Some attitudes of mothers concerning their employment and its effects upon parent child relationships, as seen in a child guidance clinic

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SOME ATTITUDES OP MOTHERS CONCERNING THEIR EMPLOYMENT AND ITS EFFECTS UPON PARENT CHILD RELATIONSHIPS, AS SEEN IN A CHILD GUIDANCE CLINIC

A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Social Work The University of Southern California

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Social Work

Arline Bruce June

1950

UMI Number: EP66330

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This thesis, written under the direction of the candidate’s Faculty Committee and approved

,

by a ll its members has been presented to and accepted by the Faculty of the Graduate School of Social W o rk in p a rtia l fu lfilm e n t of the re­ quirements fo r the degree of

MASTER OF SOCIAL WORK

D ean

TAm i 0/....M U H E L S II3;E B T B R tf.C E .

F a c u lty C om m ittee

f?o -S5

..

OChairm an

TABLE OP CONTENTS CHAPTER I.

PAGE

I N T R O D U C T I O N .............................. Statement of the problem

• « .............

L i t e r a t u r e .................... Agency setting

..........................

METHOD OP S T U D Y ...................

10 12 '13

Problems in this study

............

13

Pocus of the study

............

15

The schedule.............................

15

Selecting the c a s e s ............ Selecting the data

III.

6 9

Organization of the remainder of the thesis II.

1

16

....................

17

Definitions used in thiss t u d y ...........

18

PRESENTATION OP THE IDENTIFYING DATA

....

19

..................

19

Number of s i b l i n g s ......................

20

Marital status

20

Ages of the children

..........................

Occupation of mothers• • • • • • • • • •

22

Occupation of fathers

.............

24

Financial d a t a ..........................

27

Duration of mothers1 employment before application............................

27

Onset of p r o b l e m ........................

28

iii

CHAPTER

IV,

PAGE Referrals

30

Use of the clinic • • • • • • • • • • • • •

30

Status on closing • • • . • • • • • . . • •

31

Summary • • • • •

32

PROBLEMS OP THE C H I L D R E N Literature

V.

. . . . . . . .

. . . • • • • • .

33

...............

34

Analysis of the childrens1 protolems

•• • •

37

Analysis of the mothers1 attitudes

•• • •

41

PRESENTATION OP DATA

.......................

Areas of dissatisfaction seen by mothers Attitudes relating to employment

♦

45 45

...........

54

Expectations regarding 11good” or conforming behavior

• • • • • • •

•

Expressions of guilt over working •

• .

57

•• • *

59

Fathers1 statements • • • • • • • • » • • • VI.

ANALYSIS OP D A T A .............. * .......... Areas of dissatisfaction

• » • • • • • • •

Attitudes relating to employment

• • • • •

Expectations regarding "good11 behavior

61 61 65

•• •

66

Expressions of guilt over working . • • • •

67

Further Implications VII.

59

.

. . . . .

.72

SUMMARY AMD CONCLUSIONS.......................

77

B I B L I O G R A P H Y .......................................

82

L IS T OP TABLES

TABLE I«

PAGE Age D i s t r i b u t i o n ............• . • • • • • •

21

II. The Family U n i t ............................

23

III. IV.

Mothers* Occupations

• • • • • • • • • • • •

25

Occupation of Fathers • • • • • • • • • » • •

26

V. Duration of Mothers * Employment Before Application.............................. VI.

Childrens* Problems • • • • • • • • • • • • •

29 38

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION lf

The growing importance of married women workers continues a long time trend in our economy, in which money income has increasingly determined the family *s standard of l i v i n g . ! Since the war, participation in the labor force by

each of the marital groups of women, single, widowed, divor­ ced, and married women with husbands in the home, continues to be larger than before the war.2

As the number of working

wives increases, so too, does the number of working mothers, although authorities agree that a much smaller proportion of those with small children than with no young children go to work.^

However, mothers of young children work when they are

pushed into the labor market because of stringent economic necessity.^

**■ United States Department of Labor Womens Bureau Bulletin Number 225, Handbook of Facts on Women Workers (Washington* D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1948), p. 10. 2 Z M a . , p. 11 United States Department of Labor Womenfs Bureau Bulletin Number 224, Reports on 1948 Women1s Bureau Conference (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1948), p. 69. 4

Ibid., p. 67.

It lias been estimated that of the seventeen million women^ who are working in our country today, seven and a half million of them are married, and at least a million and a quarter of them are mothers wi th children under the age of six. There are six and a half million families where mothers, divorced, separated, or widowed, are the*breadwinner.*^ Approximately 50 per cent of those who are employed have chilo dren under eighteen years of age. When these percentages 9 are applied to the latest figures available, there is at least another million mothers who are employed as the sole support of their children.

Conservatively estimated, then,

there are at least two and a quarter million working mothers-. This figure does not include the number of working mothers whose husband is in the home, and whose children are over the age of six, as there are no figures available for this group.

5 United States Bureau of the Ceneus, Statistical Abstract of the United States. 1949 (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1949), p. 23. 6 United States Department of Labor Women's Bureau Bulletin lumber 224, op. cit.> p. 69. 7 Loc. cit. 8 Loc. cit. Q United States Bureau of Census, op. cit., pp. 21-23.

Our culture has sanctioned the working of wives, hut not of mothers*

The desired role for mothers in our society

is that of the homemaker and caretaker of children.

It is

society1s intent that no mother whose children have been de­ prived of support or care of their father by reason of death, continued absence, or mental or physical incapacity, need go to work to support her children.1?

This is evidenced through

the federal, state and county program of Aid to Needy Chil­ dren under the Social Security law4

The latest figures on

the Aid to Needy Children program reveal that in July 1948 average monthly payments of #66.81 were provided to 448,525 families and to 1,145,523 children.1’1' These attempts to improve the conditions of father­ less families, through a greater assumption of societal responsibility, have not yet met the need of mothers who are heads of families, who feel they must work.

This may be

due to the inadequacy of payments, the ineligibility of many families, lack of knowledge concerning the program, or resistance to^jtaking public assistance.

10

However, the program

F. F. Fauri, f,Public Assistance,ft Social Work Yearbook, 1949 (New York: Russel Sage Foundation, 1949}, p. 372. 11 £bld., p. 376

4

Itself is proof of the cultural belief that mothers alone with their children should not have to work*

Our society,

and hence, our government, has not recognized the needs of families for continued subsistence benefits when the father is home, where his earnings are in the lower income brackets, or are inadequate, or intermittent, due to illness or unem­ ployment.

We have no system of family benefits based on the

number of children as they have in England and Hew Zealand.-^2 However, mothers work, not only because self support is necessary, or because a father’s earnings are low or irregular, but also for other reasons.

With the increasingly

high costs of living due to the war and post war inflation, vast numbers of mothers have had to work in order to maintain a minimum degree of health and comfort for their families. Since so many mothers do work, and since such working deviates from the culture standards for the role of mothers which is that of the homemaker, there would seemingly be a certain amount of conflict engendered for those who do work. There has been very little recognition given to this problem. However, there has been recognition of conflicts that are faced by mothers who have been prepared for careers, or who

^ Lewis Merriam, Relief and Social Security (Washing ton, D.G.J The Brookings Institution, 1946), pp. 535-538.

have worked before marriage.

In choosing the role of mother­

hood, the accepted ideal, they suffer many frustrations because their former social and intellectual outlets are blocked to them by motherhood.^ Some psychiatric studies have been made to determine what effects such frustrations had on the rearing of children Mothers who have worked before marriage often compensate for their marital frustration through the projection of their work attitudes upon their children.

In their employment

experience many of them had accepted standards of conformity and superiority of performance for themselves, which they later expected of their children, with highly detrimental results#14,15 Only slight acknowledgment has been made of burdens and responsibilities carried by mothers assuming the double role of homemaker and breadwinner.

Recognition of the

problem of employed mothers in our country has been given through the United States Department of Labor Women1s Bureau.

Margaret Mead, Male and Female (New York: William Morrow Company, 1949), p. 570. 14 Irving L. Berger, ^Psychopathologic Attitudes of Frustrated Previously Employed Blothers Toward Their Off­ spring,” Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, 108:241249, May, 1937. 15 Leo Kanner, f,Cultural Implications of Childrens* Behavior Problems,” Mental Hygiene, 25:353-362, July, 1941.

6

The great problem facing the women*..is the difficult problem of combining home and job. /a ' So many women are exhausted because with eight hours ' Iin the factory. ..or other occupation, and an hour for lunch, and a couple of hours of traveling time, and i there you have eleven hours a day. Before they have i come to the factory they have been up, cooked for the ; children, got them dressed and off to school. Then after jwork, they go home, get supper, do some washing, and Amending, and only go to bed to get enought sleep to be 'able to get up and do it again the next day.s1 6 ^,% a -*f There has been some recognition of the more subtle drains upon mothers who work and take care of the home. This regards the toll taken in nervous strain and tension because mothers feel they are doing something away from their major and prime responsibility. ...almost all women who go to work, even those few who can afford adequate paid assistance in their homes, find that they experience at least some tensions and strains in the effort to do for each claimant upon their time all that they would like to do. There is a running apprehension that if the job is being well served, there may be a slighting of husband and children, of parents, or home management, or of social relations, or even of one's own limited health and strength. A majority of working women recognize two major obligations while men tend to recognize for better or worse...only one.'!?

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The purpose of this study is to investigate one such varea of a mother's relationship, that concerned with her ^ United States Department of Labor Women's Bureau Bulletin Number 224, op. cit., p. 25. 17 Ibid., p. 73.

child, which may be affected by the double role that mother has when she is employed*

Do working mothers feel that the

stresses, strains, and/or satisfactions of working influence their relationship with their children, when their children are seen for the treatment of emotional disorders in a child guidance clinic? Traditionally, in child guidance clinics, mothers have had much opportunity to explore and evaluate this relation­ ship, because much emphasis is placed upon the parent’s participation in treatment*

This arises out of clinical

experience which has demonstrated that parental attitudes are significantly causal in the development and perpetuation TQ

of childrens’ emotional disorders•

It is evident that

behavior problems and personality deviations can be linked directly with motivations resulting from parental attitudes*

1Q

It is generally accepted that the most potent of all influences on social behavior is obtained from the primary social experience with the mother**.*His outlook on life, his attitude towards people, his entire psychic well being, his very destiny is presumed to be altered by the maternal attitude* Life under the regime of maternal indifference develops a psychic pattern of quite a different mode than under a regime of maternal over­ protection* 20 Gordon Hamilton, Psychotherapy with Children (New York: Columbia University Press, 1947), p* 5* 19 Leo Kanner, Child Psychiatry (second edition; Spring field, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, 1948), p* 117* 20 pavid M. Levy, Maternal Overprotection (New York: Columbia University Press, 1943), p* 31•

8

Participation in the treatment process is considered essential if there is to he a change in parental attitudes and feelings, which constitute the most immediate and meaningful environ­ ment for the child.

This is made possible by the fact that

parents come to a child guidance clinic, when they are un­ happy and are having trouble growing out of their relation­ ship.

Parents have both negative and positive feelings about

requesting help.

One of these feelings is a sense of

responsibility, as a parent, for a desired change in the parent child r e l a t i o n s h i p . W i t h this sense of responsi­ bility, and desire for change, and through the medium of the casework relationship', parents are helped to express, and recognize, their feelings.

This leads to their being able

to modify certain attitudes for the benefit of their chil­ dren and themselves. This study will investigate how these maternal atti­ tudes are influenced by employment, which gives the mother a dual responsibility of homemaker and breadwinner.

For as

a mother discusses her relationship with her child, and conditions at home, within the setting of a child guidance

21

Rose Green, wTreatment of Parent Child Relation­ ships,” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. 18:442-447, July, 1948.

9

clinic, it would seem almost inevitable for her to bring in material about her employment with its immediate effects on her and her family.

LITERATURE The literature in social work on the subject of working mothers is very sparse, even though working mothers consti»

tute a fairly steady proportion of the clientele of social agencies, particularly child placement, family service, and child guidance settings. During the war, social workers were active in planning nursery care for children of working mothers, but the litera­ ture is concerned mainly with working through these child care plans in a satisfactory manner.

There have been a few

Smith College studies on the working mother in recent years, as seen in relation to family agency settings, where homemaking problems and child care plans were the mother’s main concern. One study made in 1945 in a child guidance clinic investigated employment as a means of Improving the mother child relationship.

It was found that work had value to the

mother and did improve the relationship, but first the mother’s guilt about it had to be resolved through the

10

caseworker*s help*

The mothers studied were not employed

when they came to the agency, hut decided to work after receiving agency help* 22 * The significant aspect here for the present study is the recognition that these mothers might feel to blame, or might feel that they were deserting their children, if they were to work*

As part of the present study, an attempt will

be made to discover what evidences of guilt mothers give because of their working*

AGENCY SETTING This study of working mothers was conducted in the Pasadena Child Guidance Clinic*

The clinic offers a psychi­

atric service for the treatment of emotionally distrubed children, from the ages of two through seventeen* All children are treated either by the psychiatrist or the psychologists*

The psychiatrist is a full time staff

member, and the psychologist is a part time staff member. Two full time psychiatric social workers do all the intake interviewing, and social casework with parents at the time that

22

Helen Steele Snyder, “Employment as a Means of Improving Mother Child Relationships,tf Smith College Studies in Social Work (Northhampton, Massachusetts: Smith College for Social Work, September, 1945-June, 1946), p. 136.

11

their children are seen in treatment*

The nature of this

work with the parents is to clarify with them what their attitudes and feelings are towards the child’s problem, so that they may arrive at a more satisfactory relationship with the child. The clinic is supported by.the Community Chest of Pasadena, and by contributions from chests of neighboring communities eligible for service at the clinics South Pasa­ dena, Monrovia, Arcardia, La Canada, San Marino*

Pees re­

ceived for treatment, based on a sliding scale according to income, are another source of revenue.

There is a waiting

list at the clinic, and anywhere from three to four months may elapse after the intake interview, before treatment appointments are available. When treatment appointments are available, every effort is made to make convenient weekly appointments for all parents within the clinic schedule. ployed mothers.

The same holds true for em­

Often, late afternoon appointments are

arranged with the mother taking off an hour or two from work. Sometimes appointments are made in the morning before the mother’s working day begins.

If it is not at all possible

for the mother to take time off from her job, evening appoint­ ments can be arranged.

Thus no mother who was employed

would miss the opportunity of participating in treatment

12

through weekly interviews,

ORGANISATION OF THE REMAINDER OF THE THESIS Chapter II presents the method of study used for this thesis, and some of the problems attendant upon it.

Chapter

III presents a summary of the identifying and social data on all the cases,

A discussion of the children^1 problems

is presented in Chapter IV as further background for under­ standing the mothers’ attitudes.

Chapter V presents the ■* original data of the mothers1 statements. In Chapter VI these statements are studied and analyzed for their possible implications.

The last chapter presents a summary of this

study, and its implications.

CHAPTER I I

THE METHOD OP STUDY This chapter deals with some of the problems arising in connection with the present investigation, the focus of the study, the schedule, the selection of cases and of data, and the definitions used in this paper*

PROBLEMS IN THIS STUDY In any case study certain problems arise in connection with extracting relevant data from the records*

^hus, the

fact that a mother could see her working as influencing her child’s problem does not mean that she could not see other factors or facets in the situation, nor does it mean that it is expected that a mother would concentrate on this exclusively in her discussion with the worker.

It is evident that the

effects of working would have a subordinate place and meaning within the context of a total case.

In the attempts to high­

light the problems In connection with working, undue empha­ sis might be given to this aspect of the life situation, unless caution were observed. Another problem Is that the data, taken exclusively from case records, may not be clearly shown or fully Indica­ ted in the records, which are kept for treatment purposes.

14

The workers did not use process recording, which accounts for the discussion between client and worker as it occurred in tjhe interview#

Bather they used their own judgment about

pertinent material which should go into the record.

There­

fore, the recording is selective and does not necessarily give a complete picture of the interview.

A mother may have

mentioned her working, the fact that she is tired, that she I

does not like her job, several times, and this may have been recorded only once#

In the judgment of the worker, perhaps

this was not considered to be significant or related to the dynamics of the mother child relationship.

For the purposes

of this study, the records may be biased insofar as they may not give all the material offered by the mother on the working situation.

This too would appear to be an inevitable

factor in any case study.

Another point must be considered

in relation to recording.

The worker would quote the mother

only occasionally if she used a particularly significant or telling phrase.

Most of the statements in the record are

second hand, through the workers* own wording.

This also

makes it difficult to get at the actual wording and expres­ sion of feeling of the mothers.

15

FOCUS OF THE STUDY The focus of this study was on the following points: A.

What areas of dissatisfaction does the mother see

as resulting from her employment, either past or present, in relation to her child, and the home situation? B.

What attitudes of satisfaction or dissatisfaction

are indicated by the mother in relation to her employment? C.

What expectations does the mother express in

regard to ’’good” or conforming behavior from her child? D.

What expression of guilt direct, or indirect, does

the mother make about her working?

THE SCHEDULE A schedule of questions was devised for the study of each case in order to obtain pertinent social data*

This

/

included identifying data Concerning the age of the child, the number of siblings, marital status, the occupation of the father and the mother, duration of the mother’s employ­ ment before application, and the onset of the child’s problem. Also included in the schedule were items pertaining to the source of referral, the use of the clinic seen through the number of interviews with the parents, the status on closing, and a description of the child’s problem.

16

SELECTING THE CASES A total of 600 elosed cases were perused from the period of 1945 through. 1949.

If the face sheet indicated

that the mother was employed the case was read.

It was only

after reading and discarding many cases that it became apparent that specific criteria would have to be used in the determination of exactly what would constitute a working mother for this study. In order to hold at least one variable in common, that of the mother who is working full time, whose child is being treated at the clinic, the following cases were dis­ carded: Five cases of mothers who were working at the time of intake but who had stopped working when treatment began; Ten cases of mothers who were working part time; Twelve cases where the parents received consultation and diagnostic services only; Thirty cases of mothers who were employed at the time of intake, but who when offered appointments for treatment, withdrew for various reasons; Three cases in which there was no own mother, but a stepmother; Three cases where the child was in a foster home; Three cases where treatment was stopped suddenly;

17

Three cases of referrals from the police where both mother and child were relucant to participate; One case of low I.Q.; Five cases where the conditions of the mothers1 employ­ ment were not clear, in which it could not be determined if, they were working full time or part time. Thus seventy-five cases out of 105 cases were rejected for reasons stated above, which left a total of thirty cases for this study.

SELECTING THE LATA The actual material studied was selected from case records after careful perusal.

All statements made by mothers

that appeared to be connected with the problem under consid­ eration were copied from the record in relation to the ques­ tions listed in the Focus of Study. After the information on the schedule was obtained, a miniature record was secured which had all of the statements on the mothers.

A working graph was used to check similar

and differing features in all the cases under the points considered for study.

It was thus possible to study the

cases separately, and as a whole.

18

DEFINITIONS USED IN THIS STUDY Working mother is a mother who is employed full time, who is living in the home with her child, who is receiving treatment at the clinic# Broken home is a family where the father is absent due to death or divorce# Sole support indicates a situation where the mother is supporting the family where the father is in the home, but where he is not employed due to lack of work, or illness# Attitude In this study is used to identify the differ­ ent feelings and expressions of the mother concerning her child and the working situation* Case names used in this study* this study have been disguised*

All case names used in

All names have been listed

in alphabetical progression, starring with the name of the youngest child.

CHAPTER I I I

PRESENTATION OP IDENTIFYING DATA It was stated in Chapter II, on the method of study, that a schedule was used to obtain identifying information on all the cases pertaining to the age of the child, number of siblings, marital status, occupations;.of mother and father, duration of mothers employment before application, and onset of the child’s problem.

Also included in the

schedule was information pertaining to the source of referral, the use of the clinic seen through the number of interviews with the parents, the status on closing, and a description of the child’s problem.

This chapter will discuss the in­

formation that was obtained on all these items, except that pertaining to the childrens’ problem, which will be discussed and analysed in Chapter IV.

AGE OP THE CHILDREN The children in these cases ranged in age from two years and eleven months to sixteen years and six months. There were five children in the preschool group, fourteen children in the middle age group, ranging from seven to ten years and eleven months.

There were ten youngsters in the

20

adolescent group starting with age twelve.

This data is

shown in Table I.

NUMBER OP SIBLINGS Out or the thirty children, twelve were only children, eight were' from families of two children, five were from families of three children, one was from a family of four children, one was from a family of five children, two were from a family of six children, and one was from a family of seven children. Aside from the twelve who were only children, four were middle children, eight were the oldest of the children in their family, and six were the youngest of the children in the family.

MARITAL STATUS There were sixteen familes where both the mother and father were in the home.

There were two families where the

father was out of the home.

In one case the father was in

the army, and in another, the father was at school in another state.

These were separations due to circumstance and were

not legal or planned separations.

There were four mothers

who had been widowed from three to thirteen years.

There

21

TABLE I AGE DISTRIBUTION

Age In years

Number of children

Preschool 2 4

1 4

Middle Age 7 8 9 10

3 2 4 5

Adolescent 12 13 14 15 16

3 2 1 3 2

22

were eight mothers who had been divorced from one to fourteen years*

These figures are presented in Table II, The number of broken homes is a little more than one-

third of the total cases.

For a group of working mothers the

number of broken home situations does not appear to be un­ usual,

There did not appear to be any significant differences

in the number and kind of remarks made by mothers from broken home situations as compared with those of mothers whose husbands were in the home,

OCCUPATIONS OF THE MOTHERS There were eight mothers engaged in professional work, three in business or white collar work, thirteen in semi-skilled occupation, and six in unskilled jobs* There is a larger number of professional occupations presented here, a little more than one-fourth, than is found as a whole in the working population of women, where pro­ fessionals usually constitute about one-tenth-*- of the working population.

This may be due in part to the referrals.

Two

United States Department of Labor Women’s Bureau Bulletin Number 225, Handbook on Facts on Women Workers (Washington, D,C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1948), p. 2,

TABLE II THE FAMILY UNIT

Marital status

Father and Mother in the home

Number of families

16

Father absent from home

2

Mother widowed

4

Mother divorced

8

24

teachers knew of the clinic through their own work, as did a nurse.

A nursery teacher and a nurse were both referred by

the instructor in a psychology class they were attending. This might indicate that professionally employed mothers would have more opportunities of knowing of the clinic1s services because of the work they are doing, and the educational interests they have.

The occupations of the mothers are

listed in Table III.

OCCUPATIONS OP THE FATHERS Of the sixteen.fathers in the home, three were un­ employed, an engineer, a machinist and a carpenter.

There

were two fathers in business and white collar work, nine others were in trades requiring various degrees of skill, and the remaining two were unskilled.

The occupations of the

fathers are weighted on the side of semi-skilled work, with only a small representation in business, the professions, and highly skilled work.

This would indicate, that even taken

as a whole, the earnings of the fathers would be in the lower economic brackets.

This would tend to make the mothers1

employment necessary to supplement the earnings of the fathers which were not high. listed in Table IV.

The occupations of the fathers are

25 TAB LE I I I

MOTHERS* OCCUPATIONS y Type of I&nployment

Number of Mothers

Professional Nursing Teaching Nursery teacher Newspaper editor Accountant Statistician

2 2 1 1 1 1

Business Restaurant manager Selling

1 2

Semi-skilled General office Glerks Beauty operator Sewing machine operator

7 2 3 1

Unskilled Hospital attendant Domestic Laundry work Factory work Waitress Total

1 2 1 1 1 30

TABLE IV OCCUPATION OP FATHERS

Type of Employment

Number of Fathers

Professional Teacher Engineer Civil service

1 1 1

Business Restaurant owner Salesman

1 1

Skilled or semi-skilled Photographer Machinist Gardner Hous epaint er Railroad conductor Carpenter Electrician

1 2 2 1 1 1 1

Unskilled Custodian Total

2 16

27

FINANCIAL DATA Although this item was not in the schedule, it offers material substantiating the statements made above concerning the occupations of parents.

The total monthly income where

both parents were employed ranged from $300 to $450 a month, and from $150 to $250 where the mother was the sole support. All of the mothers whose husbands were in the home were working to supplement the fathers1 incomes.

Three mothers

were the sole support of the family, because the fathers were unemployed.

Many mothers referred to the difficult

financial situation at home because of their small income, but none saw any direct consequences in their childrens1 problems resulting from this.

DURATION OF MOTHERS* EMPLOYMENT BEFORE APPLICATION There was usually no specific data in the record as to how long the mothers had been working before application. In most of the cases, approximation as to the length of time the mother had been working, had to be made from the context of the record. There were no mothers who had been working for less than six months, and only two who had been working for less than a year.

The largest number of mothers, eleven, fall

28

in the group that had been working from one to two years. However, there was a total of eight mothers who had longer work histories than is indicated in Table V.

These mothers

had worked for many years but had stayed home at various periods for childbirth, illness or unemployment, but had resumed steady employment before coming to the clinic.

One

mother had been working for less than a year, five mothers had been working from one to three years, and two mothers had been working steadily for three years. The fact that only two mothers came to the clinic, before working for one year may demonstrate that mothers expect their working will have repercussions on their re­ lationships at home, and that a certain time period is expected to elapse before these are stabilized.

Furthermore,

if the effects of employment did cause a problem, a certain period of time would pass before it became apparent. Mothers may come for help when they feel they can no longer muster their efforts to cope with both job and home responsi­ bilities. ONSET OF PROBLEM In twenty cases the mothers did not mention when the child1s problem was first noticed.

In four cases the

problem had existed**from one to three years prior to application.

29

TABLE V DURATION OP MOTHERS * EMPLOYMENT' BEFORE APPLICATION

Number of years employed Under 1 year

Number of mothers 2

1-2

years

11

3-4

years

3

5 - 6 years

4

7-8

1

years

9 - 1 0 years

6

11 - 12 years

0

13 - 14 years

3

Total

30

30

In two cases the mother dated the existence of the problem with her going to work*

Due to the lack of information on

this item, it is difficult to tell whether there is any relationship between the length of time the mother was work­ ing, and the onset of the problem*

REFERRALS There were ten referrals from the school, four from nursery school, two from private physicians; there were three self referrals, six were referrals made by friends and five were from other sources*

USE OF THE CLINIC The number of interviews after intake ranged from two to twenty-five*

The median number of interviews was even,

the mode was five, and the average number was nine. Out of the sixteen fathers in the home, one-half, or eight, were seen.

Willingness of the father to participate

In treatment to the extent that they did, may have something to do with their realization of the mothers’ increased responsibilities and may indicate interest in sharing problems regarding child rearing.

On the other hand, it may be that

employed mothers would be more eager to have the father

31

*

participate in treatment, to lighten her responsibility for the child# Of the fathers who were seen, three commented on problems in connection with the mothersf working.

One father,

working with the mother in their restaurant, affirmed how tired they were, and how their lack of social contacts would influence their sonfs lack of friends.

Another father

affirmed the mother’s belief in the value of a college educa­ tion for his son, because he himself lacked this.

A third

father newly married to the mother, commented on the tensions when he and the mother came home tired and weary from work. He was much aware of the newly assumed duties of stepfatherhod and the pressures that went with it. It would seem then that fathers would be apt to discuss the effects of the mothers’ working, on the parent child relationship, when the father himself was directly affected by it too.

STATUS OH CLOSING When treatment was ended, it is customary for the worker to denote the degree change in the parent child re­ lationship.

References to the degree of improvement range

from very slight or slight to marked or great improvement. In twenty-eight out of the thirty cases studied, there was some

32

degree of improvement, with two showing no change at all*

SUMMARY In terms of ages of the children, number of siblings, sources of referral, status on closing and number of inter­ views, nothing distinctive or significant emerges in these cases.

There was a rather high proportion of fathers seen,

and they commented on the effects of the mothers1 employment when they too were directly affected by it.

The occupations

of the mothers were somewhat weighted in the direction of the professions and the fathers occupation were weighted in the direction of semi-skilled work.

The incomes of these

families, where the mother was either the sole support, or supplementing the fathers1 income, were in the lower economic brackets.

The proportion of broken homes did not seem un­

duly high for a group of working mothers.

The duration of

employment of the mother before application did not seem to have any connection with the onset of the child1s problem.

CHAPTER I V PROBLEMS OP THE CH ILD R EN

In the introduction, there was some discussion of the fact that it is now widely acknowledged that parental atti­ tudes are instrumental in the formation of childrens1 emo­ tional disorders.

An emotional disorder in a child is the

product of the child1s struggle to achieve some “balance between the conflicting forces within his own personality, and those of the environment.

The child*s particular behavior

is his way of responding to this environment, (of which parental attitudes are an important part) and the conflicting forces within himself, and bringing them to some solution. 1 '2 A view of some of the literature may give more insight into the kinds of solutions that emotionally disturbed children choose.

It would be interesting to see if the children in

this study, who all had working mothers, had any particular kinds of problems in common which seemed to be due to common maternal attitudes.

1 Rose Green, "The Inner Significance and the Outward Expression of Childrens1 Problems,w The Family, 18:75-89, May, 1937. o

Margaret Gerard, wThe Psycho-Pathological Aspect in Child Guidance,M (Ernest Harms, editor; New York: Child Care Publications, 1947), pp. 172-192.

34

The child guidance clinic usually accepts for treatment only those children whose problems arise primarily from psychological sources, namely, normal children reacting to environmental stress, primary behavior disorders with conduct and habit disorders, children with educational disabilities of emotional origin and mild psychoneurotics•

It does not

accept for therapy, generally speaking, children with organic brain disease, severe neurological damage, convulsive disorder, or psychoses.

This description in general fits the kinds of

cases which are treated at the Pasadena Child Guidance Clinic, and more particularly, the thirty cases under consideration.

THE LITERATUEE A well known study of children1s emotional disorders Is that of Levy,s^:, in which he investigated twenty cases of maternal overprotection, and from this, set up certain cri­ teria of what constituted maternal overprotection.

These are

excessive contact, infantilization, prevention of independent behavior and lack or excess of maternal control.

When there

3 Gordon Hamilton, Psychotherapy with Children (New Yorks Columbia University Press, 1947), p. lOCH ^ David M. Levy, Maternal Overprotection (New Yorks Columbia University Press, 1943), p. 36-39.

Is an excess of maternal control, the aggressive tendencies of the child are constricted, resulting in timid, withdrawn behavior*

When the mother Is submissive and lacks control,

the child becomes exceedingly aggressive, manipulating and dominating every situation. In another study, Levy6 distinguished the phenomenon of affect hunger, which results when children in early life receive maternal care and direction to a high degree in a physical sense, without any evidence of affection.

This

results In extreme shallowness of affect which is very difficult to modify in treatment.

Children suffering from

affect hunger usually have persistent difficulty in all re­ lationships, accompanied by much symptomatic behavior such as stealing, lying, and aggressive sexual behavior. Hamilton6 differentiates the two groups of disorders which most children generally fall under In a guidance clinic. These are the primary behavior disorder, in which the child acts out his impulses, and the psychoneuroses, in which the child is primarily suffering from anxiety.

6 David M. Levy, "Primary Affect Hunger,11 American Journal of Psychiatry, 94:643-652, November, 1937. g

Hamilton, op. cit., pp. 45-97.

36 The outstanding characteristic of the primary behavior disorder is an extreme and chronic aggressiveness, accompanied by little or no feelings of guilt and much self love.

This

aggression may be outwardly hostile or it may be reactive. MWith monotonous regularity one finds that these children are rejected and have had inadequate experience of love.1* Gerard*? contends, that at the basis of all psychic difficulties of children, even if not apparent in the pre­ senting symptom, is the presence of anxiety, which stems from the attempts of the ego to form a solution to the conflict the child feels• The primarily anxious child, is the child who has had love, but not enough, or sufficiently for his security, and who attempts to get it through any means.

His feelings are

ambivalent, expressing both hate and love, and therefore his efforts are confused and ineffectual.

He has many conflicts

about his instinctual drives, of which he is somewhat aware. A study of specific symptoms in relation to maternal attitudes was made by Kanner.^

He discusses some attitudes

of mothers, their characteristic verbalizations, their handling

7 Gerard, op. cit., p. 176. ® Leo Kanner, Child Psychiatry (second edition; Spring­ field, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, 1948), p. 117.

37

of the child, and the childfs reaction.

The accepting,

affectionate mothers says her child makes the home interesting, she handles him with fondness and patience, and the child is secure and has a normal personality development.

The mother

who is overtly rejecting, says she hates her child, neglects and treats him harshly, and the child retaliates with de­ linquency or other forms of hostile aggressiveness.

The

perfectionistic mothers says she doesn’t like the child, hut must make him over.

She is disapproving and controlling of

him, which creates in the child a high degree of frustration and sense of dissatisfaction with himself.

The overprotecting

mother talks of how she sacrifices for her child, while she spoils and indulges him, and the child in turn becomes in­ creasingly dependent on the mother and dominating of her. The last three groups of mothers all have feelings of rejec­ tion, in varying degrees, for their children.

ANALYSIS OP THE CHILDRENS’ PROBLEMS The problems of the thirty children studied are classi­ fied in Table XI in which there is a total of ninety-three complaints in regard to habit and body disorders and behavior disturbances.

In terms of the literature just discussed,

the symptoms of these children do not denote problems indica­ tive of complete deprivation of affection or love, which

38

TABLE VI CHILDRENS1 PROBLEMS

Disturbance

Number of Complaints

Habit or body disorders Enuresis Masturbation. Facial grimaces Thumb sucking Nall biting Face swelling

5 3 3 3 2 1

Disturbances in behavior Aggressive reactions Stealing Fighting with siblings Fighting with other children Temper tantrums Resentful of authority Negativism, disobedience Withdrawal reactions Lack of friends Disinterest in school Suicide attempt Refusal to go to school Daydreaming, lying ' Low self regard Inferiority feelings Feeling unliked, rejected Other Nervousness, Irritability Reading difficulty Poor school work

10 3 4

Total

93

5 3 4 4 5 6 3 9 1 1 5 6 7

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