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Abstract

The aim of this longitudinal survey study was to investigate parent/child relationships in developmental sequence in order to understand the process of child-rearing as it happens in a fairly typical English urban community. To achieve a detailed picture of the child's behaviour in the home and its immediate surroundings. To study the mother's behaviour in relation to her child and to see how this alters and develops both in accordance with the child's objective age and in response to his idiosyncratic needs and demands. To investigate not only her observable behaviour, but also her attitudes, emotional and intellectual, towards her child. To document national practices and attitudes in relation to many different aspects of child upbringing and discipline, including the aspirations parents have for their children and their philosophical approach to issues in child upbringing.

Main Topics/Subject Category
Age 1 - Mother's experience of and attitude towards birth and feeding of child, towards sleeping, toilet training and general behaviour. Actual description of child's behaviour, household arrangements, and father's participation. Abnormal birth, stitches, whether conscious, lay person present, out of bed for whole day in less than five days, relaxation exercises, help at home, breast feeding (whether enjoyed), duration of weaning, feeding schedule, advice, adequacy of diet, eating, sucking, mother's attitude to sucking/dummies etc. Age 4 - Independence of child, mother's pressure for independence, plays on own, whether a demanding child, mother's responsiveness, aggression, jealousy (action taken), child's property rights, child's eating behaviour and mother's concern, child's sleeping patterns and behaviour, plus mother's attitudes and reactions. Demonstration of affection, sexual modesty score, obedience, and discipline methods, husband/wife agreement, father's participation, nursery school. Age 7 - Experience of separation, and child's behaviour when separated from mother. Mother's assessment of child's temperament and ease of management. Child's friendship and sociability, mother's attitude to friends, feelings about child's quarrelling with siblings/other children, degree of interference used etc. Age 11 - Illness and changes in the child since age seven, choice of siblings as playmate, by age and sex, jealousy and quarrelling between siblings, friendship and sociability, age of playmates, reaction to teasing/bullying, fears, habits, interests, satisfaction with school, educational aspirations, parent's concern for child (e.g. cycling, train journeys, sexual danger).
Variables
http://www.esds.ac.uk/findingData/snDescription.asp?sn=1387
Keywords
Child, development, breastfeeding, social class, housing, families, households, ability, achievement, adolescence, adolescents, advice, age, aggressiveness, alcohol consumption, anger, anxiety, aspiration, attitudes, behavioural problems, birth order, bottle-feeding, breast-feeding, bullying, child behaviour, child care, child nutrition, child psychology, child-minding, childbirth, children, clothing, clubs, cohabitation, contraceptive devices, corporal punishment, creativity, crying, cultural participation, death, delivery (pregnancy), dependency relationship, depression, diet and nutrition, discipline, domestic appliances, drug abuse, dummy sucking, educational attendance, educational background, educational records, eleven plus examination, emotional states, enuresis, examinations, expenditure, extracurricular activities, family environment, family life, family members, family size, fathers, fear, friends further education, gender, habits, health, heterosexual relationships, higher education, hobbies
Identifier Variables
N/A
Area of Health System
Public health
Data Available
Socio-economic, Demographic
Data collecting organization (s)
University of Nottingham
Data Type
Survey (longitudinal)
National/Regional
Regional
Coverage (date of field work)
1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978
Unit of Analysis
Individual
Sample

Parents of 700 children in the city of Nottingham

Availability
ESDS Access and Preservation, UK Data Archive
Conditions of Access
Free registration access
Link
http://www.esds.ac.uk/findingData/snDescription.asp?sn=1387
Contact
help@esds.ac.uk
Publications
http://www.esds.ac.uk/findingData/publicationListForSN.asp?sn=1387