Attitudes of postpartum mothers concerning children and child rearing.
To assess contemporary maternal attitudes about children, child rearing, and family life, a 32-item attitude scale--the Parent Attitude Scale (PAS)--was developed and given to 523 postpartum mothers. The PAS was shown to be a highly reliable attitude assessment instrument. Maternal attitudes generally were pro-child in nature. Variations in total and individual item PAS scores were a function of maternal race, age, marital status, and employment status. Implications of the attitude survey for clinicians in terms of the treatment and prevention of developmental problems and for physician-parent interactions, are discussed.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D001290:Attitude; D002652:Child Behavior; D002668:Child Rearing; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008393:Marriage; D008423:Maternal Age; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D009769:Object Attachment; D010556:Personality Tests; D049590:Postpartum Period; D011247:Pregnancy; D012923:Social Class; D044465:White People