Work and Community Influences on the Quality of Child Rearing

COTTERELL, JOHN L. Work and Community Influences on the Quality of Child Rearing. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1986, 57, 362-374. The child-rearing attitudes and behavior of 96 mothers of preschool children living in mining and rural towns in inland Australia were examined in terms of the influences of 3 factors outside the home-father's absence because of work demands, community characteristics, and mother's informational support. The mothers were interviewed concerning their social networks, contacts with others, and informational support. Their child-rearing attitudes were measured with the Parent as a Teacher Inventory (PAAT) and their behavior with the Home Observation and Measurement of Environment (HOME) Preschool Inventory. Mothers with absentee husbands had lower mean scores on the scale of measures of play and cognitive stimulation; mothers with greater informational support had higher mean scores on play, cognitive stimulation, warmth, and teaching. Husband absence was also significantly related to the mother's contacts with members of her social network across different neighborhood venues. Regression analyses, using as predictors a set of background variables in addition to the 3 factors outside the home, showed that the influences on child-rearing quality differed for the attitude and behavior measures. Whereas child-rearing behavior was significantly related to father's work patterns and community characteristics, child-rearing attitudes and beliefs were more sensitive to characteristics of the target child. Mother's informational support was strongly related to both attitude and behavior measures. The results confirm the importance of factors outside the home as influences on the ecology of children's development.