The purposes of this study were to describe the attitudes of parents toward parenting and infant learning and to determine the effect of a parenting program on those attitudes.Subjects of the study consisted of fifty-five mothers and fathers. There were thirty-one mothers and twenty-four fathers. The sample included all males and females with their infants who enrolled in six parent-infant classes. Sessions, each lasting sixty minutes, were held once a week from December 1976 through February 1977. No data was gathered on the infants in the program. There were six classes used in the study. One of the six was taught by the researcher as a pilot class from September 1976 through November 1976. A pretest was administered in the first session of every class and the same test was given in the last session of every class.One instrument was employed in the study. The Personal Reaction Scale was chosen as a measuring instrument to gather data on attitudes of subjects in the study. It was specifically designed by the researcher for the study as adapted from Osgood's Semantic Differential.Five null hypotheses were tested in the study:1) there will be no statistically significant difference in the attitudes of mothers with respect to each of twelve stimulus statements and the attitudes of fathers with respect to the same twelve stimulus statements, as recorded by the Personal Reaction Scale, 2) there will be no statistically significant difference in the attitudes of parents of one child with respect to each of twelve stimulus statements and the attitudes of parents of more than one child with respect to the same stimulus statements, as recorded by the test instrument, 3) there will be no statistically significant difference in the attitudes of parents 25 years-of-age and younger with respect to twelve stimulus statements and the attitudes of parents 26 years-of-age and older with respect to the same twelve statements, 4) there will be no statistically significant difference in the attitudes of parents who report reading one article or book with respect to twelve stimulus statements and the attitudes of parents who report reading more than one article or book with respect to the same twelve statements, 5) there will be no statistically significant difference in the attitudes of parents on a pretest with respect to twelve stimulus statements and parents on a posttest after completion of an educational program with respect to the same statements, as recorded on the test instrument.A null hypothesis of no difference between the mean vectors of the groups was rejected if the computed statistics, the F ratio from a multivariate analysis exceeded the appropriate tabled value for the .05 level of confidence.A statistically significant difference was not found to exist between mothers' and fathers' attitudes, between those parents' attitudes with one child and those with more than one child, between the attitudes of parents 26 years-of-age and older and parents 25 years-of-age and younger, and between parents who reported reading one book or article on parenting or infant learning and parents who reported reading more than one book or article. A statistically significant difference was found to exist between the attitudes of parents at the beginning of the parent educational program and the parents' attitudes at the completion of the program.The following inferences may he drawn from this study and from related research the implied behavior need aid parents in determining child rearing practices, 2) the roles of parents are important in the development of the young child and attitudes are important determinants of parental behavior in development of parenting patterns.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/175163 |
| Date | January 1977 |
| Creators | Bonner, Robert Edward |
| Contributors | Hochstetler, Ruth J. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | v, 122 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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