PARENTAL ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES - A STUD Y OF SINGLE-PARENT MOTHERS AND THEIR CHILDREN

In order to analyze maternal child-rearing attitudes in single-parent families, the ''Familiendiagnostisches Testsystem'' (FDTS) developed b y Schneewind et al. (1985 a, b) was tested on 40 single-parent mothers and their children, aged 9 to 14. Questions of special interest were first, whether single-parent mothers and their children perceive their child-rearing attitudes in the same way as the standardization groups and second, whether their child-rearing attitudes vary depending on t he length of time the mother had been separated from her partner. The results show significant differences between the single-parent mothers and children in comparison to the standardization group, whereby the children's perspective differed from that of the mothers. The authors point out the necessity of considering the child's perspective and pro vide suggestions for counseling single parents.