place on education. According to Scanland (1970), to the extent that black mothers (and fathers) value education and communicate this value to their children, children will be more likely to succeed in school and in their career.
In another study of child-rearing practices and children's achievement levels, Hess and Shipman (1967) explored for the influence of maternal behavior on the achievement levels of black young black children 53 to 66 months of age (N=90). Interviews were conducted with the mothers to discover and assess their behaviors considered relevant in influencing the school performance of their children. The middle class school setting in which the children were placed was a summer preschool program.
Measures of children's achievement were found to be highest for mothers with high maternal individuation (that is, mothers high in active and analytical behavior). Two other maternal behaviors that appeared to contribute significantly to their children's achievement in school were (1) open communication between mother and child and (2) degree of social isolation of the mother with socially isolated mothers contributing less to children's achievement levels.
As noted in the previous study, a mother's ability to communicate with her children can influence children's achievement. In another study looking at children's achievement, Olim (1966) found that mothers who use more abstract language in their parent-child verbal interactions have higher achieving children. Further, it was observed in Olim's study that regardless of whether race, middle class mothers speak more abstractly to their children than lower/working class mothers---a finding that was said to be one of the reasons that middle class children are often more successful in school than working-class/lower class children.
African-American mothers' attitudes toward their children's characteristics and traits as people have also been found to influence...