w . .4 ..H at? 1 , 3 Ii 4" ff? i" 'f y; erA “AA AK Y . 34113:; ‘“ ‘ Q ‘aLJW Jaw . } PLACE IN RETURN BOX to remove this checkout from your record. TO AVOID FINES return on or before date due. DATE DUE DATE DUE DATE DUE II A F33 3% ‘99‘ II u__ __J a ' ll MSU Is An Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution encircmpmG-pJ A")? INVESTIGATION OF "11-12 11.131111101132111? 11211131311 1111111311111. E~~1PL-‘[2113;IT Al\ 13 P11031313 0'? LAT;:ICY-1C :C 111.1311 REFZPRED TO A NIL” GUIDAJCE CLINIC Bym7w1 Nancy A. Brown Submitted to Iichi; an State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MAS T3110 SC C I. AL 2?." Iii“; School of Social work H \D (“‘1 kn ..._ -~.—..'13 1:. “7:: "‘: ‘ 13 1:1...- .1. 1.. )1 1111121111.“ “3“: Umfiversfiw —--' J mam OVERDUE FINES: 25¢ per day per item INTKQDUCTICN Recent research in the effects of maternal employm1nt on children indicates there is a tend; ncr for boys in latency to show more emotional disturbances than girls of the same a5e (Hand, 1957). Other studies (Sie5el et al., l959; Reuman l955; Hoffman, 1961) have shown that these disturbalices manifest then- selves in withdrawn behavior more than in a3tre ssive, actin5-out behavior. Latenzy-a 5e boys comprise the lar; est sin le group of children referred to child guidance clinics because of emotional disturbances. If the research findings stated above are valid, then one might expect a male child guidance clinic pOpulation of this a5e to have a si5nifica antly hi5her proportion of mothers who are employed th an the latency-a=5 e f- emale pOpulation. In addition, it mi5 ht be e>;pected that the referral pr03lems of boys with 1corkin5 mothers would be more for reasons of withdrawal thi n for a55ressive behavior. The purpose of the present study was to re-examine the cite d re earch findings throu5 h the use of a child guidance clinic pOpulation to determine if more boys than 5irls in latency 11’ith workizi; mothers are referred to clinics, and whether the referral problems of times ooys substantiate the research findings regardin“ the inci- 5 dence of withdraw: behavior. No statistics regarding the referral problems of girls were found in the literature, perhaps indicating that there have been no significant findings. This factor was included in the present study in order to determine if any signi- ficant relationship exists. On the basis of the cited research findings, the following hypotheses were formulated: I. Latency-age boys referred to a child guidance clinic have a higher prepor- tion of working mothers than girls of the same age referred to a clinic. II. Boys with working mothers are referred more for withdrawn behavior than for aggressive behavior. Definitions Latency is generally accepted as that stage of development between the approximate ages of 7 and 11. Nine and ten year olds were selected as representative of that range. Emotional disturbances are defined for this study as any problems which result in a child being referred a child guidance clinic and accepted by the clinic as being in need of services. Maternal employment is defined as either full or part-time emploYment of the mother outSide of the home at the time of referral. Referral problems are those which are presented by the family during the initial interview. "Withdrawn b.) behavior" includes the presented problems of chronic unhappiness, prepsychotic symptoms, withdrawal, day- dreaming, depression, fears, a xiety, inferiority, poor social adjustment, nervousness, hyperactivity. "Aggressive behavior" includes anti-social behavior, truancy, stealing, defiance, running away, temper tantrums, cruelty, over-aggressiveness, sex offenses, fire setting. he preceding categories were adapted from a list formerly used by the Lansing, Michigan, Child Guidance Clinic. Sample Data for this study was collected from case record information provided by the Lansing, Michigan, Child Guidance Clinic. All cases referred in 1963 and 1964 were considered. The sample was then restricted to children living with at least one natural or adoptive parent, eliminating those in foster homes and institu- tions° 123 boys and 39 girls were used in the study. Statistical lasts Chi-square was the statistical test used with the level of significance established at the p = .05 level. The number of boys with working mothers remained relatively constant over the two year '0 (D H H. 0 C1. 0 O 13 U) ('1' r4- (‘1‘ C FT H- J L ) about one-fifth of the total referrals both years. In 1963, one-fourth of the total mothers and in 1964 over half of the total girls referre had mothers who were employed. These results showed a H i highly significant difference ( able 2) in the Opposite 1° ’3 ° ' F t?" 1:117 t1 "(3° Q direction 0. he .Jpo acsit. The referral problems were also tested in relation mm T . ‘0 ’1‘1101- we _ o'er: ' C' n“ dfF _’ _. mutflelo. 1“-_e were no signiiicant i -ercnccs when each year was analflmmwwmm< QBmeLuHB m>ammmhmm¢ swuwsHflm mamEmm was: xmm pew Eeaeoum amuuemmm he mmmmo mo panama new» pew Haguoz mo mnumum naughoHeEm ZHQQJH .7.) 3L mo mzmqmomm Jammmm 1.1.13.4 r.. PH .1. _ .¢.. H mqmmmmencgd HmnoH o o D .. mo V we a a muofio: enviofimoz 53.3 \wSm mSHxHofi fluHB when Sbmuwflufii mhm v>HmmmHtud HmuOH mo. v 36 n. Smfioz mags... neon Sums pee smmxnoh sums mHHHw mam mmon Hence Hoe. v. mq.oa 3 mudguoz mqwxnomusoz JWHB use usamwoe sums womH CH penwemez wannabmsm when mo..A mo. mumsuoz msaxwozusoz A.) news pew enmxwo: gums mmma 3H pennmmmm maumw paw mmom m NM sOmHHmeEou mHmHH NN mo quDmHm N qudH DISCUSSION The results of this study indicate that latency-age girls may be more adversely affected by their mothers' working than boys of this age. The nature of this effect did not show any significant pattern regarding the referral problems, however, while the problems mani- fested by the boys of working mothers did show a signi- ficant degree of problems of "withdrawal", supporting previous research findings. While the presence of maternal employment 22; gg may or may not be a significant cause of disturbance in children, the fact that over half of the girls re- ferred in one year had working mothers may indicate that there is some relationship between maternal employment and emotional disturbances. This may be due in part to the less availability of the mother to the girl as an identification model, the mothers' attitudes towards working and her sexual role, and the consequent atti- tudes of the girl in relation to her feminine role. It might be expected that when the mother is employed, the daughter may be expected to assume more responsibility in the home, particularly if she is the oldest child. In an examination of the sibling structure of referred children, it was found that less than half of the girls (0 with working mothers were the only or oldest girl in the family, while 17 of the 21 boys were the oldest or only boy in the family. It might be assumed from this that the oldest girl might tend to internalize her maternal duties in a positive way. The oldest boy, however, is not in a position to adjust in this manner; in addition, being the oldest boy he may be fulfilling another role, particularly as a substitute husband to a neurotic mother. Of the total sample of 162 children, it was inter- esting to note that only three of these children were only children; all three of these were boys. The average number of children in the families of the girls was four; the average number for the boys was slightly less than this. During the collection of data for this study, it was noted that information regarding the presence of maternal employment was not always indicated on the face sheet, but was often mentioned only perfunctorily in the narrative material. One might conclude from this that social workers do not consider this information very significant in establishing an initial diagnosis of a case. BI? CATICN --J ('1' L.) 0 Because results of this study drastically differ from other research regarding tne effe cts of maternal employment on children, the implications for further needed researc1 are evident. There is an increasing amount of research being conducted in the effects of maternal employment on children but, as evi- denced in the present study, results are often incon- clusive or contradictory. _‘ ye girls .3 Zecause of the 3 5h percentage of latency-a who have mothers employed outside of the home, this would appear to be an area where reater emphasis should be laid in the casework process. In addition, the fact that such a high percentage of the referred _irls had working mothers yet manifested no pattern in the referral proolems i1dicates a need for deeper research into this area. The sisnificant relationship betreen boys with working mothers and problems of withdrawal may serve as meaningful materia l in the casework process. factors not taken into account in this study which may have provided clearer answers a_e the length of employ- ment prior to the time of referral, family attitudes toward this employment, and the reason for enplovaent. BIDLIOG.‘.~1~1Y Bartemeier, L. "The Children of werking Mothers: A Psychiatrist's View". IN National Elanpower Council. York in the Lives of ”arried Xomen. NY: Columbia U. Press, 1,33. Hand, Horace. {forkin3 Mothers andl Ialad usted Child- ren". i. gglgg. Soc., XXX (Jan 57), 245- L6 {offman, Lois. "Mother's Enjoyment of werk and Effects on the Child. " Child Dev., XXXII (Mar 61), 187-97° ultiaternal Employment and Child Rearing". Children VIII, (Nov—Dec 61), 223-28. Nye, F. Ivan, and Hoffman, Lois W. The Employed Mother in America. C11ic: Rand McNally & Co., 1963. Rouman, J. "School Children's Problems as Related to Parental Factors". 3, pi Ed. Pes., L (Oct 56), 105-120 Siegel, Alberta, Stolz, Lois, Hitchcock, Ethel, and Adamson, Jean. "Dependence and Independence in the Children of Uoraing Mothers". Child Dev. XXX (Dec 59), 333-46. Stolz, Lois. "Effects ofr {eternal Employment on Child- ren: Evidence from Research", Child Dev, XXX (Dec 60), 749-82. 223 American Family: lg Critical Appraisal. Institute sponsored by the New York State College of home Economics, A Unit of the State University, at Cornell U., Ithaca, N. Y. 1962. Yudkin, Simon and Holme, Anthea. 'orkin: ”others a‘.1 1d Their Children. London: Michael Joseph, 1963. 37am; r. 2 1,”, HICHIGRN STRTE UNIV. LIBRARIES 31293104408145