Maternal Expectation and the Mother-Child Interaction

Abstract

Thirty-seven girls and thirty-seven boys, all nine years of age, were observed with their mothers in an interaction situation involving several achievement tasks.Measures were obtained of mothers' expectations for the.ir children before and during the interaction session. Mothers' behavior was rated on a number of different scales.Halfway through the experiment mothers' expectations were rnanipulated positively or negatively. Expectancy was found to be a diverse concept. Sex differences were found both in mothers' expectations and in the behavioral expression of these expectations. Experimental manipulation of their expectancy produced significant changes in mothers' expectations, attitudes and behavior with their children.