Maternal Control and Obedience in the Two-Year-Old

MINTON, CHERYL; KAGAN, JEROME; and LEVINE, JANET A. Maternal Control and Obedience in the Two-Year-Old. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1971, 42, 1873-1894. Each of 49 boys and 41 girls, firstborn and white, was observed with the mother in the home on 2 separate occasions when the child was 27 months of age. The focus of the observations was on the mother's reactions to the child's violation of material standards. Most of the interaction involved maternal prohibition of mild misdemeanors. The major results indicated that (a) mothers who had not attended college were markedly more prohibitive and intrusive than college-educated mothers, (b) mothers were more intrusive with sons than with daughters, and (c) the children were generally obedient.