Maternal child-rearing practices compared for high and low need achievement boys

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the differences in child-rearing practices of mothers of high and low need achievement boys. The subjects cooperating in the study were 32 white middle class mothers and their 10-12-year-old boys. The boys were individually administered the McClelland Need Achievement Test to determine need achievement. Child-rearing measures were obtained in individual structured interviews with the mothers. "High" and "low" need achievement groups were formed by splitting the distribution of MNAT scores at the median. Where significant differences were not found, the interview data were further analyzed for mothers of boys in the extreme quartiles of the MNAT score distribution. The median test was used to analyze data on mothers' expectancies for achievement, independence, and self-caretaking behavior. Percentages were computed for positive and negative sanctions used in child training. [...]