Up the years with the Bettersons: Gender and parent education in interwar America.

Abstract

In the 1920s and 1930s, the parent education movement opened doors for many female psychologists and other child development professionals by providing training and jobs. Female experts in the parent education movement spread the emerging "gospel of child development" to other women-mothers-in a variety of formats. Although psychologists like John B. Watson advocated traditional definitions of motherhood focusing on role adjustment, there is evidence that women psychologists and parent educators introduced ways of thinking about family life that challenged tradition, encouraging role expansion and self-fulfillment. We explore examples provided by women at the Minnesota Institute of Child Welfare who produced radio programs on child rearing. Starting in 1932, advice about child rearing was embedded within stories featuring a fictional family, the Bettersons. The family narrative format provides an opportunity to identify implicit (and sometimes explicit) values and norms informing prescribed roles for mothers, fathers, and children. Analysis suggests that gender roles were shifting in more egalitarian directions, with an awareness of new identity options for both women and men. We explore implications for evaluating the impact of female experts involved in the parent education movement.