Knowledge of child rearing is based on many factors. In the present study, 85 undergraduates (56 women, 46 Catholic) enrolled in psychology classes at a private university completed the Student Knowledge of Child Development Scale. Analysis showed a moderate relationship between scale scores with whether participants had taken a child development class and whether participants stated highest priority was a career or marriage and children.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BermanP. W.GoodmanV. (1984) Age and sex differences in response to infant signals and to the social context. In EisenbergN. (Ed.), Contemporary topics in developmental psychology.New York: Wiley. Pp. 141–164.
2.
BermanP. W.SmithV. L.GoodmanV. (1983) Development of sex differences in response to an infant and to the caretaker role. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 143, 283–284.
3.
BlakemoreJ. E. O. (1981) Age and sex differences in interaction with a human infant. Child Development, 52, 386–388.
4.
BlakemoreJ. E. O. (1992) The influence of age, gender, and having a younger sibling on children's knowledge about babies. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 153, 139–154.
5.
BlakemoreJ. E. O. (1998) The influence of gender and parental attitudes on preschool children's interest in babies: observations in natural settings. Sex Roles, 38, 73–94.
6.
BogenschneiderK.SmallS. A.TsayJ. C. (1997) Child, parent, and contextual influences on perceived parenting competence among parents of adolescents. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 59, 345–362.
7.
BurchinalM. R.FollmerA.BryantD. M. (1996) The relations of maternal social support and family structure with maternal responsiveness and child outcomes among African-American families. Developmental Psychology, 32, 1073–1083.
8.
DallasC.WilsonT.SalgadoV. (2000) Gender differences in teen parents' perceptions of parental responsibilities. Public Health Nursing, 17, 423–433.
9.
HoldenG. W. (1988) Adults' thinking about a child-rearing problem: effects of experience, parental status, and gender. Child Development, 59, 1623–1632.
10.
LeslieG. R.JohnsenK. P. (1963) Changed perceptions of the maternal role. American Sociological Review, 28, 919–928.
11.
ReidP. T.TateC. S.BermanP. W. (1989) Preschool children's self-presentations in situations with infants: effects of race and sex. Child Development, 60, 710–714.
12.
SigelI. E.McGillicuddy-DelisiA. V.GoodnowJ. J. (1992) Introduction to the second edition. In SigelI. E.McGillicuddy-DeLisiA. V., & Goodnow?J. J. (Eds.), Parental belief systems: the psychological consequences for children. (2nd ed.) Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Pp. xiii–xx.
13.
SistlerA. K.GottfriedN. W. (1990) Shared child development knowledge between grandmother and mother. Family Relations, 39, 92–96.
14.
StevensJ. H. (2001) Shared knowledge about infants among fathers and mothers. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 149, 515–525.