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This study began at the time of the shift from rigid to permissive practices in child training. In neither the period of rigidity nor the current period of permissiveness has any body of statistical evidence been presented to substantiate the claims of the proponents of either type of child training.
The subjects of the study were fifty mothers and infants chosen from families followed for three years. Independent scales were constructed for rating both parent's and child's behavior regarding feeding, sleeping, toilet training, and socialization. Other scales measured the mother's adjustment to the maternal role and the degree of emotional disturbance in the child. The child's first, second, and third years were scaled separately.
It was found that whether a child was reared with rigidity or permissiveness was unimportant, provided extremes of either method were avoided. Within the first year, the mother's mishandling of the child's sleeping was found to cause disturbed behavior in the child, whereas mishandling of feeding, toilet training, and socialization did not. In the second and third years, mishandling of all four aspects of the child's life were found to cause disturbed behavior. Poor adjustment to the maternal role was found to be related to poor sleeping and socialization during all three years. Children showing other evidences of emotional maladjustment were found to have a significantly higher proportion of disturbances of sleep and socialization. Birth of a sibling in the second year seems likely to cause emotional maladjustment in the child. The mother's social class was found to affect her practices in caring for the child.
It is surprising that mothers' mishandling in the first year causes fewer disturbances than it does in the second and third years of life, but this fact is supported by these data amassed at the time of the behavior in question. Most of the evidence that the early relation of mother and child is important and causes much di