The paperfirstexaminesthe interrela-
madeby Duvall (1946) betweenthe"de- tionships amongthe elementsof the pro-
velopmental" approachto motherhood that posed "developmental" and "disciplinary"
childrearingmodels.Second,therelation-
* This investigationwas supportedby PHS ships of the separatechild rearingvari-
GrantNumberHS 00065 fromtheNationalCen- ables-use of reasons,reward-punishment,
ter for Health ServicesResearch and Develop-
ment.The assistanceof AgnesMeinhard,Barbara and autonomy-control-to personalhealth
Rubinstein,and JohnDykstrain conductingthis practicesof children are examined. Next,
researchis gratefully
acknowledged. an analysisis presented to indicatetherela-
61
Journal of Health & Social Behavior 14 (March), 1973
62 JOURNAL OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR

tiveimportance of thethreechildrearing scoredanswercategories.A respondent's

methods and thecombined influenceofthe scoreon a givenindexwas obtained byap-
three"developmental" and "disciplinary"plyinga formulathat assignedarbitrary
methodson children'shealth practices. weights to answercategories and summed
Finally,thereis a discussion of howthese the respondent's answersto the specified
findings bear on previousempiricaland groupof questions.
theoretical reportsconcerning how child Child Rearing Measures. The indepen-
rearingmethodsaffectchildren. dentvariable-childrearingmethods-in-
cludestheuse of reasonsand information,
Method use of rewardand punishment, and grant-
ing of autonomy, each of whichis repre-
The studyis based on information ob- sentedby morethanone index.
tainedfromdetailedinterviews witha rep- Use of reasonsand information is rep-
resentative cross-sectionalsampleof fami- resented by a healtheducation indexbased
lieswithchildren aged9 to 13 fromhouse- on a questionconcerning whether or not
holdshavinga husbandin residenceand theparentinstructed thechildineightareas
livingin a northern New Jersey city.Inter- of healthcare, includingteethbrushing
views were conductedby professionallymethod,properdiet,effectsof smoking,
trainedinterviewers usinga standardizedappropriate exercise,cleanliness standards,
instrument withfixed-alternative questions bowelfunctioning, effectof sleep,and the
concerning healthand family behavior.Al- reproduction sequence.Therearethreever-
most all questionsasked the respondentsionsofthisindex,onebasedon children's
were about currentbehaviorin orderto reports, a secondon mothers' reports,and
avoidthedistortions involvedin retrospec-a thirdon fathers' reports.It is thechild's
tivereports. Randomizing procedures were versionof thisindexwhichhas beenused
used in the selectionof the childrespon- in tablesto represent theconcept"use of
dentwithin familiesto assureaccuraterep- reasons."Anotherindexis based on the
resentation ofthetwosexesandthevarious number oftypesofhealtheducation materi-
ages. Separateinterviews were conducted als andtechniques theparentusedwiththis
withone child,thefather, and themother child.Thereare mothers' and fathers' ver-
in 273 familiesand witha childand the sionsof thisindex.
motherin an additional237 families. The Autonomy-control is represented by an
resultspresentedin the tablesare based indexofthechild'sgeneralautonomy based
on thechildren's interviews fromthetotal on theextent to whichthechildcarriedout
sampleof 510 families. a varietyof activitieson his own without
In thepresent analysisprimary emphasis the parents'help or reminder. Included
has been placed on the responsesof the weresuchitemsas getting aroundthetown
childrenbecause,howeverlackingin ob- byhimself andtrying newthings onhisown.
jectivitytheymightbe, it is theirpercep- A secondindexwas constructed by incor-
tionsof howtheirparentstreatthemthat porating itemsconcerning healthcare au-
werethought to be mostrelevantto the tonomyalong withgeneralautonomyin
children's healthbehavior, andbecausethe ordertohavea measureofthechild'sover-
children are in a betterpositionthantheir all levelofautonomy. Therearechildren's,
parentsto view the combinedimpactof mothers',and fathers'versionsof both
the father-mother team. However, the of theseindices.The child'sversionof the
mothers' and fathers' reportson howthey overallautonomy indexhas been used to
rearedthechildhavealso beenanalyzedin represent thisconceptin tables.
ordertoprovidethreeperspectives on child An additionalindex was based on
rearing. whether or notthemotherand fatherex-
pectedthechildat age 9 to perform speci-
Variables and Measures fiedactivitiesby himself.
Each of thevariablesis represented by Reward-punishment is represented by:
one or morecomposite indices;each index (1) A "reward" index based on the num-
was based on a numberof questionswith berofdifferent rewardsusedby parentsin
 CHILD REARING METHODS 63

responseto thechild'sgoodbehavior, such vided facilitiessuch as bathtubs,tooth-

as praising,doingspecialthings for him, brushes,and towelsthatare neededif the
and showingphysicalaffection.(2) A child is to perform the behavior.While
"punishment" indexbased on thenumber therewerevariations amongfamilies in the
of different formsof punishment used by qualityof healthfacilities providedin the
parents whenthechildmisbehaved, suchas home,it was foundthatalmostno child
confinement, withdrawal of privileges,and lacked the equipmentneeded for basic
corporalmeasures.It is thechild'sversion healthroutines. The possibleexceptionis
of the"reward"and "punishment" indices inthecase ofnutrition wherechildren have
thatare presented in tables.(3) A "cor- wide discretionto eat more poorlybut
poral"punishment indexbased on theex- seldomtoeatbetter thantheirfamily kitch-
tenttowhichparentsappliedphysical mea- ens provide.
suressuchas slappingand spanking when
thechildmisbehaved. The finalindexis la- Results
belled"reward-punishment" and was con-
structed by subtracting punishments from Developmental and Disciplinary Child
rewardsin orderto indicatetheextentto RearingPatterns.The threedimensionsof
whichthe use of punishment or reward childrearing-useof reasons,reward,and
predominated fora givenchild. granting of autonomy-weresignificantly
Health PracticesMeasures. The depen- correlatedwithone another,althoughthe
dentvariable-children's healthcareprac- correlationswerenot extremely large.
tices-is representedby eight indices Use of Use of
based on children'sreportsof theirper- Reasons Reward
sonal healthcare practices.The criteria Use of reasons
.277
usedto evaluatethequalityofperformance Use of reward .238
....
.159
in Granting autonomy
reported by childrenweredescriptions
the medical-health literatureconcerning The correlationsindicate that parents
beneficial and harmful healthpractices. who employedone developmentalmethod
Personaldentalcare was measuredby were significantly more likely to employ
questionsaboutteethcleaningpractices. another developmental one thantheywere
Sleephabitsweremeasured byquestions to use a disciplinaryform,and vice versa.
aboutsleep!regularity and quality. Thus, thereappears to be a degreeof com-
Exercisehabitswere measuredby the patibilityamong the three methods that
regularity and extentof participation in were conceptualizedas aspects of a "de-
physicalsports,games,and exercises. velopmental"approach and among the
Cleanliness habitsweremeasured bythe threemethodsthatwere conceptualizedas
child'sbathingand sanitation behavior. aspects of a "disciplinary"approach. This
Nutrition practices weremeasured bythe lends some supportto the conceptuallogic
qualityof food consumedduringa com- of the proposedchildrearingmodel. How-
pleteday,balancing valuableintakeagainst ever, the criticalissue of this studyis not
uselessand/orharmful intake. the extentto whichparentsin actual prac-
Elimination practices weremeasuredby tice have a consistentchild rearing ap-
regularityin bowelfunctioning. proach,but rather,the extentto whichthe
Smoking wasmeasured byfrequency and three aspects of the child rearingmodel,
quantityof cigarettesmoking. separatelyand in combination,affectchil-
A summary indexof thechild'soverall dren'shealthpractices.
healthcare practiceswas constructed by Relationships Between Child Rearing
combining theabove sevenspecifichealth Methods and Children'sHealth Practices.
care indices. It was hypothesized thatchildrenwhose
It was intendedthat the measuresof parentssupplied reasons and information,
children'shealthpracticesreflect behavior rewardedgood behaviorto a greaterex-
thatwas somewhat discretionary on the tentthantheypunishedmisbehavior, and
part of the child and not dependent pri- encouraged autonomy and responsibility
marilyon whether or nottheparentspro- would have better health practices than
64 JOURNAL OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR

childrenwhose parentsmade littleattempt extentof corporal punishment-werenot

to develop informed, independentperform-
ance by the child, and who emphasized
punishmentto enforcebehaviorstandards.
Use of reasons. Based on children'sre-
ports, the data indicate that the greater
the use of reasonsby parents,as measured
by the extentof healtheducationprovided
by the parents, the higher the level of
children's total health practices.
The specifictypesofhealthpracticesthat
werefoundto be significantlyrelatedto use
of reasons were elimination,care of teeth,
and cleanliness. Parents' use of reasons
was not significantly related to exercise,
nutrition,smoking,or sleep habits. Table
1 presentsthe correlationcoefficients.
When these relationshipswere checked
by utilizingmothers'and fathers'reports,
only mothers'reporteduse of a varietyof
healtheducationmethodswas foundto be
relatedsignificantlyand positivelyto chil-
dren's health practices.This differencein
resultsforfathersand motherswill be dis-
cussed later.
Reward and punishment.There was
foundto be a consistentpositiverelation-
ship betweenparents'use of rewardsand
the quality of children'shealth practices.
Based on children'sreports,the more re-
wards for good behavior and the greater
the preponderanceof rewardsover punish-
ments,the betterthe total healthpractices
of childrenand thebettertheirhealthprac-
tices in almost all specifichealth areas.
Notably,the two punishmentindices-the
numberof punishment formsused and the
significantly related to children's health
habits,withthe exceptionof sleep habits,
which were significantlybetter when
punishmentwas low. These data indicate
that the positive influenceof rewarding
good conductis much more importantfor
children'shealth habits than any negative
influenceresultingfrompunishment.
Similar results were obtained when
mothers'reportswere used. No significant
relationshipswere found between fathers'
reportsof theiruse of reward or punish-
mentand theirchildren'shealthpractices.
Autonomy-control. Regardlessof which
of the children's autonomy indices was
used, the higher the level of autonomy
granted,the better the children'soverall
healthpracticesand the bettertheirprac-
tices in all specificareas except nutrition.
The findingsare similarwhen mothers'
reportsare used, but the relationshipsbe-
tweenfathers'reportsof the child's auton-
omy were not significantly relatedto chil-
dren's health practices.
Fathers', Mothers', and Children'sRe-
portson Child Rearing.The factthatchil-
dren's and mothers'reportson child rear-
ing methodswere foundto be consistently
related to children's health habits, but
fathers'reportswerenot,maybe accounted
for by the difference in orientationof the
questionsasked of children,mothers,and
fathers.Children reported on the child
rearingmethodsused by their"parents"as
a combined team, while the father and
mothereach reportedon his or her own

TABLE 1. CORRELATIONS BETWEEN CHILD REARING METHODS AND CHILDREN'S

HEALTH PRACTICES BASED ON CHILDREN'S REPORTS *

Child RearingMethods
Health Use of Use of Use of Grantingof
practices Reasons Reward Punishment Autonomy
Total health
practices .212 .240 .004 .337
Sleep .003 .032 .197 .191
Exercise .039 .109 -.198 .153
Elimination .182 .090 .051 .151
Dental care .144 .190 -.033 .281
Cleanliness .207 .125 .134 .162
Nutrition .000 .102 .017 .071
Smoking .059 .101 .058 .136
* A positivecorrelationindicatesthathighuse of reasons,reward,and autonomy,and low use of
punishment is associatedwithgood healthpractices.Correlationcoefficients
of .104 are significant
at
the.05 leveland coefficients
of .147 at the.01 level.
 CHILD REARING METHODS 65

individualpractices.By acceptingat face did contributean additionalsignificant in-

value the findingthat fathersare simply
less influential
thanmothers,one can inter-
pretthatchildren'sreportsof thetotalchild
rearing experience coincide closely with
mothers'reportsbecause mothersperform
most of the child rearing activity,while
children'sexperience of child rearing is
considerablydifferent from their fathers'
reportsbecause fathersperformso little
childrearingactivity.
Reasons, Reward,and Autonomy.Since
substantialuse of reasons,high use of re-
wards,and grantingof considerableauton-
omy to the child were each found to be
associatedwithbetterchildhealthpractices
thanlittleuse of reasons,reward,and au-
tonomy, it was essential to determine
whethereach of the methods was inde-
pendentlyrelatedto children'shealthprac-
tices or whetherthe influenceof each was
diminishedor eliminatedundercontrolfor
the othertwo. Partial correlationsshowed
that the relationshipof each of the three
child rearingmethods to children'stotal
healthpracticespersistedundercontrolfor
the othertwo, althoughthe relationshipof
use of reasons was somewhatdiminished
undercontrol.
On the basis of these findingsit would
be expectedthata combinationof thethree
childrearingmethodsintothedevelopmen-
tal and disciplinarystyles of parenthood
would discriminatemore efficiently than
any of the methodsconsideredsingly.This
did proveto be thecase. A stepwiseregres-
sion analysis showed that autonomywas
the mostinfluentialof the threechild rear-
ingvariables,(as indicatedby thestandard-
in Table 2). In
ized regressioncoefficients
addition,each of the other two methods
crementto the variance explainedin chil-
dren's overall health practices.As shown
by the R2 in Table 2, autonomyaccounted
for 11 per cent of the total variance in
children's health practices; reward ac-
counted for an additional4 per cent be-
yond thataccountedforby autonomy;use
of reasons added 1 per cent beyond the
other two child rearing methods. Com-
bined, autonomy,use of reasons, and re-
ward accounted for about 16 per cent
of the total variance in children'shealth
practices.
Thus, when parentspracticedthe three
developmental methods in combination,
theirchildren'shealth behavior was sub-
stantiallybetterthanthatof childrenwhose
parentsemployeda thoroughly disciplinary
styleof parenthood.
Separate stepwiseregressionanalysesof
each of the specificaspects of health care
revealed that child rearingmethods had
greaterinfluenceon children'scare of their
teeth, cleanliness, sleep, and elimination
habits than on other health habits.
Therewerealso foundto be some differ-
ences in whichaspect of child rearingwas
most influentialfor various health prac-
tices. Autonomywas the most important
child rearingvariablewithrespectto den-
tal, sleep, exercise,and smokingbehavior,
suggestingthat self-management abilityis
especiallyimportantin these fourareas of
health care. Use of reasons had the most
influenceon cleanliness and elimination
practices.
Influenceof Parents' Health Practices.
Because of the positive relationshipbe-
tween parents'health habits and those of
theirchildren,it was necessaryto deter-

TABLE 2. STEPWISE REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP OF CHILD

REARING METHODS TO CHILDREN'S HEALTH PRACTICES
Standardized
Variable Multiple R2 Regression Increases F= P
entered: R Coefficients in 12 ratio
Autonomy .3373 .1138 .2831 .1138 34.794 .001
Reward .3865 .1494 .1683 .0356 11.307 .001
Use of .3973 .1578 .0939 .0084 2.691 .05
reasons
Socio- .3992 .1594 -.0398 .0016 0.4947 ns
economic
status
66 JOURNAL OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR

mine whetheror not parents'healthhabits study,of whichthepresentreportis a part,

mightbe responsiblefor the relationships proposesthatvarious aspects of familyor-
found betweenchild rearingmethodsand ganization are related to personal health
children'shealthhabits.This did not prove practices of members. Promisingdimen-
to be the case for the relationshipsper- sions of familyorganizationthatare under
sisted under controlfor level of mothers' investigation includethe extentof commu-
health practices. nicationand supportamong familymem-
The interactionbetweenmothers'health bers and the extentof linkagebetweenthe
habitsand thechildrearingvariablessheds family- and other communitysystems.
additionallighton the effectof child rear-
ing practices, however. When mothers' Discussion
health habits were poor, a high level of
autonomy and health training had a The discussionwill attemptto relatethe
strongerpositiveeffecton children'shealth presentfindingsconcerningthe effectsof
habitsthan whenmothers'healthpractices child rearingmethodson children'shealth
weregood. This interpretation is suggested: behavior to previous empiricaland theo-
whenthe motherservesas a poor example retical work concerningeffectsof child
for healthbehaviorit is essentialthat the rearingmethodson otheraspects of chil-
child be emancipatedfromthe confinesof dren's behavior and development,includ-
familyinfluence.Both grantingof auton- ing competency,self-reliance,self-control,
omy and bringinghealth education mate- self-esteem,outgoingsocial behavior,and
rials into the home serveto extendthe re- mentalgrowth.
sourcesavailable to the childin developing Use of Reasons. Evidencefromprevious
his own healthbehaviorpatterns. studies suggests that providing relevant
Influenceof Socioeconomic Status. Al- informationand reasons to childrencon-
though socioeconomic status had to be tributesto the developmentof theirrea-
suspectedas a possibleextraneousvariable soningcapacityand theirabilityto behave
because of its relationshipto various as- competently. Baumrind(1967) foundthat
pects of child rearingand to healthprac- the parentsof a group of competentchil-
tices,socioeconomicstatuswas not respon- dren (self-reliant,self-controlled, explora-
sible fortherelationships reportedbetween tive, and content) were more likely than
childrearingmethodsand children'shealth the parentsof otherchildrento use reason
practices.The partialcorrelationsbetween ratherthan power to gain complianceand
each of the child rearing variables and to encourage verbal give and take. In a
healthcare practicesundercontrolforSES relatedstudy,Baumrindand Black (1967:
indicate that the relationshipsare fully 324) found that: "Parents' willingnessto
sustained. offerjustification
fordirectivesand to listen
A stepwiseregressionanalysisindicates to the childwere associatedwithcompetent
furtherthatall threechildrearingvariables behavioron the part of the child." Becker
took precedenceover SES in extentof in- (1964) concluded fromhis review of re-
fluenceon healthpractices.In fact,Table searchthatprovidingthechildwithreasons
2 showsthatnothingwas gainedby adding and information helps him to understand
SES to the "package" of independentvari- what is expectedof him and what are the
ables beyondwhat could be accountedfor consequences of his behavior. A study
by child rearingmethodsalone. (Smith, 1970) of the sources of parents'
UnexplainedVariance.The developmen- influenceon adolescents found that the
tal-disciplinarychild rearing model ac- parents' resources as knowledgeableper-
counts for about 16 percentof the vari- sons was the most significant variable.
ance in children'shealthpractices,leaving These findings,togetherwiththoseof the
the remainder unexplained. What other presentstudy,pointtowarda generalcon-
factorsmay be important?As has been clusionthatuse of reasonsand information
indicatedabove, socioeconomic statushas by parentshelps to developthechild'scog-
been ruledout. nitive capacities so that he can behave
The conceptualizationof the overall competently.This interpretation was fur-
 CHILD REARING METHODS 67

ther supportedby a test made with the entialeffects on children at different ages,
present study data. Using as a crude mea- and other studies have found that punish-
sure of thechild'sconfidencein his general ment is associatedwith less aggression
competency, a question which asked ratherthanmore.This apparentinconsis-
whetheror not "I can do prettymuchany- tencymaybe theresultofthefactthatin-
thingI set my mind to do," this measure creasing degreesof punishment by parents
ofcompetency was related significantlyboth resultin building up increasingly aggressive
to parentaluse of reasonsand to children's responses in children, butthattheexpres-
healthpractices. sion of aggressionis inhibitedby very
Reward and Punishment. Previous severepunishment (Sears, et al., 1953).
studieshave led to the followingformula- Our presentfinding thatuse of rewards
tion of the process by which punishment is associated with sound healthbehaviorin
and rewardare thoughtto affectchildren: children supports thethemeemerging from
Punishmentis less likely than positive previous studies-that useofreward fosters
methodsto develop the child's inner re- the development of the child'sresources
sources for evaluatingand correctinghis and capacities.However,thepresentdata
own conduct.Punishmentis likelyto gen- yieldno evidenceto indicatethatlevelof
erateresentment and resistancethatare re- punishment has an effect on the develop-
strainedonlywhen the fear of authority is mentofchildren's capabilities.
maintained.Reward, on the other hand, Autonomy-Control. A numberof studies
providesenjoyment thatbecomesassociated have producedevidencethatis consistent
with the behavior itself,thus reinforcing withthe presentstudyfindings. Granting
thebehavior.The presentfindingsare con- of autonomy has been foundto be asso-
sistentwith the interpretations about use ciatedwithcompetency, self-control, self-
ofrewardsbutnotaboutuse ofpunishment. reliance, outgoing socialbehavior, intellec-
Parents who used rewards were found tual growth,and differentiated cognitive
to be more likely to report that theirpro- functioning-types of effects on the child
cedures were effectivethan parents who thatindicateabilityto take care of him-
used punishment (Coopersmith, 1967). self.In addition, thereis a streamof re-
Aronfreed(1968) reportedthat givingof searchthathas foundcontrolto be asso-
specific rewards for initiativehas been ciatedwithdependency, inhibition, obedi-
found consistentlyto be associated with ence, and conformity to adultstandards,
children'sachievementmotivationand per- as wellas hostility and aggression.
formance. If healthhabitsare viewedas abilityto
Aronfreed(1961) also foundthat chil- take care of oneself,the formerstream
dren who are frequently punishedtend to of research wouldlead one to expectthat
react to theirown misbehaviorwith fear thehypothesis wouldbe sustained.If, on
of authority,while infrequently punished the otherhand,one viewedhealthhabits
childrenare more likelyto develop inter- as thechild'sconformity to adultstandards
nalizedresponsessuch as guilt.Thus, while of conduct,one mightentertain the pos-
parentsmay obtain superficialsocial con- sibilitythatthe hypothesis shouldbe re-
formity by usingpunishment, theymay not versed-thatcontrolwouldbe associated
achieve theirlongtermsocializationobjec- withbetter healthhabits.Sincethehypoth-
tivesbecause childrenfail to develop their esiswas sustained, thereis support forthe
own internalcapacities for self-correctionidea that autonomyproducescompetent
(Clausen, 1968). performance and thatthe conformity and
Other attemptsto clarifythe effects of obedience produced by control are actually
punishment on children'sbehaviorhave in- dysfunctional for development of good
volvedexplorationsof theeffects of punish- healthbehaviorin children. The documen-
menton children'saggression.Many studies tationof thisinterpretation follows.
(Becker, 1964; Eron et al., 1963) have Baumrind (1967) foundthattheparents
foundpunishment positivelyassociatedwith of competent childrenwere more likely
aggressive behavior. However, Sears than those of less competent childrenac-
(1961) foundthatpunishmenthad differ- tivelyto traintheirchildren forindepen-
68 JOURNAL OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR

dence by exchanging information to ad- concludedthatpowerasserting techniques

vance the child'sskillsor decisions,and are more likelyto correlatewith non-
to grantautonomy bywithdrawing a direc- cooperative and aggressive behaviorsand
tive in responseto an objectionby the also withexternalized reactionsto trans-
child or by allowingthe child to make gression(fearofpunishment andprojected
choices.The use ofcoercivepowerbypar- hostility).
entswas associatedwithmaladaptive be- Whatare themechanisms by whichpa-
haviorin bothboysand girls,withstereo- rentalcontrolis presumedto affectthe
typedanddependent behaviorin boys,and child'smoraldevelopment andhistendency
regressive and fearful behaviorin girls. towardhostility and aggressive behavior?
Childrenwithrestrictive parentswere Hoffmanand Saltzstein(1967:54) pro-
foundto be sociallywithdrawn (Radke, posed: "First,any disciplinary encounter
1946). Straus (1964:323) attempted to generates a certainamountof angerin the
accountforthe tendency for childrento child.... Powerassertion is probably most
be more"extroverted" whentheirparents likelyto arouseintenseangerin thechild
are not power-assertive:". . . the greater becauseit frustrates not onlythe act but
enjoyment of interaction duringsocializa- also the child'sneed forautonomy." The
tionexperienced in theequal powersitua- factthatchildrenwithauthoritarian par-
tionwillbe generalized to all socialinter- entsoftenhave feelings of discontent and
action,resulting in a so-calledextrovertunhappiness (Elder, 1961) supportsthis.
typeof individual." The factthataggression, dependency, and
In addition,children withhighly restric- obediencehave all been foundto be out-
tive parentshave been foundto receive comesofcontrolling parental behaviorsug-
littlestimulation formentalgrowth(Bald- geststhatchildren of power-assertive par-
winet al., 1945). Witkin(1969) reported entsmaymaintainan uneasybalancebe-
thatboys whosemothersinteracted with tweenconformity and defiance.
themin waysthatencouraged appropriate Based on the reviewof theseprevious
differentiation and separationfrom the studiesoftheeffects ofautonomy andcon-
mother,as contrasted withthose whose trol,on the findings in the presentstudy
motherskept themclose and dependent,indicating thatautonomy was significantly
tendedto have an articulated cognitive and positively relatedto children's health
style,an articulated body concept,a de- practices,and on findingin the present
veloped sense of separateidentity, and samplethatchildren's self-rating of com-
specializedstructural defenses. petencywas positivelyrelatedboth to
Bronfenbrenner (1970) concludedfrom autonomy and to healthpractices, thefol-
his studiesof childrearingin the Soviet lowingconclusion is proposed:Granting of
Union that theirconstricting patternof autonomyfosterscompetency and active
parentalbehavior"maximizes dependencycopingbehaviorin children of whichone
andproducesa childwhois readilysocial- important expression is soundhealthbe-
ized to adultstandards"(1970:81). Pa- havior.Control,on the otherhand, in-
rentalrestrictiveness was foundto have hibitsthedevelopment of thesecapacities
lasting effects
inhibiting on children (Kagan and producesinsteada superficial and
and Moss, 1962), and to make children rigidconformity to adult standardsthat
moreconforming and dependent on adults failsto obtaincommitment or even suffi-
(Becker,1964). cientpersistency to enable the child to
In additionto dependency and obedi- perform successfully the elementary rou-
ence,aggression has been foundto result tinesofcaringforhisownbody.
fromauthoritarian childrearingmethods. Developmental.and DisciplinaryMeth-
Significantcorrelations werefoundbetween ods. Reviewof previousresearchas well
the mother's powerassertiveness and the as theresultsof testing thehypotheses in
child's hostilityand power assertivenessthepresent studypointtowardthisgeneral
towardchildren, andhisresistance to chil- conclusion:thatdevelopmental childrear-
dren's and teachers'influenceattempts ingmethods are significantly moreeffective
(Hoffman,1960). Becker (1964) also than disciplinary methodsin developing
 CHILD REARING METHODS 69

thechild'scapacitiesand resources so that Elder,G. H.

he is able to cope effectively
and takecare 1961 FamilyStructureand the Transmission
of Values and Normsin the Processof
ofhimself. The higher levelofhealthprac- Child Rearing.UnpublishedPh.D. dis-
ticesof children rearedby developmental sertation.
University of NorthCarolina.
thanof thoserearedby disciplinary meth- Eron, L. D., L. 0. Walder,R. Toigo and M.
odsis viewedas an expression ofthediffer- Lefkowitz.
class, parentalpunishmentfor
entialeffectivenessofthesecontrastingchild 1963 "Social
aggression,and childaggression."
Child
rearing approaches in developing
children's Development34 (December):849-867.
competency and copingbehavior. Hoffman, M. L.
1960 "Power assertionby the parentand its
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