Date of Award:

5-1952

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Sociology and Anthropology

Department name when degree awarded

Sociology

Committee Chair(s)

Therel R. Black

Committee

Therel R. Black

Abstract

The family is the basic institution of society. It is within the family that the individual develops his basic points of view and achieves a pattern of adjustment toward life.1

One of the most strategic factors in the family setting, insofar as personality development is concerned, is the parental-child relationship. Although it is evident that this relationship plays a great part in the socialization of the child, much remains to be understood concerning the underlying conditions within the family that affect his relationship.

It is the view of this study that the parent-child relationship varies in nature from family to family. It is the object of this study to determine some of the socio-cultural factors that account for such variations. To achieve this objective, research is made of certain socio-cultural variables that are thought to be associated with methods that mothers in Brigham City, Utah, use to correct their three and four year old children for misbehavior.

As far as can be determined, no studies have been made that are directly comparable to the present one. Three studies, however, have something in common: Anderson, Davis and Havighurst and Black.2 Anderson found a negative relation between social status and physical punishment. Davis and Havighurst found a negative relation between social status and permissiveness in child-rearing. In a highly controlled community setting, Black found social status to have negative correlation with certain restrictive child-rearing practices, positive correlation with certain other restrictive child-rearing practices, and no significant association with restrictiveness in child-rearing when all restrictive child-rearing practices form a total index.

Though some similarities exist, there are significant differences between these studies and the present study. The same basic problem is examined, but with the addition of more independent and dependent variables. Some of the forms of parental control of the Black study are utilized, but these forms are here examined in a new context. These forms of control are also modified and enlarged as a result of observations in Brigham City and of suggestions from other studies.

Thus this study attempts to answer the question: does association exist between certain socio-cultural factors and forms of parent-child corrective methods used by L. D. S.* mothers of Brigham City, Utah?

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