Twelve mothers’ use of two mental-hygiene principles of child care

157 Pages·07.374 MB·English

by  Pickarts, Evelyn Marie

TWELVE MOTHERS 1 USE OF TWO MENTAL-HYGIENE
PRINCIPLES OF CHILD CARE
A Thesis
Presented to
the Faculty of the Graduate School
of Social Work
The University of Southern California
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Social Work
hy
Evelyn Marie Pickarts
June 1950
UMI Number: EP66356
All rights reserved
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This thesis, written under the direction of the
candidate's Faculty Committee and approved
by all its members, has been presented to and
accepted by the Faculty of the Graduate School
of Social Work in partial fulfilment of the re­
quirements for the degree of
MASTER OF SOCIAL WORK
Dean
Thesis 0/....JE1TSLYJJ..MRIE..PICMETS.
Faculty Committee
TABLE OP CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . • • 1
The problem • • • • • • • • • • • • « . . . • 2
Importance of the problem . . • • • • • • • • 4
Organisation of the thesis • • • • • • • • • • 4
II. PRINCIPLES OP MENTAL HYGIENE IN TWO AREAS OF
CHILDHOOD BEHAVIOR ........... 5
Masturbation • • • • • • • • . • . « « . . . . 5
Hatred • 11
III. THE SUBJECTS, THE SETTING, AND THE METHOD . . . 15
The subjects and setting • • • • • • • . . • • 15
The method 20
IV. THE ORIGINAL Q U I f ............... 26
V. MASTURBATION ................ 34
Mothers' beliefs and knowledge • • • • • • • • 54
Definitions of masturbation . . . . • • • • 34
Own child and the situation . • • • • • • . . 38
Observation of masturbation . . . . • • • • 38
Action taken . . 41
Difficulties encountered • • « . . . . • • • 50
Mothers r childhood experiences 55
Religion @0
Changes with subsequent children . . . . . . 62
Mothers' attitudes 63
Ill
CHAPTER PAGE
Opinions regarding present methods • ♦ . • ♦ 65
Changes in methods • • . • « « • • « . . . ♦ 65
Usefulness of knowledge . « • * . • • • ♦ 68
Heed for help • 70
Interviewer*s observations 71
VI. HATRED ........... 76
Mothers1 beliefs and knowledge « . . • • • « ♦ 76
Definitions of hatred . • • • • • . • • . . 76
Causes of hatred • • . • • . . • • . « . « . 78
Own child and the situation . . . . . . . . . 79
Observation of hatred . • • • • • . • • • . 79
Action taken . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Difficulties encountered . . . . . . . . « ♦ 84
Mothers 1 childhood experiences . . . . . . . 87
Religion • • • • • . • • • . ............ . 89
Changes with subsequent children . . . • • • 91
Mothers f attitudes • • • • • • . • • • • . . . 91
Opinions regarding present methods . . . . . 91
Changes in method 95
Usefulness of knowledge • • • • • • • . . « 95
Need for help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Interviewerf s observations ............. 100
VII. SUMMARY-AND CONCLUSIONS........... 104
Summary 104
Iv
CHAPTER PAQE
Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................... 126
APPENDIX A. The Original Quiz .......... 129
APPENDIX B. Schedules and Case Histories . . . . . . 131
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE PAGE
I# Number and Percentages of Mothers by Age Group
in the Total Group and in the Sample • • • • • 17
II# Number and Percentages of Mothers by Number of
Children in the Total Group and in the
Sample • • • • • « • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 17
III* Number and Percentages Showing Basis of
Selection by Religion • • • • • • • • • • • • 18
IV# Number and Percentages Showing Basis of
Selection by Education • • • • • • • • • • • • 18
V# Comparison of Twelve Mothers1 Recognition of
Masturbation in their Children and Methods
of Dealing with It • . ................... 51
VI# Usage Groups as Compared to Religion, Education,
Age, and Number of Children • • • • • • • • • 115
LIST OP FIGURES
FIGURE PAGE
1# Comparative Scores on the Mental Hygiene Quiz
of the Twelve Mothers Studied and Mothers
Taking the Quiz at the Los Angeles County
Fair in 1948 ........................... . * • 50
INTRODUCTION
The current emphasis on imparting the principles of
dynamic psychology to parents, having as its goal better
mental health for children, frequently raises the question
as to how effective such education is* The literature for
the education of parents is extensive; lectures, classes and
study groups are available in many communities* The Nation­
al Congress of Parents and Teachers names education for
parenthood as one of its goals*
The ever increasing number of books and pamphlets
written for parents and the many lectures and classes attest
to the general belief that the mental health of children can
be improved through the education of parents and that
parents can use the knowledge gained in this manner* The
extent to which parents use such knowledge and the effect it
has on their actual behavior and attitudes in relation to
their children is not known* There are those vsho question
the degree of effectiveness of education in the area of
parent-child relationships believing that it is primarily a
matter of emotions and not particularly susceptible to
change by an increase in knowledge*
Statements such as the following are typical of those
questioning the value of educational efforts in the field of
2
parent-child relationships:
For a long time it was not recognised that education­
al effort of this type is by no means enough, that the
problems involved in child training# as in all other
interpersonal relationships, are only secondarily
matters of knowledge, reasoning, Judgement and rational
choice of activity* On the other hand, as we become
increasingly aware, they are much more controlled by
emotions and Instincts and, particularly, by conflict
situations • This is especially true in situations in­
volving the parent-child relationships**
Giving further confirmation to this latter point of view,
Cedarquist in a more recent study along this line found that
the nine "good1* mothers she studied had a happy childhood
and were "natural, spontaneous women whose feelings were
positive and could trust their Instinctive understanding to
guide t h e m * S h e summarises as follows:
Thus the (good) mothers were not the all-wise, all-
loving, and all-tolerant mothers of popular literature*
Heither were they technicians in child-raising with
their own emotions and methods well under control and
with an intellectual understanding gained from books*
They read the literature only to a limited extent, if
at all, and made no offort to conform to it unless some
idea particularly pleased them*3
I* THE PROBLEM
This study was undertaken to determine to what extent
^Lawson G. Lowrey, M*D*, "Trends in Therapy," Ameri­
can Journal of Orthopsychiatry» 9:682, October, 1939*
%elen T* Cedarquist, "The fGood Mother1 and Her
Children," Smith College Studies in Social Work* 16:26,
October, 1948*
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