This paper has two main parts. The first part is a general portrayal of attitudes toward children and related child rearing behaviours in Turkey. There is a focus here on problems of child development in the context of lower socio-economic development. The second half presents an intervention study conducted in low income urban areas of Istanbul to alleviate some of these problems and to foster the overall development of children. This research is discussed as an example of an intervention to break the cycle of disadvantage that has implications for application in other places, also. It needs to be recognised that many of the problems encountered in child rearing and child development are not unique to the Turkish case but are common in contexts of low levels of socio-economic development. Therefore social class (variation) figures more largely than culture in the orientation adopted here.
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