The Young Male Adolescent's Perception of Early Child-Rearing Behavior: The Differential Effects of Socioeconomic Status and Family Size

Abstract

Data are brought to bear on a set of questions relating to social class differences in child-rearing practices which are not sufficiently clarified by previous research. A questionnaire administered to ninth-grade male adolescents provided information on the respondents' socioeconomic status, family size, and their perceptions of parental supportiveness, constraint and consistency. The main conclusions of this study are: (1) the lower the socioeconomic status the lower the amount of perceived parental support, control and consistency; (2) across all status categories respondents perceive mothers as somewhat more supportive but less controlling and less consistent than fathers; (3) of the three measures of socioeconomic status-education, occupation and social position-education is the best predictor of variation in perceived differences in child-rearing practices; (4) family size has an independent effect upon male adolescents' perceptions of child-rearing practices; and (5) the effects of educational status and family size upon perceptions of child-rearing practices are essentially independent and additive.