Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

This study examined the accuracy with which parents can judge their children's preferences, as well as the relation between parental accuracy and measures of the child's cognitive performance. Subjects were 54 secondand fifth-grade children (mean ages = 7 years, 11 months and 10 years, 10 months, respectively), their mothers, and fathers. Each child responded to a battery of questions directed to preferences of various sorts (e.g. favourite dinner, favourite school subject), and each parent predicted his or her child's response to each of the questions. Parents proved only moderately accurate in judging their children's preferences. Mothers were significantly more accurate than fathers, and parents of fifth-graders were more accurate than parents of second-graders. The accuracy of the parents' predictions was significantly related to their children's performance on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) and on school achievement tests. Various explanations for the relation between parental accuracy and child performance were considered, including the match hypothesis, that is, the proposition that more knowledgeable parents match the demands of the environment to the child's level, thus promoting cognitive development.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Achenbach, T.M. & Edelbrock, C. (1983). Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist and Revised Child Behavior Profile. Burlington, VT: Queen City Printers .

Alessandri, S.M. & Wozniak, R.H. (1987). The child's awareness of parental beliefs concerning the child: A developmental study . Child Development, 58, 316-323 .

Dunn, L.M. & Dunn, L.M. (1981). Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service .

Flavell, J.H. (1970). Cognitive changes in adulthood. In L.R. Goulet & P.B. Baltes (Eds), Lifespan developmental psychology: Theory and research. New York: Academic Press , pp. 247-253.

Goodnow, J.J. (1988). Parents' ideas, actions, and feelings: Models and methods from developmental and social psychology . Child Development, 59, 286-320 .

Goodnow, J.J. & Collins, W.A. (1990). Development according to parents: The nature, sources, and consequences of parents' ideas: London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Ltd.

Gretarsson, S.J. & Gelfand, D.M. (1988). Mothers' attributions regarding their children's social behavior and personality characteristics . Developmental Psychology, 24, 264-269 .

Hess, R.D. , Kashiwagi, K. , Azuma, H. , Price, G.G. , & Dickson, W.P. (1980). Maternal expectations for mastery of developmental tasks in Japan and the United States . International Journal of Psychology, 15, 259-271 .

Holloway, S.D. & Hess, R.D. (1985). Mothers' and teachers' attributions about children's mathematics performance. In I.E. Sigel (Ed.), Parental belief systems. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc. , pp. 177-199.

10.

Hunt, J. McV. (1961). Intelligence and experience. New York: The Ronald Press .

11.

Hunt, J. McV. & Paraskevopoulos, J. (1980). Children's psychological development as a function of the inaccuracy of their mothers' knowledge of their abilities . Journal of Genetic Psychology, 136, 285-298 .

12.

Huston, A.C. (1983). Sex-typing. In E.M. Hetherington (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology. Vol. 4. Socialization, personality, and social development (4th edn) ( P.H. Mussen , General Editor). New York: Wiley , pp. 387-467.

13.

Ladd, G.W. & Emerson, E.S. (1984). Shared knowledge in children's friendships . Developmental Psychology, 20, 932-940 .

14.

MacPhee, D. (1981). Manual: Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory. Unpublished manuscript, University of North Carolina .

15.

McGillicuddy-DeLisi, A.V. & Sigel, I.E. (1982). Family constellation and parental beliefs. In G.L. Fox (Ed.), The childbearing decision: Fertility attitudes and behavior. Beverly Hills, Sage , pp. 161-177.

16.

Miller, S.A. (1986) Parents' beliefs about their children's cognitive abilities . Developmental Psychology, 22, 276-284 .

17.

Miller, S.A. (1988). Parents' beliefs about children's cognitive development . Child Development, 59, 259-285 .

18.

Miller, S.A. & Davis, T.L. (in press). Beliefs about children: A comparative study of mothers, teachers, peers, and self. Child Development.

19.

Miller, S.A. , Manhal, M. & Mee, L.L. (1991). Parental beliefs, parental accuracy, and children's cognitive performance: A search for causal relations . Developmental Psychology, 27, 267-276 .

20.

Rogoff, B. (1990). Apprenticeship in thinking: Cognitive development in social context. Oxford University Press .

21.

Rogoff, B. & Wertsch, J.V. (Eds). (1984). New directions for cognitive development. Vol. 23. Children's learning in the "zone of proximal development". San Francisco: Jossey-Bass .

22.

Russell, G. & Russell, A. (1987). Mother-child and father-child relationships in middle childhood . Child Development, 58, 1573-1585 .

23.

Sameroff, A.J. & Feil, L.A. (1985). Parental concepts of development. In I.E. Sigel (Ed.), Parental belief systems. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc. , pp. 83-105.

24.

Sigel, I.E. (Ed.). (1985). Parental belief systems. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc. .

25.

Sigel, I.E. , McGillicuddy-DeLisi, A.V. , & Goodnow, J.J. (1992). Parental belief systems: The psychological consequences for children (Rev. edn). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc. .

26.

Wolfensberger, W. & Kurtz, R.A. (1971). Measurement of parents' perceptions of their children's development . Genetic Psychology Monographs, 83, 3-92 .

Parents' Knowledge of their Children's Preferences

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References