Abstract
The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of attitudes of mothers and their college‐age daughters about the value of children. Of secondary interest was the relationship of their attitudes about the value of children as affected by residence (rural‐urban), family size, and education of mothers. The subjects for the study were female college freshmen (N = 168) and their mothers (N = 159). The daughters were enrolled at Iowa State University in an introductory course in Child Development. The Fawcett Opinions about Children questionnaire, a 45‐item Likert‐type attitude scale was used to measure beliefs about children and childrearing. Pearson Product‐Mo ment correlations were computed for mother‐daughter pairs on each of nine scales on values of children. No significant relationships were found. To study the value of children as reflected by rural and urban families, analysis of covariance, using family size as a covariate, was employed. Rural mothers expressed more traditional values for having children than urban mothers. No significant differences were found between rural and urban variables for daughters on the nine scales. As family size increased, mothers and daughters valued children significantly more as a source of happiness and affection.
Published Version
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