Maternal Warmth, Achievement Motivation, and Cognitive Functioning in Lower-Class Preschool Children

RADIN, NORMA. Maternal Warmth, Achievement Motivation, and Cognitive Functioning in Lower-Class Preschool Children. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1971, 42, 1560-1565. Black and white lower-class mothers were observed interacting with their 4-year-old children at home. Maternal behaviors reflective of warmth were tallied and correlated with the child's IQ, the tester's rating of his motivation, and the teacher's rating of his behavior in school. Maternal warmth correlated significantly and positively with initial IQ, IQ gain in preschool, teacher ratings of the child's academic motivation, and tester ratings of his motivation in the testing situation. Partial correlations suggested that motivation to achieve is one intervening variable between maternal behavior and cognitive development but not the only one.