Entry 5- Final

Massie, Henry. ”The Relationship between Mothering in Infancy, childhood experience and adult mental health.” The International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 28 Jun 2008. Web. 26 Feb 2012

Summary:

The journal is based on a study that involved seventy-six individuals that were studied through videos from birth to age thirty gathering knowledge of mother and child interaction and how it affected the children throughout their life. The journal focuses on how children are affected mentally and emotionally based on their mother’s role in their life early on and then leading into their adult life. This article emphasizes the importance of a mother-child relationship and has a lot of information to support the importance for mental health development. The journal states that the mother’s relationship with their child during infancy and early life shows many fundamental implications for an individual’s proper mental health.

Evaluation:

This article is credible based on the amount of elaborate research that the author has done in preparation to writing this journal. Throughout the journal there are many studies involved in which both time and money were put into each of them. The author Dr. Henry Massie, is an accredited Psychiatrist and practices in Berkeley, California. The studies that were conducted were fair and that they had very few flaws based on the information given. This journal is useful for my research topic because it shows the results and effects of proper nurturing from a child’s early life stages throughout their adult life.

Greene, Anthony. “Socialization.” The Intersections Collection. Boston, MD: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2011. 61-63 78-80. Print.

Summary:

The author states information about the debate of Nature vs. Nurture explains that throughout the nineteenth century into early twentieth century the debate leaned towards heredity. He then goes on to explain that scientists are starting to look at the environmental side of the nature argument and how it relates to everyday relationships within the family structure. This chapter also states the sociobiology perspective stating that it is neither one nor the other but both have equal influences on how a child is raised. According to the author there is plenty of information and studies that have been done to prove both sides of the debate equality correct.

Evaluation:

This source is credible based on the professors involved in this study and the amount of work that was put into publishing this book. Every editor of the book has been or is currently a professor in a University setting. The editors also hold sociology degrees ranging from masters to doctorates. Dr. Anthony Greene, who helped with compiling the book, is a former sociology professor at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte. I feel that the argument is not biased after reading the information I would say that the amount of studies done and information given about both sides, Nature vs. Nurture makes it an equal argument in the book. It was useful for researching my topic because the argument of Nature vs. Nurture brings in a perspective that is needed to fully understand the role of a mother in a child’s life.

Sellers, Katie. “Adolescent Mothers’ relationships with their own mothers: Impact on parenting outcomes.” Journal of Family Psychology. Feb 2011. Web. 12 Mar 2012

Summary:

This journal is based on the facts that prove that the way that we were raised by our mothers will impact the ways in which we care for our own children. It will impact everything from the attention that we give them all the way to the amount of nurturing care that we show to them. This author states that our nurturing instincts do not only come from ourselves but also from what was instilled in us as young women based on the ways that our mother nurtured us. The journal states that our nurturing skills as mother’s can date back through our family tree which is an interesting idea to consider. In this journal the author looks at a data analysis to compare grandmother- mother relationships compared to the mother and their children’s relationships. The study was conducted n 181 urban African American grandmothers, mothers, and adolescent mothers. The study showed in general that in general after 13 months of caring for their child the mother’s became less negative and more nurturing to their children.

Evaluation:

This source is credible based on the facts and the studies that were conducted in order to prove that the information was legitimate and relevant to society. The author has a degree in psychology which shows that she has a grasp of the information that she is writing and studying about. This article may be seen as slightly biased based on the study and data analysis that was analyzed in order to write this journal because they only used African American’s for the study and no other race. They chose to study this group of people because they were a high risk group. The study that was conducted was fair and had few flaws, only a narrow viewpoint of data.

This journal is useful for my research because based on this journal I can compare and contrast what affects us as mother’s to treat our children the way that we do and if it truly affects children later in their lives in relationships. Through studying this information we are able to look at different cultures in order to make inferences towards which things are the most influential.

Bogels, Susan, Juliette Stevens, and Mirjana Majdandzic. "Parenting and Social Anxiety: Fathers' Versus Mothers' Influence On Their Children's Anxiety in Ambiguous Social Situations." Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 52.5 (2011): 599-606. ERIC. Web. 12 Mar. 2012.

Summary:

This journal was based on a study that examined children and their social anxiety when it came to interacting with others and playing with other children. They tested children in order to see which parent was more influential in determining which way that they acted in a social setting. Did the father have more of an impact or did the mother. The study concentrated on whether the children were social, anxious, or confident in individual social settings separate from their parents. Another thing that they concentrated on was which parent the child looked towards in their need for a caring or helping hand. With this study I was able to see different viewpoints based on how the mother and father are more important at separate times during a child’s life and how they are more influential based on the age of the child throughout their lives.

Evaluation:

This journal is credible because it is considered a scholarly piece of writing and the fact that the journal is based on a legitimate experiment helps show the honesty of the author and her writing. Other reasons can be supported by the fact that the author is a Psychology professor at the University of Amsterdam, which makes her credible in any cases. The results showed that the father’s behavior impacted children of high socially anxious children and mother’s tended to influence the actions of low socially anxious children. This study was not biased and showed equal sides of both results and gave explanations.

This is useful for my research because the study that was conducted can be a vital part of my argument and would add emphasis to the question that is being researched. It will have people think about the question from a different point of view.

Meunier, Jean Christophe, Mark Wade, and Jennifer M. Jenkins. "Mothers' Differential Parenting and Children's Behavioral Outcomes: Exploring the Moderating Role of Family and Social Context." Infant & Child Development 21.1 (2012): 107-133. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Mar. 2012.

Summary:

This study was conducted to show how parenting styles affect socio-emotional status of children. The study used different factors such as neighborhoods and organizational habits in order to conduct this study. Another variable evaluated was the marital status and well-being of the parents of the children. There were 920 different children studied in order to conduct and gain the amount of data that was discovered. The study shows that throughout decade’s differential parenting has shown to affect the amount of adverse child outcomes.

Evaluation:

The findings of this study show that differential outcome is in reality a negative phenomenon. Studies have shown that poverty has been a significant factor in children’s developmental skills because in that situation they do not have the same opportunities as other children. Marriages under stress have proven to be a negative influence on a child’s development. This journal is not biased because they used 382 different households with different backgrounds which made the study very broad. This journal can be proven to be credible based on the volume number that shows the amount of work that has been put into making all 24 volumes.

This study could be useful with my research because it allowed me to look at how the way women in a family setting act as they are in a mothering role and also see the effects of families without a mother present. I have been able to gather much needed research dealing with the nurturing aspects of mothers and what makes more mothers more keen to nurturing than others.