Artides

American Conceptions of Infant Development

from 1955 to 1984: What the Experts Are
Telling Parents

Kathiyn T. Young
Yale University

YOUNG, KATHRYN T. American Conceptions of Infant Development from 1955 to 1984: What the
Experts Are Telling Parents. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1990, 61, 17-28. The efforts of the cbild
development movement to understand development and tbe factors influencing it bave been (he
basis of 2 inteirelated tasks: tbe scientific study of children, and tbe dissemination of this knowledge
to parents. Content analysis is used to assess the extent to which psychological theories and research
about in&nts have been cociununioatod to parents &om 19S5 to 1984 in 2 popular pubUcations, the
Infant Care manual and Parents magazine. Results indicated that there is not a singular relation
between what experts know and what is communicated to parents. Information reflecting scientific
advances about the biological components of infant development (perception, cognition, and tem-
perament) have been most accurately communicated to parents, whereas discussions of tbe mother-
infant relationship, child care, feeding, and fathers appeared to be related to the broader cultural
context and demographic changes over tbe past thirty years. This study reveals an interaction
between science and culture in our theories of infant development and child rearing.

From the day an infant is bom, parents
construct and elaborate their beliefs about
what they regard to be important components
of the infent's development and care. New
parents, especially new mothers, periodically
feel they need guidance on how to raise their
infants. In the United States, this need has
evolved into a sustained alliance between ex-
perts and parents in which pediatricians, psy-
chologists, educators, and child developmen-
talists have assumed the role of counsel to
parents (Clarke-Stewart, 1984; Zigler & Cas-
cione 1982) fonts.
This alliance began toward the end of the
nineteenth century, when women's maga-
zines responded by publishing advice for
mothers on child-rearing topics (Sears, Mac-
coby, & Levin, 1957). It continued into the
early twentieth century, as the child develop-
ment movement declared that one of its ob-
jectives was to "make this a better world
through developing better people" (Stolz,
1985). The need to understand development
quickly became the basis for two interrelated
tasks: the scientific study of children, and the
transmission of this new knowledge to those
responsible for children (Sears, 1975; Senn,
1975).
Prescriptive books and magazines carried
* teachings of experts to homes across the
country. Two such publications were the In-
/''"* ^'^^ manual and Parents magazine. In
1^14, the Children's Bureau began publish-
^n H^^* Care. This pamphlet informed new
Parents not only about physical care but also
^^^^^ * development and nurturance of in-
Parents magazine emerged in the midst
of the parent education movement of tiie
1920s and was financed by the Laura Spel-
man Rockefeller Foundation. In sum, these
publications have been committed to having
experts in the field write about infant devel-
opment in a popular manner,
The purpose of this article is to review
the Infant Care manual and Parents maga-
zine firom 1955 through 1984 in order to un-
derstand what experts have communicated to
parents about infant development and care
over this 30-year period. These child-care

Tbe audior wishes to thank William Kessen and Robert Hodapp for tbeir guidance throughout
all phases of this paper. The editorial comments of Leslie Brandon and J. Cerald Young and die
assistance of Sue Levey with data analysis were greatly appreciated. Requests for reprints should be
sent to Kathryn T. Young, Department of Psychology, Box llA Yale Station, Yale University, New
Haven, CT 06520.
[Child Development, 1990. 61, 17-28. 1990 by the Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.
All rights reserved. 0009-392(V90/6101-0006S01.001
18 Child Development
publications were chosen for two reasons: (1)
their sustained history of communicating
what the field knows to parents, and (2) their
wide readership.
In contrast to the expressed presupposi-
tion of the child development movement, it is
hypothesized that there has not been a singu-
lar relation between what experts know and
what is communicated to parents. Rather, the
relations are complex, and the field of child
development is also affected by both culture
and context (Kessen, 1979; Wertsch & You-
nlss, 1987). More specifically, Kagan and his
colleagues (Kagan, Kearsley, & Zeiazo, 19^)
have proposed that psychological theory and
research have been influenced repeatedly by
four notions that reflect our culture's ideology
of development: the influence of early experi-
ence on later development, the continuity of
development, the centrajity of the mc^er-
infant relationship, and the primacy of the
family as the structural unit in a nurturing
society. Thus, recognizing the dual roles of
knowledge and culture in the field of child
development, the intent of this study is to
identify the extent that both psychological re-
search and cultural beliefs about infants have
been part of the parent literature.
Periodically the parent literature has
been reviewed to document the diffusion of
psychological theory and research into our
culture. In 1950, Stendler reviewed every is-
sue of three women's magazines for the first
year in each decade from 1890 to 1948. Over
this 60-year period, the audior found evi-
dence for three well-defined orientations to
the care of infents: tum-of-the-century Victo-
rian moralism, the 1920s and the American
belief in John Watson and the principles of
behaviorism, and the popularization of Freud
and psychoanalytic concepts of child <kvelop-
ment in the 1930s and 1940s. Each of these
orientations clearly can be associated with
three distinct cultural-psychological perspec-
tives.
At about the same time as the Stendler
(1950) survey, Martha Wolfenstein (1^5) ana-
lyzed the patterns in infant care as presented
from 1914 to 1951 in the Infant Care msmual.
The early editions, strongly influenced by
Victorian notions of moral devotion and self-
denial, stressed impulse control and the
avoidance of autoerotic practices. The empha-
sis shifted dramatically in the 1930s to reflect
the dominant influence of Watson and Ameri-
can behaviorism. The primary struggle was
between infants and their parents, as pwents
were advised to use the correct techniques
and routines in raising their infants. In the
1951 edition, psychoanalytically oriented
child rearing appeared, with an emphasis on
parental nurturance and infant malleability.
Thus, it is evident that since the early part of
the twentieth century, beliefs and practices
about infants and their upbringing have been
influenced by developments in psychological
research and theory.
Since the Stendler and Wolfenstein sur-
veys, there has been no systematic analysis of
trends about infant development and care in
the parent literataire. Furthermore, the past 30
years have been witness to enormous scien-
tific advances in our understanding of the in-
fant (Kagan, 1979; Kessen, Haith, & Satapa-
tek, 1970; Mussen, 1983; Osofsky, 1^7) and
dramatic changes in the structure and func-
tioning of die American femily. Currently,
less tban W% of femily units fit the conven-
tional definition of a two-parent, two-child
unit with die fether as exclusive w&ge earner
(Eiduson, 1983); since 1950 the number of
mothers of small children in the work force
has increased by 33% (U.S. Department of
Labor, 1975, 1983); and infant day-care is the
festest growing type of supplemental care
(Jones & Prescott, 1982). There is also evi-
dence that the roles of fethers are changing, as
fetiiers move from being more aloof and dis-
tant to participating in a full range of parent-
ing behaviors (Fein, 1978).
This survey will continue the line of in-
vestigatiiMi begun with Stendler and Wolfen-
stein by analyzing the types of information
experts have commtinicated to parents about
infents during the 30-year period from 1955 to
1984. Specifk^ly, this survey of the Infant
Care manual and Parents magazine will ad-
dress the following hypotheses;
Hypothesis 1.What experts have com-
munk^ted to parents reflects the complex re-
lation between science and culture for those
domains that are more value-laden, such as
die mother-in^t relationship, fathers, or
feeding practices. This trend parallels an ear-
lier reUtUon between science and culture as
notsd by Stendler and Wolfeiwtein. The re-
suit is that cultural beliefs wad changing social
realities are reflected in what is communi-
cated to parents.
Hypothesis 2.What experts have com-
municated to parents more cletu-ly reflects ad-
vances in scientific knowledge in diose do-
mains that are more biolc^cal in nature,
domains sudi as infent perception, cognition,
and language development. Such advances in
scientific knowledge in biological areas could
not have been seen in either the Stendler or

Wolfenstein reviews, as major advances in
our knowledge about infant development did
not occur until the 1960s.
Method
PARENT PUBLICATIONS
Parents Magazine
From its inception Parents magazine has
had official ties with the institutes of child
development founded by the Laura Spellman
Rockefeller Memorial (Schlossman, 1986;
Stevenson & Siegel, 1984). In the 192O's the
LSRM agreed to invest heavily in the field of
child development in two ways. First, they
supported scientific research on children at
child development institutes at Columbia,
Iowa, and Yale Universides. Second, the
LSRM believed in the broader social move-
ment of parent education and thus supported
the founding of Parents magazine. Parents
magazine continues to have a wide variety of
recognized clinicians and scholars in the field
of child development contribute articles and
consult with staff writers.
Historically, Parents magazine has had a
wide readership (Schlossman, 1985). Cur-
rendy, of the 4.2 million U.S. mothers with
children under 1 year, 34.6% read Parents
magazine, whereas 23.7% read American
Baby (Magazine Audience Report, 1988). A
recent study of 255 middle- and upper-
middle-class parents of infants indicated that
64% read Parents magazine (Young, 1988). In
addition. Parents magazine devotes 39.4% of
its content to articles about children, whereas
a general women's magazine such as Redbook
devotes only 4.7% (Hall's Magazine Reports,
1987). Articles in Parents magazine were sub-
jected to both topical content and thematic
content analyses (see below).
Infant Care Manual
Since the Children's Bureau began print-
ing Infant Care in 1914, the manual has been
written by pediatricians and other specialists
in growth and development with the ex-
pressed purpose "to serve as a handy guide
for parents who want to be sure their child
has a good start in life" (Reed, 1981). The
manual has been distributed at no charge to
new parents; to date more than 60 million
copies have been distributed (Reed, 1981).
Infant Care also was chosen to provide a con-
tinuation of the Wolfenstein (1955) analysis of
Infant Care from 1914 to 1951. During the
past 30 years. Infant Care has been published
four times (Dittman, 1963; Faegre, 1955;
^ The code book and data for Figures 1-3 are available from the autihor.
Kathryn T. Young 19
North, 1972, 1980); these four edidons were
subjected to themadc content analysis.
Two limitadons need to be addressed in
the selection of these two publications. First,
the publicadons are directed to different audi-
ences. The Infant Care manual has been
aimed at a very large audience; it is a govern-
ment-sponsored, brief brochure with a great
deal of information in a few pages. Commer-
cial success has never been a prime reason for
publicadon of Infant Care. Parents magazine
has been and remains a middle-class publica-
don, aimed at parents who have dme to read
on a regular basis. Therefore, it is possible
that the two publicadons would convey
slighdy different informadon and display dif-
ferent emphases.
Second, in conceptualizing this study,
the decision was made not to include the
enormous numbers of books about infant
development and child care. However, his-
torically Parents magazine has included the
works of clinicians and researchers in infancy
that were first published in books (e.g., Spock,
Vol. 33, No. 5; Brazelton, Vol. 39, No. 4 and
Vol. 53, No. 3; Kagan, Vol. 50, No. 2 and Vol.
55, No. 11). Thus, although this analysis is not
all-inclusive, it does sample expert advice in a
systemadc manner.
PROCEDURE
Topical Content Analysis^
Subjects.All issues of Parents maga-
zine from 1955 through 1984 (12 issues a year,
or 360 issues) were reviewed by the audior to
determine the articles written about infants.
Categories.Preliminary reading of Por-
ents magazine generated the categories for
the topical content analysis. Topical content
analysis is a quandtadve procedure to mea-
sure the number of dmes identified topics are
presented in written material (Holsd, 1969).
The 16 categories for the topical analysis fell
within two broad domains: (1) articles that
communicated information related to psy-
chological theory and research, and (2) arti-
cles that were medically oriented or focused
on the pracdcal concerns of caring for a
baby. Categories for the psychological do-
main were: cognition, percepdon, feeding,
mother-infant reladonship, developmental
milestones, infant communicadon, tempera-
ment, fun morality (i.e., enjoy baby), baby as
teacher, fathers, and working mothers. Cate-
gories for the medically oriented or pracdcal
domain were medical illness articles, new-
20 ChUd Development
b<Ti care, articles written by parents, ques-
don-answer column written by a pediatrician,
and miscellaneous.
Analysis and reliability.Topical con-
tent analysis was used to determine the fre-
quency of ardcles about infents presented in
Parents magazine from 1955 through 1984.
Most of the articles went into only one cat-
egory; however, for the few articles that
discussed more dian one topic, coding into
muld;i^e categories was done to minimize
possible distordon (Holsti, 1969). The author
read and recorded the content of each article
into the appropriate category. One indepen-
dent rater and the audior read and coded the
ardcles in four selected issues a year (N =
120) for the purpose of detennining reliabil-
ity. In order to minimize systemadc bias as-
sociated with seasonal VEuiadon in the top-
ics presented, one issue from each of the
four quarters of the year (January, February,
March; April, May, June; July, August, Sep-
tember; October, November, December) was
selected. For instance, in 1955, the January,
April, July, and October issues were re-
viewed, in 1956 the February, May, August,
and November issues were reviewed, and so
on t h r o u ^ 1984. Beliability was computed as
the totel number of agreements over the pos-
sible number of agreements. This method
was used to compute reliability both within
each cat^ory and across categories. The over-
all reliability for topical analysis was .93, with
reliabilides for each category ranging ^m .83
to 1.00.
Thematic Content Analysis
Streets.Four issues a year (N = 120)
of Parents nu^azine were selected and ard-
cles about infents were read for the themadc
content analysis. The same selecdon mediod
as described above was used to minimize sys-
temadc seasortal bias with articles. All edi-
dons of Infant Care published from 1955
dirough 1984 (i.e., 1955, 1963, 1972, and
were read for the themadc analysis.
Categories.Nineteen themes within
e i ^ t domains were selected for themadc con-
tent anfdysis:
Mother-infJMit reladonship: (1) maternal
pracdces are at the center of influencing an
infent's development; (2) quality of mother-
infent interacdons during the first years are an
important component of an infant's develop-
ment.
Working mothers and child care: (3) in-
fant needs a fuU-dme mother fbr opdmal de-
velopment, and use of subsdtute care should
be informal; (4) article supports the nodon
that mothers of infants can work, and out-of-
home group child care is endorsed.
Fathers: (5) fathers are to be involved but
not to share equally in the care of the baby;
(6) fethers are equally capable as mother to
care for the baby.
Feeding: (7) breast feeding is best and
influences later personality development; (8)
a baby will thrive on eidier breast or botde as
long as the mother feels content about it.
Percepdon-cognidon: (9) baby is acdve
and seeks stimulation and learning; (10) arti-
cle presents informadon about infent percep-
tual abilities; (11) a baby is helj^dess Mid does
not do much the first months of life; (12) role
of the parent is to provide sdmuladon wid
learning experiences for die baby.
Temperament: (13) concept of individual
differences is presented in general terms; (14)
work of Chess and Thomas is presented.
Infant communication: (15) parents play a
role in laxigaage Eu^uisidon; (1) the infant's
innate abilides play a role in language acqui-
sition.
Cenend themes: (17) parents play an es-
sential role in guiding an infent's envelop-
ment; (18) early experiences influence later
development; and (19) an infimt is to be en-
joyed.
Analysis and reliability.Themadc con-
tent analysis is a quandtative procedure to de-
termine the nature and tone of die content in
written material (Holsd, 1969). Each of se-
lected Parents m^azine issues (N = 120) was
read by the author to determine the presence
of identffled themes; the unit of andiysis was
the ardcle. Each edidon of Infant Care was
read and coded by subheaded secdons of the
text. Subheaded secdons were chosen as the
unit of analysis because it seemed most com-
parable to the use of articles with Parents
magazine. One inifependent rater and the au-
thor read both the Infant Care manuals and
the 120 issues of Parents magazine axticles for
purjwses of detenniniog reliability. The over-
all themadc relisA^ity for Parents nu^azine
was .91, with in^vidual themadc reliabilides
ranging from .SOto1.00. For the Infant Care
manual, die overall themadc reliability was
.89; individual themertic reliabilities range
from .83 to LOO.
Results
TOPICAL CONTENT ANALYSIS
Preliminary analyses revealed that Par-
ents mag^ine published 443 ardcles about

FIG. 1.Topical content analysis of Parents magazine from 1955 through 1984. (Analyses are limited
to child development hours.)
infents during the period 1955 through 1984.
Using the topical categories established for
this study, 47% of the ardcles presented infor-
mation about infant development that re-
flected child development theory and re-
search. Fifty-three percent of the ardcles
presented informadon about medical or prac-
dcal concerns about infant care. Civen the
purpose of this ardcle, to assess the transmis-
sion of child development knowledge to par-
ents, the medical and pracdcal categories
were dropped from all subsequent content
analyses. Figure 1 reveals the results of the
topical content analysis for those ardcles re-
lated to child development topics. This figure
displays the percentage of ardcles by topic
published within each decade. The greatest
amount of change during the period 1955
through 1984 appeared to occur with an in-
crease in the percentage of ardcles on the
mother-infent relationship and infent cogni-
don; the largest decrease occurred with the
percentage of ardcles on infant feeding. The
least amount of change occurred in the per-
centage of ardcles about infant communica-
don and fathers.
THEMATIC CONTENT ANALYSIS
Figure 2 displays the findings of the the-
madc analysis of Parents magazine and Fig-
ure 3 displays the results for the Infant Care
manual. The results are organizecf into two
major secdons based on the hypotheses con-
cerning culture-based and sciendfic-based do-
mains of informadon.
Parent Information That Reflects an
Interaction between Knowledge and
Culture
The themadc content analysis supports
die hypothesis that in some domains what ex-
Kathryn T. Young 21
1955-19M
S 1M5-1B74
1B75-1BB4
perts communicate to parents reflects an in-
teraction of knowledge, sociohistorical con-
text, and cultural values. This occurred in
ardcles about the mother-infant reladonship,
working mothers and child care, feeding, and
fethers. This was also evident when experts
discussed the three general themes: parents
play an essendal role, early experience influ-
ences later development, and enjoy the in-
fent.
Mother-infant relationship.The nature
of what experts told mothers about their rela-
donship with the infant changed during this
period in both Parents magazine and the In-
fant Care manual (see Figs. 2 and 3). From
the mid 1950s undl the early 1970s, Parents
magazine and the Infant Care manual em-
phasized the centrality of the maternal role in
the healthy development of the infant. Typi-
cal statements included "the role of the
mother is the creadon of a well-funcdoning
human being" (Parents, 1964, Vol. 39, No. 5)
and "he is happy and secure because of your
care" (Infant Care, 1955, p. 54).
In contrast, by the 1970s experts in Par-
ents magazine were advising mothers that the
quality of the mother-infant interacdons plays
an important but not exclusive role in the
subsequent emodonal health of their infent
(1970, Vol. 45, No. 8; 1984, Vol. 59, No. 11).
Similarly, in the 1972 and 1980 edidons of
Infant Care, many fewer references were
made to the importance of the mother-infant
reladonship. The strongest statements that ex-
perts made reflected the nodon that mothers
should be affectionate and nurturing with
dieir infent (1972, p. ii; 1980, p. 18).
Working mothers and child care.The
changes in how Parents magazine and In-
 T ' ' "^ ' 1
MOTMEH-WFiWr R6UTI0NSH1P
MMMrwoMMr
6 % t e
WOnONO MO^CBS AND INFANTS

332Cr3C
FATHERS

iTin TTT^**!

Mcba
CheMfiTnmss

MFAMT COMUUMCATION

GENERAL TKBIES
iiiifiBiri T?iii)iiaiiiiffli TipBwiiiiiiiiferaaB^jKiffigtNi^^

19S5 19B0 1970 1975

Year

FIG. 2.Thematic content analysis of Parents magazine from 1955 through 1984. Each dash
represents one article that discusses the specified theme.

QuaHyollntwacBon

WORKING MOTHERS MD INFANTS

MMWFiMnW'
Moher Can Work

FATHERS

FEEDING PRACTICES
BuMitfciOKip
Bihrtioaabrwst

Roto 01 parent

mflridtwdBre
CrtesiTlwnas
INFANT COMMUNICATION
PwWMtfOlB

GENERAL THEMES

influence

Enjoy inlant

1955 1963 1972 19B0

Yeaf Df Ediiion

FIG. 3.Thematic content analysis of the Infant Care manual from 1955tfirough1984. Each dash (-
represents one subhead section of text that discusses the specified theme.

fant Care presented information on mothers,
work, and child care with infants reflected
the larger demographic and sociohistorical
changes of the past 30 years. In the 1950s and
1960s both publicadons portrayed the moth-
er's flill-dme role as caretaker for the infant.
Parents magazine presented mothers with
statements such as "most mothers are aware
that a baby needs his mother as vitally as he
needs food and aii" (1960, Vol. 35, No. 11, p.
59). The 1955 and 1963 edidons of die Infant
Care manual suggested that if a mother "had
to work," the infant should be cared for in the
home; out-of-home child care was depicted as
"boarding your baby away from home" (1955,
p. 68).
The possibility that a mother of an infant
would work was addressed only briefly in a
1971 Parents magazine ardcle (Vol. 46, No.
12). It was not until the 1980s that Parents
began to consistendy publish ardcles about
working mothers and out-of-home child care
for infiuits. Experts reassured mothers that an
infant did not need a condnuous maternal
presence and offered advice about selecdng
family- or center-based child care (1980, Vol.
55, No. 3; 1982, Vol. 57, No. 4; 1974, Vol. 59,
No. 11). Similarly, die 1972 and 1980 edidons
of Infant Care presented a checklist for judg-
ing family or center-based child care with
such items as "Is there at least one person to
care for each four or five children?" (1980, p.
55).
At the same dme that experts were giving
mothers with infants advice about working
and child care, the thematic analysis idend-
fied that experts also told mothers that staying
at home "can be a great human experience"
(Parents, 1984, Vol. 59, No. 11) and discour-
aged the use of child-care centers with the
following statements; "Good child care is al-
ways expensive, and poor child care causes a
great deal of trouble and worry for the mother
and can be dangerous for the baby" (Infant
Care, 1980, p. 54).
Fathers.Although the topical content
analysis for Parents magazine revealed very
litde change in the percentage of ardcles
about fathers and infants (see Fig. 1), the the-
madc content analysis indicated there were
qualitadve changes in the manner in which
experts presented the role of fathers in an in-
fant's development. During the 1950s and
1960s mothers were encouraged to include fa-
thers in the care of the baby but not to expect
fathers to share equally in the care of the in-
fant (1957, Vol. 32, No. 3; 1968, Vol. 43, No.
6). However, by 1972 experts were suggesting
that fathers, along with mothers, be involved
Kathryn T. Young 23
in the baby's care from the beginning (1972,
Vol. 47, No. 4). By 1984, new parents were
told that fathers could share in the role of pri-
mary caretaker, for the father's unique role
was important to the healthy development of
die infent (1984, Vol. 59, No. 10).
Themadc analysis of the Infant Care
manuals revealed that the presentadon of in-
formadon of the father's role in the infant's
development was given litde attendon. Infor-
madon presented the nodon of the father be-
ing supportive of and helping the mother
when possible.
Feeding practices.Themadc analyses
revealed that in the 1950s both publications
emphasized the importance of breast feeding
and its associadon to subsequent personality
development. Mothers were teld that "breast
feeding is the natural way to feed a baby"
(Infant Carey 1955, p. 11) and that the in&nt's
"most meaningful contact is through nurs-
ing," for "his mother's breast is the center of
his emotional life" {Parents, 1956, Vol. 31,
No. 2). During the 1960s and 1970s diis posi-
don was modified as experts advised mothers
that eidier method of feeding would work.
Both publicadons stressed that it was the
mother's sensidvity to the infont during the
feeding rather than the type of milk that in-
fluenced the infant's well-being {Parents,
1972, Vol. 47, No. 6; Infant Care, 1963, p. 18).
Despite the overall attempts of both pub-
licadons to present a more balanced perspec-
dve in regard to infant feeding, the themadc
content analyses revealed the recent prefer-
ence for breast feeding. This preference oc-
curred despite the lack of evidence to support
any physiological or emodonal advantages as-
sociated with breast feeding (Caldwell, 1964;
Schaffer & Emerson, 1964; see also Ferguson,
Harwood, & Shannon, 1987; Forsyth, Leven-
dial, & McCarthy, 1985). In the 1980s, Infant
Care told mothers that breast feeding is "the
natural way" and that "unless you have strong
feelings against breast feeding you should
plan to nurse your baby" (1980, p. 2). Parents
magazine also encouraged mothers to breast
feed, cidng not only the physiological bene-
fits (1970, Vol. 45, No. 2), but also die emo-
donal advantage of facilitadng the process of
attachment between mother and infant (1982,
Vol. 57, No. 3; 1984, Vol. 59, No. 5).
General themes.Figures 2 and 3 reveal
the strong emphasis within both publicadons
on the related nodons of the central role par-
ents have in guiding infant development, the
belief that early experience influences later
development, and the importance of enjoying
24 ChUd Development
the infant. Not only were parents told repeat-
edly that they play a ]ai:ge role in shaping
their baby's world, but they were also in-
formed that the in&nt's early experiences are
influential in helping him develop a sense of
trust in the world (Parents, 1957, Vol. 32, No.
3; 1970, Vol. 45, No. 8; 1984, Vol. 59, No. 4;
Infant Care, 1955, p. 1; 1963, p. 2; 1972, p. 16;
1980, p. 18). In addidon, experts wridng for
both publicadons condnued to reinforce the
belief that enjoying die infent would not spoil
him but rather would foster his emotiona}
growdi {Parents, 1956, Vol. 31, No. 2; 1977,
Vol. 52, No. 11; Infant Care, 1963, p. 1; 1972
& 1980, p. 18). In sum, these general themes
were consistently presented te parents in nu-
merous ardcles and across various topics.
Parent Information That Reflects Current
Scientific Knowledge
The results of themadc content analysis
revealed that the informadon experts commu-
nicated to parents reflected advances in scien-
dfic knowledge in areas of infant percepdon,
cognidon, and temperament; this did not oc-
cur for the infonnadon parents received about
language development (see Figs. 2 and 3).
Perception-cognition.As researchers be-
^ n to understand more about infent percep-
tual abilides, the findings were consistently
communicated in Parents magazine. In the
late 1950s, parents were told that infants
could perceive light and color (1957, Vol. 32,
No. 2); by the early 1960s, parents were told
that a newbom could follow an object with
his eyes and was sensidve te ioud noises
(1963, Vol. 38, No. 9). Experts in die 1970s
began to tell parents that infants could dis-
criminate degrees of brightness, and that in-
fants prefigrred looking at people rather than
objects (1975, Vol. 50, No. 2). Most recendy,
parents were told about the infent's ability to
track objects, discriminate patterns, and m ^ e
associadons between events and visual clues
(1980, Vol. 55, No. 1; 1984, Vol. 59, No. 2).
With the excepdon of one reference in
1963 to infents as helpless. Parents magazine
consistendy presented parents with the no-
don of an acdve, thinking infent. Experts told
parents that the infiant has strong intemsJ abil-
ides that drive his cognidve development
(1971, Vol. 46, No. 4; 1974, Vol 49, No, 7;
1981, Vol. 56, No. 8; 1984, Vol. 59, No. 10).
Piaget's work was being transmitted into die
popular literature: parents were told that the
"baby is conducdng experiments on objects
in the environment in which he puts parts
into whole, objects into categories, and
emerges with a fairly coherent picture of the
world" (1959, Vol. 34, No. 2).
The themadc analysis revealed that the
Infant Care manual was more limited in its
presentadon of infant peceptual and cognitive
abilides, althou^ die amount of detail in diis
area of development increased over dme. In
1955, parents were told that the newbom was
"more passive than acdve" (p. 5) and that the
infant has an "awakening memory" at about 6
months of age (p. 51). Concurrendy, however,
parents were told diat the infant became more
acdve and grew in his ability to learn and
understand. In tfce 1963 edition, parents were
given current knowledge about general per-
ceptual abilities: infants could taste, smell, re-
spond to loud noises, and follow a l i ^ t in
somewhat of an irregular fashion. More re-
cendy, in both the 1972 and 1980 edidons,
parents were told that infants le^Ti about
themselves and the world around them as
they play widi their hands, look with their
eyes, and move dieir whole bodies.
At the same time as they emjAasized an
acdve infent, both publicadons repeatedly
stressed the importemce of the parental role in
providing sdmuladon in helping ^e infent
learn. Parents were ^vised to let the infant
manipulate objects in the environment, put
mobiles in the crib, talk to the infant, and play
interacdve games (e.g., pat-a-cake, peek-a-
boo) widi the infant. Experts stated that re-
search indicated babies learn most by doing
something with a person or object that re-
sponds to them rather than by stimuladon
programs that use flash card techniques (Par-
ents magazine, Vol. 58, No. 11).
Temperament.Themadc content an^y-
ses revealed that in both publicadons discus-
sions of infent temperament mirrored the sci-
endfic advances of the field. In the 19Ms,
Infant Care stated diat "each baby is differ-
ent" (1955, p. 3) and Parents m^;azine was
informing new parents that each baby comes
into diis world with "ways all of his own"
(1958, Vol. 33, No. 11). By die early 1960s the
seminal work of Chess and Thomas was being
transmitted to parents. The 1963 edidon of"
Infant Care used die term "tempersanent"
when discussing differences among infimts;
in the 1972 and 1980 edidons experts pre-
sented parents widi detailed informadon
about temperamental styles. In 1964, Parents
magazine published an ardcle presendng
nine individual styles of infent behavior
(1964, Vol. 39, No. 11). From die 1970s undl
1984, Parents emph^^ized the posidon of
Chess and Thomas: reassuring parents that
differences between easy and difficult babies
were due to differing physiolo^cal and psy-
chological systems and not maternal style
 Kathryn T. Young 25
(1973, Vol. 48, No. 7; 1977, Vol. 52, No. 6; In addidon, this trend was present in the gen-
1984, Vol. 59, No. 2). eral themes as parents were told to enjoy their
Infant communication.Findings of the infant and that they and the experiences they
themadc analyses indicated that from 1955 provided were important to the infant's devel-
through 1984 both publicadons presented opment.
only a pardal picture of language develop- Although this study provides evidence
ment. Specifically, neither Parents nor Infant that sciendfic research about infant develop-
Care accurately presented the role of innate ment has been communicated to parents, the
abilides; instead both publicadons almost ex- fact remains that the informadon is oriented
clusively presented the role of environmental toward what parents can or should do to en-
fectors in language development (see Figs. 2 courage the infant's development. The most
and 3). Overall, the emphasis was one of pa- striking example of this orientation has been
rental sdmuladon and infent imitadon as ex- in the way language development was com-
perts advised parents to respond to and talk municated to parents as solely a parental ac-
with their infant (Infant Care, 1955, p. 52; dvity. Although researchers have recognized
1963, pp. 40-41; Parents, 1959, Vol. 34, No. 8; the contribudons of both nature and nurture
1969, Vol. 44, No. 2; 1979, Vol. 54, No. 4). to language acquisidon, the thematic analyses
Thus, this domain differed from the other revealed that neither publicadon communi-
sciendfic-based domains in presendng only a cated to parents the importance of the infant's
pardal picture of what was known about in- innate capacides or the role of pragmadcs and
fant language development. semandcs in language development. The em-
phasis was solely one of parental sdmuladon
Discussion and imitadon of the infant. In sum, the impor-
tance of early experiences within a nurturing
As Sears (1975) and Senn (1975) stated in family was the focus of the advice in these
their histories of the child development two publicadons, reflecdng cultural notions of
movement, the hope of the field was that by development.
informing parents about what experts know
concerning a child's development, the experi- In a similar manner, the parental role was
ences of children would ultimately change. emphasized as psychologists presented infor-
This study has taken the necessary first step madon about the infant's perceptual and cog-
in documendng what experts are communi- nitive abilides. Specifically, Piagedan tasks
cating to parents. employed by psychologists were communi-
cated to parents as acdvides to do with the
Specifically, two trends are noted in what infant. Thus, experts encouraged parents to
experts tell parents. The first trend is re- provide the infant with different-colored ob-
search-driven, as experts have used psycho- jects, to hang a mobile in the crib, to allow the
logical research of the last 30 years as the infant to listen te music, and to allow the in-
basis for the informadon and advice they pre- fant to explore the environment. Experts writ-
sent to parents. These scientific advances ing for Infant Care and Parents also spoke of
have influenced what experts tell parents to more interactive forms of infant sdmuladon
expect of their infant, what he is capable of, such as "pat-a-cake" and "peek-a-boo" games.
and how they should perceive him. The re- This interacdve style of parent-infant game is
sults of the thematic content analysis indicate not only compadble with our cultural beliefs
that research-driven advice is most evident in about the importance of the parental role and
the sciendfic domains that focus on aspects of early experiences but also reflects current
the infent's biological development such as views suggesting that infants learn most by
percepdon, cognidon, and temperament. The doing something with a person or an object
singular excepdon is die presentadon of infor- that responds to them (Lamb, 1981; Sherrod,
madon about language development. 1979; Speike & Cortelyou, 1981).
Equally powerful is a second trend that The topical content analysis documented
in certain areas expert advice is more clearly an increase in the percentage of ardcles about
based on the broader social context and the mother-infant reladonship and mothers,
changing demographics. This trend supports work, and child care (see Fig. 1). In addidon,
Kagan et al.'s (1978) view that psychological the themadc content analyses revealed a
theory and research have been influenced by change in focus from the mid-1950s to the
our culture's ideology of development. It was present: experts stopped giving advice about
pardcularly seen in the domains of the the centrality of the maternal role and began
mother-infent reladonship, working mothers to write about the quality of the interacdons
and child care, feeding pracdces, and fathers. between the mother and infant. This change
26 Child Development
may reflect a redirecdon in psychological re-
search: as invesdgators were unable to show a
consistent reladon between the specifics of
maternal care and subsequent child behaviors
(Caldwell, 1964; Kagan et al., 1978; Sears et
al., 1957), the emphasis shifted to reciprocal
models of mother-infent interacdon (Bell,
1^8; Sameroff, 1975). In sum, the importance
of die mother-infent relationship has been a
central part of what experts communicate to
parents, although tiie specifics of die advice
have changed.
This study provides support for two sepa-
rate Interpretadons about working mothers
and group child care. First, the feet diat this
was a topic in both publicadons is likely the
result of changing demographics and society;
mothers with infents are increasingly part of
the work force and they need advice. Since
1975 the percentage of Parents magazine ard-
cles devoted to working modiers and child
care for infants has increased markedly (see
Fig. 1). Concurrendy, since die mid-1970s
this topic has been the focus of a significant
amount of empirical invesdgadon (see Bel-
sky. 1984, and Camble & Zigler, 1986, for re-
views). Thus, the fact that group child care
has become a salient issue in the parent and
sciendfic literature reflects the current social
context.
Second, these findings also provide evi-
dence for the influence of both culture and
knowledge in what was communicated to par-
ents about working mothers and child care.
Although Infant Care and Parents magazine
gave helpful advice, they also stated it was
better if mothers did not work when the in-
fent was very young and at dmes si^gested
mothers use informal sources of child care.
This inconsistent response may be due to die
compedng ideologies of motherhood, work,
and child care. On the one hand, our society
considers a full-dme mother "every child's
birthright" (Fraiberg, 1977), on the other it
values the personal growth associated with
women successfully combining motherhood
and a career (Scarr, 1984).
Similarly, within the sciendfic commu-
nity there have been confiicdng opinions
about the effects of early group care on infant
development. A signiBcant group of studies
and reviews has failed to identify negadve
consequences of group cjiild care for infants
(BelslQ' & Steinberg, 1978; Clarke-Stewart,
1982; Kagan et al., 1978). At the same dme,
other respected workers have expressed con-
cern about the effects of early group care on
infent behavior and development (Belslcy,
1984; Blehar, 1974; Doyle, 1975; Gmnble &
Zigler, 1986). In sum, the differing opinions
can be found in both the sciendfic and parent
literature.
As mendoned previously, there has been
a renewed questioning widim developmental
psychology about the degree to which die
work of developmental psychologists is af-
fected by culture and context (Bronfenbren-
ner, Kessel, Kessen, & White, 1986). Kessen
(1979) begMi this quesdoning when he spoke
of children and child psychology as "cultural
invendons"; more recendy, others have ex-
amined the ways that sociohisterical contexts
are reflected in the work and ideas of psychol-
ogists (Wertsch & Youniss, 1987). The find-
ings of this study support die interacting roles
of knowledge and culture in child develop-
ment, especially in the domains of the
mother-infent relationship and wos^ng moth-
ers and child care. Thus, die cultural and his-
torical contexts in which experts find them-
selves cannot be easily divorced from the
information and advice they give parents.
This study has taken the necessary first
step in idendfying exactly what experte are
communicating te parents. Subsequent work
will need te focus on the complex interrela-
tions among what experts communicate to
parents, what parents know and believe about
infant development, and the impact of this
knowledge on parental pracdces and child
development.
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