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Parental attitudes of retarded young mothers

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Abstract

Thirty-two retarded young mothers were found to have significantly more protective, controlling, and punitive attitudes toward their children than a control group of mothers who had completed two or more years of college work. The retarded mothers regarded their own mothers as even more controlling, protective, and punitive than they themselves were. These findings are compatible with the hypothesis that increases in IQ scores of the children of retarded parents could be due to somewhat better parenting. If so, programs for retarded youngsters should place more emphasis on child rearing and family life in order to help counteract inappropriate parental attitudes that retarded children learn from their own parents.

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Robinson, L.H. Parental attitudes of retarded young mothers. Child Psych Hum Dev 8, 131–144 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01464049

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