Assessment of Child‐Rearing Behaviors of Midwestern Rural Parents

The Iowa Parent Behavior Inventory (IPBI) was developed and utilized as part of the NC‐124 regional research project. Behaviors of rural Iowa parents (part of the regional project sample) were measured over a one‐year period during which they remained relatively stable. When parent behaviors were analyzed in relation to a variety of demographic variables, parent and child ages were found to be the most salient variables. Negative correlations were found between age for both parents and the IPBI factors Reasoning Guidance and Intimacy and be tween the child's age and the IPBI Intimacy factor. Positive correlations were found between child's age and the IPBI factors Limit Setting and Reasoning Guidance. Number of siblings and ordinal position were negatively correlated with the IPBI factor Parental Involvement. Number of siblings was positively related to the IPBI factors Limit Setting and Responsiveness in fathers. Sex of child was not a significant demographic variable in the study.