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Relationship Between Maternal Attitudes and Young People's Attitudes Toward Children's Rights

NCJ Number
213842
Journal
Journal of Adolescence Volume: 29 Issue: 2 Dated: April 2006 Pages: 193-207
Author(s)
David M. Day; Michele Peterson-Badali; Martin D. Ruck
Date Published
April 2006
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This study explored the relationships between socio-demographic characteristics, maternal socio-political attitudes, parenting style, and attitudes toward children’s rights.
Abstract
Results indicated that mothers’ socio-political conservatism was negatively related to mothers’ support for both the nurturance and self-determination rights of children. Mothers who were rated as authoritative or indulgent by their children, endorsed nurturance rights more strongly than mothers who were rated as authoritarian. Young people who perceived their mother to have an authoritarian or uninvolved parenting style reported greater support for self-determination rights than young people who perceived their mother as having an authoritative parenting style. The findings suggest that the endorsement of autonomy rights (self-determination) emerges within a parental context characterized by low responsivity rather than within a nurturing and sensitive environment. Participants were 121 6th, 8th, and 10th graders and their parents who were recruited through the student’s homeroom classes. Participants completed questionnaires assessing demographic information, parenting style, attitudes toward rights, and political attitudes. Statistical analysis techniques included the use of multivariate analyses of covariance and univariate F-tests. Future research should focus on other factors that may influence young people’s attitudes towards rights issues, including peer and school influences. Tables, footnotes, references