Traditional and Nontraditional Mothers Communication with...

The purpose of the study â€Å"Traditional and Nontraditional Mothers Communication with Their Daughters and Sons† was to determine if in fact there is a difference between the way a mother communicates with her son and with her daughter. There are two hypotheses: 1) that using different linguistic qualities can be characterized by who the mother is speaking to, be it son or daughter. 2) that mothers with nontraditional views on the roles of males and females will relate to their children in a less â€Å"sex-role differentiated† or sexist manner than traditional mothers. The subjects for this study included 40 middleclass mother-child pairs in a suburban community. The mothers were contacted by phone and asked to be a part of a study that would observer their interaction at home. A scale called â€Å"Spence and Helmeich Attitude toward Woman† was used to measure the mother’s thoughts on male superiority, equal opportunity, sex and social relations between men and women. During the home visit each child was given five tasks made up of Storytelling and teaching which alternated every session. After giving the mothers books with just picture, no words they were asked to tell a story to the child and then have the child sort a group of objects. The study found a significant difference in five of the eight measures in which mothers communicated with male and female children. Communication between mother and sons exceeded that of mother daughters, because sons had more questions. There was