Sex and Class Differences in Parent-Child Interaction: A Test of Kohn's Hypothesis.

This paper examines sex and class differences in the style and circumstances of parental discipline of the child. Specifically, we have focused on Melvin Kohn's suggestive hypothesis that white-collar parents stress the development of internal standards of conduct in their children and thus are more likely to discipline the child on the basis of their interpretation of the child's motives for a particular act: while blue-collar parents are more likely to react on the basis of the consequences of the child's behavior. Our findings, based on a sample of 210 Washington State couples, support this hypothesis. We found a greater difference in the responses of white-collar parents toward their child when he "accidentally breaks something " versus when he "intentionally disobeys," than there was for blue-collar parents. Other class and sex differences in the parental response to the child were also explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]