Performance Of Chores Research Articles

Economic Socialization in the American Family: The Prevalence, Distribution, and Consequences of Allowance Arrangements

During the late nineteenth century, when American children left the factory for school in large numbers, the problem of newly insolvent children arose, who needed funds but who could no longer earn them through paid work. Though the idea of giving an allowance began in the middle class, parents of all social classes were advised to give their children a small amount of money each week (see Zelizer, 1985, for an excellent discussion of the practice of allowance during this period). A prescriptive family economics guidance literature extols the benefits of regular allowance for the development of sound money management skills in children (Baran & Tarrant, 1981; Gruenberg, 1965; Horton, 1988; McKitric, 1986). According to family economic (Baran & Tarrant, 1981; Gruenberg, 1965; Horton, 1988; McKitric, 1986) and financial education (Sloane, 1991) specialists, children learn through the receipt of a regular allowance how to manage money more wisely; they learn how to make decisions about how to save and spend their money and how to plan ahead for future economic goals. By giving children a fixed amount of money in the form of a weekly allowance, rather than handing out varying amounts of cash as the need arises, parents provide their children with practical learning experience in money management. The children presumably learn how to make financial decisions within the constraints of their own allowance. Though such claims are plausible, there have been few systematic attempts to test them. Whereas contemporary family economic advisors and educators agree about the educational benefits of allowance, there is debate surrounding its administration, particularly about whether or not an allowance should be made conditional upon the performance of household chores. Some think that children learn a valuable lesson when allowance is linked to the performance of household chores: children learn to work for pay (Sloane, 1991). Others, however, think that allowance should not be conditional upon household chores (Balter, 1988; Baran & Tarrant, 1981; Gruenberg, 1965; Horton, 1988; McKitric, 1986), arguing that this practice undermines the collective character of the family. According to this perspective, children should realize that all family members benefit from the maintenance of the household; therefore, all should contribute to it. Performing household chores without monetary compensation is thought to be an important part of participating in family life (Gruenberg, 1965; Henderson, 1988; Horton, 1988). While experts agree that children should not be paid for routine or regular household chores, some (Henderson, 1988; Gruenberg, 1965; Horton, 1988) allow an exception: children can be paid for special household tasks that the parents might otherwise hire another person, outside the family, to perform (e.g., lawnmowing, snowshoveling, washing the car, babysitting). Such a practice of for extra jobs would not, in these authors' views, contradict the norm that regular household work is contributed by family members without extrinsic reward. Similarly, since the purpose of the allowance is to teach children effective money management skills, it is argued that allowance should not be used as a reward or punishment for desirable or undesirable behavior (Balter, 1988; Gruenberg, 1965; Horton, 1988; Sloane, 1991). Making allowance contingent on the child's good behavior would again subvert more genuine motivations. In one recent study, Miller and Yung (1990) found that allowance has different symbolic meanings in families. Echoing the prescriptions of the family life educators, some parents viewed allowance as education for the future handling of money and other economic behaviors. Others viewed a regular allowance as payment for work performed in the household and as contingent on the effective execution of tasks that have been assigned by the parents. Similarly, Furnham and Thomas (1984a), found that half of the adults in their survey felt that children should perform household chores in exchange for an allowance. …

A simultaneous evaluation of 10 commonly used physical activity questionnaires

Ten commonly used physical activity questionnaires were evaluated for reliability and validity in 78 men and women aged 20-59, with varying physical activity habits. One month reliability was found to be high for all questionnaires except those pertaining only to the last week or month. Longer term test-retest reliability tended to be lower. Validity was studied in relation to treadmill exercise performance, vital capacity, body fatness, the average of 14 4-wk physical activity histories and the average of 14 2-d accelerometer readings. No questionnaire measure was correlated with the accelerometer reading, and correlations with vital capacity were generally low. Only the Minnesota Leisure Time Physical Activity Questionnaire household chores measure was correlated with habitual performance of household chores. Most questionnaires, even very simple ones, were related to performance of heavy intensity physical activity and treadmill performance; these same questionnaires tended to be related to percent body fat. Fewer questionnaires related to performance of light or moderate activity. Occupational activity was unrelated to any of the validation measures. It is concluded that there are multiple, nonoverlapping dimensions of physical activity, reflected in multiple nonoverlapping validation realms. More important than the length or attention to detail of a questionnaire seems to be the logic of its questions. Important areas of physical activity that should be addressed in future questionnaires include sleep, light, moderate and heavy intensity leisure activities, household chores, and occupational activity. Recent versus habitual activity should also be considered.

An operant approach to increasing performance of household chores: a case study using behavioral consultation.

Previous research has addressed the effectiveness of operant approaches in changing behavior (2, 3); however, there is little research using the techniques within a standardized framework, in particular, a consultation framework. Behavioral consultation, defined as the of behavioral theory and research in consultation services (I), has been an effective method for problem definition and resolution within a school setting (4) but not adequately studied in a home setting. Bergan's consultarion system was applied to sessions with a divorced parent who had custody of his 14-yr.-old, reportedly noncompliant son. An interview led to rapid specification of the problem and development of a plan for collecting baseline data regarding the son's performance of household chores. The second interview provided a format for interpreting the data and establishing a token reinforcement system to modify the boy's behavior. The implementation of the plan lasted two weeks initially, after which an evaluation of the problem was made at which time issues of internal and external validity were addressed. The consultee related that the goal of consultation had been attained as the boy's performance of household chores increased from 31/2 per week to 20 to 22 per week. A drastic improvement was also noted by the consultee in his relationship with the boy.' These findings suggest that behavioral consultation is a viable method for application of the principles of behavior modification at home. Use of such provided a structured, standard and thorough approach to behavioral change. Use of the approach in training novice consultants is suggested.

Riddling and responsibility in Highland Peru

On the basis of both a cross-cultural study and research on riddling in American and Tagalog cultures, John M. Roberts and Michael L. Forman (1971) made important contributions to the development of a theory of riddle involvement. They argued that riddles, as expressive models of oral interrogation, are associated with high levels of cultural complexity and with an emphasis on responsibility training. This paper reports the results of a series of tests of their hypotheses utilizing data obtained from thirty Quechua-speaking children in the highlands of Peru. The relationships of riddle interest and competence to the performance of chores, responsible choice behavior, nagging, psychological conflict over oral interrogation, game preferences, and occupational preferences are explored.