A study of the attitudes of 40 mothers toward their child care arrangements tested hypotheses concerning the conditions of economic and child care necessity under which mothers of two socio-economic groups would be satisfied with their arrangements. It was hypothesized that the satisfaction with an arrangement would be associated inversely with economic necessity and child care necessity. A prediction was also made that the mothers' expressive satisfactions with the child care arrangements (benefits to the child and relationship to the sitter) would only be realized after the instrumental necessities of convenience and dependability of the arrangement were met. Interest in this study developed from Perry et al. (1967) where satisfaction with child care arrangements of employed mothers was studied. However, this study broadened the area of investigation to include all mothers using child care arrangements. A sample of 40 mothers was chosen, 20 from an upper middle class residential area, and 20 women receiving Aid to Dependent Children. The attitudes of these women were assessed through an interview schedule, a Likert scale of satisfaction items, and an independent rating by the interviewer. Four case studies of two mothers from each group were used to enrich the study with further descriptive data on the respective life styles of the two socioeconomic groups. No difference was found between the two samples in the level of satisfaction with the child care arrangement. However, the groups did differ in the pattern of satisfactions reported. Guttman scale patterns of the four subscales (convenience, money, benefits to child, and relationship to sitter) were reversed for the two groups. This difference in patterns was interpreted as a reflection of the socioeconomic standing and life circumstances of the mothers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:pdx.edu/oai:pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu:open_access_etds-1491 |
| Date | 01 June 1968 |
| Creators | Gurrola, Josephine Jeannette, Hansen, Joan Beck, Hardy, Ruth Townsend, Landye, Donna Mae, Poirier, Sandra Mae |
| Publisher | PDXScholar |
| Source Sets | Portland State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Dissertations and Theses |
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