their children's achievement levels. For example, Newman and Ramey (1979), in an investigation of maternal attitudes in relation to children's scholastic achievement, found that achievement levels were negatively correlated with the extent to which mothers (both black and white) viewed their children as impulsive and low in sociability. In other words, the stronger mothers' attitudes that their children were impulsive and not social, the more likely it was that their children would be low achievers.
Child rearing style and its relation to scholastic achievement were examined by Portes (1984) using samples of 54 middle and lower class, black and white adolescents interacting with their mothers during a discussion of seven child rearing problems. Maternal references to a range of disciplinary measures were identified, analyzed, and related to the adolescents' scholastic performances. One half of the mothers were given an intervention designed to assist them with child-rearing practices.
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