Developmental maturity expectations of Israeli fathers and mothers: Effects of education, ethnic origin, and religiosity

This study investigated expectations of maturity in children among 380 Isra eli Jewish fathers and mothers of 6-month-old infants. Subjects were admini stered a questionnaire which included items reflecting three developmental domains: Cognitive Maturity, Biosocial Maturity, and Social Autonomy. Regar ding Cognitive Maturity mothers had earlier expectations than fathers, inte rmediate and higher educated parents had earlier expectations than lower ed ucated and nonreligious (Secular) parents and moderately religious (Traditi onal) parents had earlier maturity expectations than religiously strict (Or thodox) parents, A reverse pattern could be observed for Biosocial Maturity : lower educated parents had earlier expectations than higher educated pare nts, Orthodox parents had earlier expectations than Traditional or Secular parents and parents of Asian or North African origin had earlier maturity e xpectations than parents of European or American origin. On Social Autonomy mothers had earlier maturity expectations than fathers and Secular and Ort hodox parents had earlier expectations than Traditional parents. The result s suggest that parental expectations of maturity form a multidimensional co nstruct in which sex and social background of the parent are related to ear ly expectations in some areas and late expectations in others, depending on the values of their societal subgroup.