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Child Rearing Methods and Children's Health BehaviorAuthor(s): Lois PrattSource: Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Vol. 14, No. 1 (Mar., 1973), pp. 61-69Published by: American Sociological AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2136937 .

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ChildRearingMethods nd

Children's ealthBehavior*Lois PRATTJersey ityStateCollege

A developmentalattern f childrearingwas foundto be associatedwithbetter ealth arepractices ychildrenhan disciplinaryattern f childrearing. he developmental ethodsincludedubstantialse ofreasons nd information,ewards,nd granting f autonomy. asedon thesefindingsnd a reviewof previous esearch, hehigher evel of healthpractices fchildren earedbydevelopmentalhan of thoserearedbydisciplinary ethods s interpretedas an expression fthedifferentialffectivenessfthese ontrastinghildrearingpproachesndevelopinghe hild's esources nd capacities orcoping nd taking are ofhimself.

THIS paper xaminesherelationshipe-tweenmethods f childrearing sed

by parents nd their hildren's ersonalhealthcare practices. he childrearingmethodsobe examinedre thetendencyto grant utonomyr to control,he ex-tent owhich easons nd nformationresupplied,nd the endencyo reward oodbehaviorrtopunishmisbehavior.t was

hypothesizedhatchildren hoseparentsencouragedutonomynd responsibility,supplied easons ndinformation,ndre-warded oodbehavioro a greaterxtentthan theypunishedmisbehavior ouldhavebetter ealth racticeshan hildrenwhoseparentsmade ittle ttempto de-velop nformed,ndependenterformanceby the hild, ndwhoemphasizedunish-ment o enforceehavior tandards.

The first roup f methodsreconsis-tentwith "developmental"pproach ochild earingnthat hey ocus ndevelop-ing n thechild hecapacities eeded ocare forhimself. he secondgroup arelabelledhere "disciplinary" ethods e-causethey ocus n obtainingnquestion-ingobedienceotheparents'pecifications.The distinctionadehere s rootednthatmadeby Duvall (1946) betweenhe"de-velopmental"pproacho motherhoodhat

* This investigation as supported y PHSGrantNumberHS 00065from heNationalCen-ter forHealth ServicesResearch and Develop-ment. he assistance fAgnesMeinhard, arbaraRubinstein,nd JohnDykstran conductinghisresearch s gratefullycknowledged.

emphasizedrowthnddevelopment,rain-ing forself-reliance,nd guidancewithunderstanding,ndconceived fthe hild'sroleas flexible,nd the"traditional"p-proachthat stressed pecific ehavioralconformityndobediencenthe hild,ndwasbasedontheuse ofdisciplinaryeth-ods.

Sincenostudies ere oundhatnvesti-

gated ffectsn children'sealth ehaviorof variouschildrearingmethods, herewereneitherirmheoreticalor lear m-pirical recedentsnwhichobasethehy-pothesis. owever, indingsoncerningheeffectsf childrearingmethodsn otherkindsof childbehavior,uchas compe-tency, elf-reliance,elf-control,elf-es-teem, utgoingocialbehavior,ndmentalgrowth,re generallyonsistent ith hehypothesisroposed

ere. heseotherind-ings oint oward generalonclusionhatuseofreasons, rantingfautonomy,ndrewardingfgoodbehavior ontributeothe developmentf children'sbility otakecare of themselves,hilethedisci-plinary ethodsnhibithedevelopmentfthese apacities.

The paperfirst xamines he nterrela-tionshipsmong he elementsf thepro-posed"developmental"nd "disciplinary"

child earingmodels. econd, herelation-shipsof theseparate hildrearing ari-ables-use ofreasons, eward-punishment,andautonomy-control-toersonal ealthpracticesf childrenre examined. ext,ananalysisspresentedo ndicatehe ela-

61Journal of Health & Social Behavior 14 (March), 1973



62 JOURNAL OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR

tive mportancefthethree hildrearingmethodsnd the ombinednfluencefthethree developmental"nd "disciplinary"methods n children's ealthpractices.Finally,heres a discussionf howthese

findings ear on previous mpiricalndtheoreticaleports oncerningow childrearingmethods ffect hildren.

Method

The studys based on informationb-tained rom etailednterviewsith rep-resentativeross-sectionalample ffami-lieswithhildrenged9 to13from ouse-holdshaving husband n residencend

livingna northernewJerseyity.nter-viewswere conducted y professionallytrainednterviewerssing standardizedinstrumentith ixed-alternativeuestionsconcerningealthndfamilyehavior. l-most all questions sked the respondentwereabout current ehaviorn order oavoidthedistortionsnvolvednretrospec-tive eports.andomizingrocedures ereused n the selection fthe childrespon-

dentwithin amiliesoassure ccurate ep-resentationfthe wo exes ndthe ariousages. Separate nterviews ereconductedwith ne child, hefather,nd themotherin 273 families ndwith child nd themothern an additional 37 families.heresults resentedn thetables are basedon thechildren'snterviewsrom hetotalsample f 510 families.

In the resentnalysisrimarymphasishas beenplaced on the responses f thechildrenecause,howeveracking n ob-jectivityheymight e, it is their ercep-tions fhow their arents reat hem hatwerethoughto be mostrelevant o thechildren'sealth ehavior,nd because hechildrenre na betterosition han heirparents o viewthecombinedmpact fthe father-motheream. However,themothers'ndfathers'eportsn howtheyreared he hild ave lsobeen nalyzedn

orderoprovidehree erspectivesnchildrearing.

Variables and Measures

Each ofthevariabless representedyone ormore ompositendices;ach ndexwas basedon a numberfquestions ith

scored nswer ategories. respondent'sscore n a given ndexwas obtained yap-plying formulahatassigned rbitraryweightso answer ategoriesnd summedthe respondent'snswers o the specified

group f questions.Child RearingMeasures. The indepen-dentvariable-child earingmethods-in-cludes heuseof reasons nd nformation,use ofreward nd punishment,nd grant-ing of autonomy,achof whichs repre-sented y more hanone index.

Use of reasons nd informations rep-resentedya health ducationndex asedon a question oncerninghetherr not

the arentnstructedhe hild neightreasof health are, includingeethbrushingmethod, roperdiet,effectsf smoking,appropriatexercise,leanlinesstandards,bowelfunctioning,ffectfsleep, ndthereproductionequence. here rethreeer-sions fthis ndex, nebasedon children'sreports, second nmothers'eports,nda third nfathers'eports.t is the hild'sversionf this ndexwhich as been usedin tables o representhe concept use of

reasons."Anotherndex s based on thenumberf ypesfhealthducation ateri-alsandtechniqueshe arent sedwithhischild. here re mothers'ndfathers'er-sions f this ndex.

Autonomy-controls representedy anindex fthe hild's eneralutonomyasedon the xtentowhich he hild arried uta varietyfactivitiesn hisownwithoutthe parents'help or reminder.ncluded

were uch temss gettingroundhe ownbyhimselfnd ryingew hingsnhis wn.A secondndexwas constructedyincor-poratingtems oncerningealth are au-tonomylongwithgeneral utonomynorderohave measuref he hild's ver-all evel fautonomy.here rechildren's,mothers',nd fathers' ersions f bothof thesendices. he child's ersionftheoverall utonomyndexhas beenusedtorepresenthis onceptn tables.

An additional ndex was based onwhetherrnot hemotherndfather x-pected he hild t age9 toperformpeci-fied ctivitiesyhimself.

Reward-punishments representedy:(1) A "reward"ndex asedon thenum-berof differentewards sedby parentsn



CHILD REARING METHODS 63

responseo the hild's oodbehavior,uchas praising, oing pecialthings orhim,and showing hysical ffection.2) A"punishment"ndexbasedon thenumberofdifferentormsf punishmentsedby

parents henhe hildmisbehaved,uch sconfinement,ithdrawalf privileges,ndcorporalmeasures.t is thechild's ersionofthe reward"nd"punishment"ndicesthat re presentedn tables. 3) A "cor-poral"punishmentndexbasedon theex-tent owhich arentspplied hysical ea-sures uch s slappingnd spanking henthe hildmisbehaved.hefinalndexs la-belled reward-punishment"nd was con-structedy subtractingunishmentsromrewardsn order o indicateheextentowhich heuse of punishmentr rewardpredominatedor given hild.

Health PracticesMeasures. The depen-dent ariable-children'sealth areprac-tices-is representedy eight indicesbased on children'seports f their er-sonal health are practices. he criteriaused o evaluatehe ualityfperformancereportedychildren eredescriptionsn

the medical-healthiteratureoncerningbeneficialndharmfulealth ractices.Personal ental arewas measured y

questionsbout eeth leaningractices.Sleephabitsweremeasuredyquestions

about leep! egularitynd quality.Exercisehabitsweremeasured y the

regularitynd extent f participationnphysicalports, ames, nd exercises.

Cleanlinessabitsweremeasuredythe

child's athingnd sanitationehavior.

Nutritionractices eremeasuredythequality ffood consumed uring com-plete ay, alancingaluablentakegainstuseless nd/or armfulntake.

Eliminationractices eremeasuredyregularitynbowelfunctioning.

Smoking asmeasuredyfrequencyndquantityf cigarettemoking.

A summaryndex f thechild's verallhealth are practiceswas constructedy

combiningheabove seven pecific ealthcare ndices.It was intendedhatthe measures f

children'sealth racticeseflectehaviorthatwas somewhat iscretionaryn thepartof thechildand notdependentri-marilynwhetherr nottheparentsro-

videdfacilities uch as bathtubs,ooth-brushes,nd towels hat re needed fthechild s to performhe behavior.Whilethere ere ariationsmong amiliesnthequality fhealth acilitiesrovidedn the

home, twas found hat lmostno childlacked the equipment eeded forbasichealth outines.he possible xceptionsinthe aseofnutritionherehildrenavewide discretiono eat more poorlybutseldomoeatbetterhan heiramilyitch-ensprovide.

Results

Developmentaland DisciplinaryChild

RearingPatterns. he threedimensions fchild earing-use freasons, eward,ndgrantingf autonomy-wereignificantlycorrelated ith ne another,lthoughhecorrelationserenotextremelyarge.

Use of Use ofReasons Reward

Use of reasonsUse of reward .277 ....

Granting utonomy .238 .159

The correlations ndicate that parentswho employed ne developmentalmethodwere significantly ore likelyto employanother evelopmentalne than heywereto use a disciplinaryorm, nd vice versa.Thus,there ppears tobe a degreeof com-patibility mong the threemethodsthatwere conceptualized s aspects of a "de-velopmental"pproachand amongthethreemethods hatwere conceptualized s

aspectsof a "disciplinary"pproach.Thislendssome support o the conceptual ogicof theproposedchildrearingmodel. How-ever, thecritical ssue of this study s nottheextent o whichparents n actualprac-tice have a consistent hild rearing ap-proach,but rather, heextent o which hethreeaspects of the child rearingmodel,separately nd in combination,ffect hil-dren'shealthpractices.

RelationshipsBetween Child RearingMethodsand Children'sHealth Practices.It was hypothesizedhatchildrenwhoseparents uppliedreasonsand information,rewarded oodbehavior o a greaterx-tent han hey unishedmisbehavior,ndencouraged utonomynd responsibilitywould have betterhealth practicesthan




childrenwhoseparentsmade little ttemptto develop nformed,ndependent erform-ance by the child, and who emphasizedpunishment o enforce ehavior tandards.

Use of reasons. Based on children's e-

ports, the data indicate that the greatertheuse ofreasons by parents, s measuredbytheextent f healtheducationprovidedby the parents,the higher the level ofchildren'stotal health practices.

The specificypes fhealth ractices hatwerefound o be significantlyelated o useof reasonswereelimination,are of teeth,and cleanliness.Parents' use of reasonswas not significantlyelated to exercise,

nutrition,moking, r sleep habits.Table1 presents he correlation oefficients.When theserelationshipswere checked

by utilizingmothers' nd fathers' eports,only mothers' eported se of a variety fhealtheducationmethodswas foundto berelatedsignificantlynd positively o chil-dren'shealthpractices.This differencenresults orfathersnd motherswillbe dis-cussed later.

Reward and punishment.There wasfoundto be a consistent ositiverelation-ship betweenparents'use of rewards ndthe qualityof children'shealthpractices.Based on children's eports, hemorere-wards forgood behaviorand the greaterthepreponderancefrewards verpunish-ments, hebetter he total healthpracticesofchildren nd thebetter heir ealthprac-tices in almost all specifichealth areas.Notably, he twopunishmentndices-the

number fpunishment orms sed and the

extentof corporalpunishment-werenotsignificantlyelated to children'shealthhabits,withtheexceptionof sleep habits,which were significantly etter whenpunishment as low. These data indicate

that the positive influenceof rewardinggood conduct s muchmoreimportantorchildren'shealthhabitsthan any negativeinfluence esultingrompunishment.

Similar results were obtained whenmothers' eportswereused. No significantrelationships ere foundbetweenfathers'reports f theiruse of reward or punish-ment nd their hildren'shealthpractices.

Autonomy-control.egardlessof which

of the children'sautonomy ndices wasused, the higherthe level of autonomygranted, he betterthe children'soverallhealthpractices nd thebetter heirprac-tices n all specific reas exceptnutrition.

The findingsre similarwhenmothers'reports re used, but therelationshipse-tweenfathers' eports f thechild'sauton-omy werenot significantlyelatedto chil-dren'shealthpractices.

Fathers',Mothers',and Children'sRe-portson ChildRearing.The factthatchil-dren'sand mothers' eports n childrear-ingmethodswerefoundto be consistentlyrelated to children'shealth habits, butfathers'eportswerenot,maybe accountedforby thedifferencen orientationf thequestionsasked of children,mothers, ndfathers.Children reportedon the childrearingmethods sed bytheir parents" sa combinedteam, while the fatherand

mother ach reported n his or her own

TABLE 1. CORRELATIONS BETWEEN CHILD REARING METHODS AND CHILDREN'SHEALTH PRACTICES BASED ON CHILDREN'S REPORTS *

ChildRearingMethodsHealth Use of Use of Use of Granting fpractices Reasons Reward Punishment AutonomyTotal health

practices .212 .240 .004 .337Sleep .003 .032 .197 .191Exercise .039 .109 -.198 .153Elimination .182 .090 .051 .151Dental care .144 .190 -.033 .281Cleanliness .207 .125 .134 .162Nutrition .000 .102 .017 .071Smoking .059 .101 .058 .136

*A positive orrelationndicates hathighuse of reasons, eward, nd autonomy, nd low use ofpunishments associatedwith oodhealth ractices.Correlation oefficientsf .104 are significanttthe 05level andcoefficientsf 147 at the 01 evel.




individualpractices.By accepting t facevalue the finding hat fathers re simplyless influentialhanmothers, ne can inter-pret hat hildren's eports f thetotal hildrearingexperiencecoincide closely with

mothers' eports ecause mothers erformmost of the child rearingactivity,whilechildren'sexperience of child rearing sconsiderablydifferentromtheir fathers'reportsbecause fathersperform o littlechildrearing ctivity.

Reasons,Reward, and Autonomy. incesubstantial se of reasons,high use of re-wards, nd granting fconsiderable uton-omy to the child were each foundto be

associatedwithbetter hildhealthpracticesthan ittleuse of reasons,reward, nd au-tonomy,it was essential to determinewhether ach of the methodswas inde-pendentlyelated o children's ealthprac-tices or whether heinfluence f each wasdiminishedr eliminated ndercontrol orthe other wo. Partialcorrelations howedthat the relationship f each of the threechild rearingmethodsto children'stotalhealthpractices ersisted ndercontrol or

the other wo,although herelationshipfuse of reasonswas somewhatdiminishedunder ontrol.

On thebasis of thesefindingst wouldbe expected hat combination fthethreechildrearingmethodsntothedevelopmen-tal and disciplinary tyles of parenthoodwould discriminatemore efficientlyhananyofthemethods onsidered ingly. hisdidprove o be thecase. A stepwise egres-

sion analysis showed that autonomywasthe most nfluentialf thethree hildrear-ingvariables, as indicated y the tandard-ized regressionoefficientsn Table 2). Inaddition, ach of the othertwo methods

did contribute n additional ignificantn-crement o the variance explained n chil-dren'soverall health practices.As shownby the R2 inTable 2, autonomy ccountedfor 11 per cent of the total variance in

children's health practices; reward ac-countedforan additional4 per cent be-yond that accountedfor by autonomy; seof reasons added 1 per cent beyond theother two child rearing methods. Com-bined, autonomy, se of reasons, and re-ward accounted for about 16 per centof the total variance in children'shealthpractices.

Thus, when parentspracticed he three

developmental methods in combination,theirchildren'shealth behavior was sub-stantially etter han hat f childrenwhoseparents mployed thoroughlyisciplinarystyle fparenthood.

Separate stepwise egression nalysesofeach of thespecific spectsof health carerevealed that child rearing methodshadgreater nfluence n children's are of theirteeth,cleanliness,sleep, and eliminationhabits than on other health habits.

There werealso found obe somediffer-ences in whichaspectof childrearingwasmost influential or various health prac-tices. Autonomywas the most importantchildrearing ariable withrespect o den-tal, sleep, exercise, nd smoking ehavior,suggesting hat self-managementbility sespecially mportantn thesefourareas ofhealthcare. Use of reasonshad the mostinfluenceon cleanliness and elimination

practices.Influenceof Parents' Health Practices.Because of the positive relationship e-tweenparents'healthhabitsand those oftheirchildren,t was necessaryto deter-

TABLE 2. STEPWISE REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP OF CHILDREARING METHODS TO CHILDREN'S HEALTH PRACTICES

StandardizedVariable Multiple R2 Regression Increases F= P

entered: R Coefficients in 12 ratioAutonomy .3373 .1138 .2831 .1138 34.794 .001Reward .3865 .1494 .1683 .0356 11.307 .001Use of .3973 .1578 .0939 .0084 2.691 .05

reasonsSocio- .3992 .1594 -.0398 .0016 0.4947 ns

economicstatus




minewhether r notparents'healthhabitsmightbe responsible or the relationshipsfound betweenchildrearingmethods ndchildren's ealthhabits.This didnot proveto be the case for the relationships er-

sistedunder controlforlevel of mothers'health practices.

The interaction etweenmothers' ealthhabits nd thechildrearing ariables hedsadditional ighton the effectf child rear-ing practices, however. When mothers'healthhabitswere poor, a high level ofautonomy and health traininghad astrongerositive ffect n children's ealthhabits han whenmothers' ealthpractices

weregood. This interpretations suggested:whenthe mother erves s a poor exampleforhealthbehavior t is essential hat thechildbe emancipated rom he confines ffamily nfluence. oth granting f auton-omyand bringing ealtheducationmate-rials ntothe homeserveto extend he re-sources vailableto thechild n developinghis own healthbehaviorpatterns.

Influence f Socioeconomic Status.Al-thoughsocioeconomicstatus had to be

suspected s a possibleextraneous ariablebecause of its relationship o various as-pects of childrearing nd to healthprac-tices, ocioeconomic tatuswas not respon-sible forthe relationshipseported etweenchildrearingmethods nd children's ealthpractices. he partial correlations etweeneach of the child rearingvariables andhealth are practices nder ontrol orSESindicate that the relationships re fully

sustained.A stepwiseregressionnalysis ndicatesfurtherhat ll three hildrearing ariablestookprecedence verSES in extent f in-fluence n healthpractices. n fact,Table2 showsthatnothingwas gainedby addingSES to the "package" of independentari-ables beyondwhatcouldbe accountedforby child rearingmethods lone.

UnexplainedVariance.The developmen-tal-disciplinaryhild rearingmodel ac-countsfor about 16 percentof the vari-ance in children's ealthpractices,eavingthe remainderunexplained.What otherfactorsmay be important?As has beenindicated bove, socioeconomic statushasbeen ruledout.

The conceptualizationof the overall

study, fwhich hepresent eports a part,proposes thatvariousaspectsoffamily r-ganization are related to personal healthpractices of members.Promisingdimen-sionsof family rganizationhatare under

investigationncludethe extent f commu-nication nd support mong familymem-bers and the extent f linkagebetween hefamilyand other community ystems.

Discussion

The discussionwill attempto relatethepresentfindings oncerning he effects fchild rearingmethods n children's ealth

behavior to previous empiricaland

theo-retical work concerning ffects f childrearingmethodson other aspects of chil-dren's behavior and development,nclud-ing competency, elf-reliance,elf-control,self-esteem, utgoing ocial behavior, ndmentalgrowth.

Use ofReasons. Evidencefrom reviousstudies suggeststhat providingrelevantinformationnd reasons to children on-tributes o the development f theirrea-

soning apacity nd their bility o behavecompetently. aumrind 1967) found hattheparentsof a groupof competent hil-dren (self-reliant,elf-controlled,xplora-tive,and content)were more likelythantheparents f other hildren o use reasonrather hanpower to gain compliance ndto encourage verbal give and take. In arelated tudy, aumrind nd Black (1967:324) foundthat: "Parents' willingness o

offerustificationordirectives nd to listentothechildwereassociatedwith ompetentbehavioron the part of the child." Becker(1964) concluded fromhis review of re-search hatprovidinghechildwith easonsand informationelps him to understandwhat s expectedofhim and what are theconsequences of his behavior. A study(Smith, 1970) of the sources of parents'influenceon adolescents found that theparents' resources as knowledgeableper-

sons was themost significantariable.These findings,ogether ith hoseofthe

present tudy, ointtoward general on-clusion hatuse of reasonsand informationby parents elpstodevelopthechild'scog-nitive capacities so that he can behavecompetently. his interpretationas fur-




thersupportedby a testmade with thepresent tudydata. Using as a crudemea-sureof thechild'sconfidencenhisgeneralcompetency, a question which askedwhetherrnot"I can do prettymuchany-

thing set mymindto do," thismeasureofcompetency asrelated ignificantlyothtoparental se ofreasonsand to children'shealth ractices.

Reward and Punishment. Previousstudieshave led to thefollowing ormula-tion of the processby whichpunishmentand reward re thought o affecthildren:Punishment s less likely than positivemethodsto develop the child's innerre-

sourcesfor evaluating nd correcting isown conduct.Punishments likely o gen-erateresentmentndresistancehat rere-strained nlywhenthefearof authoritysmaintained.Reward, on the otherhand,provides njoymenthat ecomes ssociatedwith the behavior itself, hus reinforcingthebehavior.The present indingsre con-sistentwiththe interpretationsbout useofrewards utnot boutuse ofpunishment.

Parentswho used rewards were found

to be more ikely o report hattheirpro-cedureswere effectivehan parentswhoused punishment Coopersmith, 1967).Aronfreed1968) reported hatgiving fspecificrewards for initiativehas beenfoundconsistently o be associated withchildren'schievementmotivationndper-formance.

Aronfreed1961) also foundthatchil-drenwho are frequentlyunished endto

react to theirown misbehaviorwithfearof authority, hile infrequentlyunishedchildren re more likelyto develop inter-nalizedresponses uchas guilt.Thus,whileparentsmay obtainsuperficialocial con-formityyusingpunishment,heymaynotachievetheir ongtermocialization bjec-tivesbecause children ail to developtheirown internal apacitiesfor self-correction(Clausen, 1968).

Otherattempts o clarify he effects f

punishmentn children's ehaviorhave in-volvedexplorationsftheeffectsfpunish-ment nchildren'sggression.Manystudies(Becker, 1964; Eron et al., 1963) havefound unishmentositivelyssociatedwithaggressive behavior. However, Sears(1961) foundthatpunishmentad differ-

ential ffectsn childrent differentges,and other tudies ave found hat unish-ment s associatedwith ess aggressionrather hanmore.Thisapparentnconsis-tencymaybe the esult f thefact hat n-

creasing egreesfpunishmenty parentsresultnbuildingp ncreasinglyggressiveresponsesnchildren,utthat heexpres-sion of aggressions inhibitedy veryseverepunishmentSears,et al., 1953).

Our present indinghat se ofrewardsis associated ith oundhealth ehaviornchildrenupportshe heme mergingromprevioustudies-thatseofreward ostersthedevelopmentf thechild'sresources

andcapacities. owever,hepresentatayieldno evidence o indicate hat evelofpunishmentas an effectn the develop-ment f children'sapabilities.

Autonomy-Control. number f studieshave produced vidence hat s consistentwith he present tudy indings. rantingof autonomy as been found o be asso-ciatedwith ompetency,elf-control,elf-reliance, utgoingocialbehavior,ntellec-tual growth, nd differentiatedognitive

functioning-typesf effectsn the childthat ndicatebility o take care of him-self. n addition,here s a stream f re-search hathas found ontrol o be asso-ciatedwith ependency,nhibition,bedi-ence, and conformityo adult standards,as well s hostilitynd aggression.

Ifhealth abits reviewed s ability otake care of oneself, he former treamof research ould eadoneto expect hat

the hypothesis ouldbe sustained.f, onthe other and,one viewedhealthhabitsas the hild's onformityoadult tandardsof conduct, ne might ntertainhe pos-sibility hat he hypothesishouldbe re-versed-that ontrolwouldbe associatedwith etter ealth abits. ince hehypoth-esiswassustained,here s support or heidea that autonomy roduces ompetentperformancend that he conformityndobedience roduced y controlre actually

dysfunctionalor development f goodhealth ehaviorn children.he documen-tation f this nterpretationollows.

Baumrind1967) foundhat he arentsof competenthildrenwere more ikelythan hose f less competenthildrenc-tivelyo train heir hildren or ndepen-




dence by exchangingnformationo ad-vance the child's killsor decisions, ndto grant utonomyy withdrawingdirec-tive n response o an objection y thechild or by allowinghe child to make

choices. he useofcoercive ower ypar-entswas associatedwithmaladaptivee-havior n bothboys nd girls,with tereo-typed nd dependentehaviorn boys, ndregressivendfearful ehaviorn girls.

Childrenwithrestrictivearentswerefound o be sociallywithdrawnRadke,1946). Straus 1964:323) attemptedoaccount or the tendencyor childrenobe more extroverted"hen heir arents

are notpower-assertive:. . . thegreaterenjoymentf interactionuring ocializa-tion xperiencedn the qual power itua-tionwillbe generalizedo all social nter-action, esultingn a so-called xtroverttype f ndividual."

In addition,hildren ith ighlyestric-tiveparents avebeen found o receivelittle timulationormental rowthBald-win t al., 1945).Witkin1969) reportedthatboyswhosemothersnteracted ith

them n ways hat ncouragedppropriatedifferentiationnd separation rom themother, s contrasted ith thosewhosemothers ept them lose and dependent,tended o have an articulatedognitivestyle, n articulatedody concept, de-veloped sense of separate dentity,ndspecialized tructuralefenses.

Bronfenbrenner1970) concludedromhis studies f childrearingn theSoviet

Union that their onstrictingattern fparental ehaviormaximizes ependencyandproduces childwho s readily ocial-ized to adultstandards"1970:81). Pa-rental estrictivenessas found o havelastingnhibitingffectsn childrenKaganandMoss, 1962), and to makechildrenmore onformingnddependentn adults(Becker, 964).

In addition o dependencynd obedi-ence, ggressionas beenfound o resultfrom uthoritarianhildrearingmethods.Significantorrelationsere ound etweenthemother'sower ssertivenessnd thechild'shostilitynd powerassertivenesstowardhildren,nd his resistanceochil-dren'sand teachers' nfluencettempts(Hoffman, 960). Becker (1964) also

concludedhat ower ssertingechniquesare more likelyto correlatewithnon-cooperativend aggressiveehaviorsndalso with xternalizedeactionso trans-gressionfear fpunishmentndprojected

hostility).What rethemechanismsywhich a-rental ontrols presumedo affecthechild'smoral evelopmentndhis endencytoward ostilitynd aggressiveehavior?Hoffmannd Saltzstein1967:54) pro-posed: "First, nydisciplinaryncountergeneratescertainmountfangernthechild.... Power ssertionsprobably ostlikely o arouse ntensengern thechild

because t frustratesotonly heactbutalso the child'sneed forautonomy."hefactthat hildren ith uthoritarianar-entsoften avefeelingsf discontentndunhappinessElder,1961) supportshis.The fact hat ggression,ependency,ndobedience aveall been found obe out-comes fcontrollingarentalehaviorug-gests hat hildrenfpower-assertivear-entsmaymaintainn uneasy alancebe-tween onformitynddefiance.

Based on thereview f thesepreviousstudiesfthe ffectsf autonomyndcon-trol, n thefindingsn thepresenttudyindicatinghat utonomy as significantlyandpositivelyelated o children'sealthpractices,nd on findingn thepresentsample hat hildren'self-ratingf com-petencywas positively elatedboth toautonomynd tohealth ractices,hefol-lowingonclusions proposed:Grantingf

autonomyosters ompetencynd activecoping ehaviorn childrenf which neimportantxpressions soundhealth e-havior.Control, n the otherhand, n-hibits hedevelopmentf these apacitiesand produces nsteada superficialndrigidconformityo adultstandardshatfails o obtain ommitmentr evensuffi-cientpersistencyo enable the child toperformuccessfullyhe elementaryou-tines fcaringorhisownbody.

Developmental and DisciplinaryMeth-ods. Reviewofprevious esearchs wellas theresults ftestinghehypothesesnthepresenttudy oint owardhis eneralconclusion:hatdevelopmentalhild ear-ingmethodsresignificantlyore ffectivethandisciplinary ethodsn developing

exercise #1 article 4

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