Self Assessment: the Traditional Motherhood Scale

Self Assessment: The Traditional Motherhood Scale

The purpose of this survey is to assess the degree to which students possess a traditional view of motherhood. Read each item carefully and consider what you believe. There are no right or wrong answers, so please give your honest reaction and opinion. After reading each statement, select the number which best reflects your level of agreement using the following scale:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Strongly Strongly

Disagree Agree

_____1. The mother has a better relationship with her children.

_____2. A mother knows more about her child, therefore being the better parent.

_____3. Motherhood is what brings women to their fullest potential.

_____4. A good mother should stay at home with her children for the first year.

_____5. Mothers should stay at home with the children.

_____6. Motherhood brings much joy and contentment to a woman.

_____7. A mother is needed in a child’s life for nurturance and growth.

_____8. Motherhood is an essential part of a female's life.

_____9. I feel that all women should experience motherhood in some way.

_____10. Mothers are more nurturing.

_____11. Mothers have a stronger emotional bond with their children.

_____12. Mothers are more sympathetic to children who have hurt themselves.

_____13. Mothers spend more time with their children.

_____14. Mothers are more lenient toward their children.

_____15. Mothers are more affectionate toward their children.

_____16. The presence of the mother is vital to the child during the formative years.

_____17. Mothers play a larger role in raising children.

_____18. Women instinctively know what a baby needs.

Scoring

After assigning a number from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree), add the numbers and divide by 18. The higher your score (7 is the highest possible score), the stronger the traditional view of motherhood. The lower your score (1 is the lowest possible score), the less traditional the view of motherhood.
Norms

The norming sample of this self-assessment was based on 20 male and 86 female students (mean age 21.72) attending ValdostaStateUniversity. The ethnic composition of the sample was 80.2% White, 15.1% Black, 1.9% Asian, 0.9% American Indian, and 1.9% Other. The classification of the sample was 16.0% Freshman, 15.1% Sophomore, 27.4% Junior, 39.6% Senior, and 1.9% were graduate students.

The most traditional score was 6.33; the score reflecting the least support for traditional motherhood was 1.78. The midpoint between the top and bottom score was 4.28 so that persons scoring above this number tended to have a more traditional view of motherhood and persons scoring below this number a less traditional view of motherhood. The average score on the Traditional Motherhood Scale was 4.28 (SD = 1.04) and scores ranged from 1.78 to 6.33.

There was a significant difference (p.<.05) between female participants' scores (M = 4.19, SD = 1.08) and male participants' scores (M = 4.68, SD = 0.73), suggesting that males had more traditional views of motherhood than females.
Copyright: The Traditional Motherhood Scale 2004 by Mark Whatley, Ph.D. Department of Psychology, ValdostaStateUniversity, Valdosta, Georgia 31698. Use of this scale is permitted only by prior written permission of Dr. Whatley. His e-mail is

Self-Assessment: The Traditional Fatherhood Scale

The purpose of this survey is to assess the degree to which students have a traditional view of fatherhood. Read each item carefully and consider what you believe. There are no right or wrong answers, so please give your honest reaction and opinion. After reading each statement, select the number which best reflects your level of agreement using the following scale:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Strongly Strongly

Disagree Agree

_____1. Fathers do not spend much time with their children.

_____2. Fathers should be the disciplinarian in the family.

_____3. Fathers should never stay at home with the children while the mother works.

_____4. The father's main contribution to his family is giving financially.

_____5. Fathers are less nurturing.

_____6. Fathers expect more from children.

_____7. Most men make horrible fathers.

_____8. Fathers punish children more than mothers do.

_____9. Fathers do not take a highly active role in their children's lives.

_____10. Fathers are very controlling.

Scoring

After assigning a number from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree), add the numbers and divide by 10. The higher your score (7 is the highest possible score), the stronger the traditional view of fatherhood. The lower your score (1 is the lowest possible score), the less traditional the view of fatherhood. The most traditional score was 5.50; the score representing the least support for traditional fatherhood was 1.00. The average score on the Traditional Fatherhood Scale was 3.33 (SD = 1.03) (suggesting a less than traditional view) and the scores ranged from 1.00 to 5.50.

There was a significant difference (p < .05) between female participants' attitudes (M = 3.20, SD = 1.01) and male participants' attitudes toward fatherhood (M = 3.69, SD = 1.01) suggesting that males had more traditional views of fatherhood than females. There were no significant differences between ethnicities.

Norms

The norming sample was based upon twenty-four male and sixty-nine female students attending ValdostaStateUniversity. The average age of participants completing the Traditional Fatherhood Scale was 22.15 years (SD = 4.23) and ages ranged from 18 to 47. The ethnic composition of the sample was 77.4% White, and 19.4% Black, 1.1% Hispanic, and 2.2% Other. The classification of the sample was 16.1% Freshman, 11.8% Sophomore, 23.7% Junior, 46.2% Senior, and 2.2% were graduate students.

Copyright: “The Traditional Fatherhood Scale” 2004 by Mark Whatley, Ph.D. Department of

Psychology, ValdostaStateUniversity, Valdosta, Georgia 31698. Use of this scale is

permitted only by prior written permission of Dr. Whatley. His e-mail is

Spanking Versus Time-Out Scale

Parents discipline their children to help them develop self-control and correct misbehavior. Some parents spank their children; others use time-out. Spanking is a disciplinary technique whereby a mild slap (i.e., a “spank”) is applied to the buttocks of a disobedient child. Time-out is a disciplinary technique whereby, when a child misbehaves, he/she is removed from the situation. The purpose of this survey is to assess the degree to which you prefer spanking versus time-out as a method of discipline. Please read each item carefully and select a number from 1 to 7 which represents your belief. There are no right or wrong answers; please give your honest reactions and opinions.

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
Strongly Disagree / Strongly Agree

_____ 1. Spanking is a better form of discipline than time-out.

_____2. Time-out does not have any affect on children.

_____3. When I have children, I will more likely spank them than use a time-out.

_____4. A threat of a time-out does not stop a child from misbehaving.

_____5. Lessons are learned better with spanking.

_____6. Time-out does not give the child an understanding of what he/she has done wrong.

_____7. Spanking teaches the child to respect authority.

_____8 Giving children time-outs is a waste of time.

_____9. Spanking has more of an impact on changing the behavior of children than time-out.

_____10. I do not believe "time-out" is a form of punishment.

_____11. Getting spanked as a child helps you become a responsible citizen.

_____12. Time-out is only used because parents are afraid to spank their kids.

_____13. Spanking can be an effective tool in disciplining a child.

_____14. Time-out is watered down discipline.

Scoring

After you have selected a number from 1 to seven for each of the 14 items, if you want to know the degree to which you approve of spanking, reverse the number you selected for all odd numbered items (#1, #3, #5, #7, #9, #11, #13). For example, if you selected a 1 for item 1, change this number to a seven (1 = 7; 2 = 6; 3 = 5; 4 = 4; 5 = 3; 6 = 2; 7 = 1). Now add these seven numbers. The lower your score (7 is the lowest possible score) the lower your approval of spanking and the higher your score (49 is the highest possible score), the greater your approval of spanking. A score of 21 places you at the midpoint between being very disapproving of or very accepting of spanking as a discipline strategy.

If you want to know the degree to which you approve of using time-out as a method of discipline, reverse the number you selected for all even numbered items (#2, #4, #6, #8, #10, #12, and #14. For example if you selected a 1 for item 2, change this number to a seven (i.e., 1 = 7; 2 = 6; 3 = 5; 4 = 4; 5 = 3; 6 = 2; 7 = 1). Now add these seven numbers. The lower your score (7 is the lowest possible score) the lower your approval of time-out and the higher your score (49 is the highest possible score), the greater your approval of time-out. A score of 21 places you at the midpoint between being very disapproving of or very accepting of time-out as a discipline strategy.

Scores of Other Students Who Completed the Scale

The scale was completed by 48 male and 168 female student volunteers at EastCarolinaUniversity. Their ages ranged from 18 to 34 with a mean age of 19.65 (SD = 2.06). The ethnic background of the sample included 73.1% White, 17.1% African American, 2.8% Hispanic, 0.9% Asian, 3.7% from other ethnic backgrounds; 2.3% did not indicate ethnicity. The college classification level of the sample included 52.8% Freshman, 24.5% Sophomore, 13.9% Junior, and 8.8% Senior. The average score on the spanking dimension was 29.73 (SD = 10.97) and the time-out dimension was 22.93 (SD = 8.86) suggesting greater acceptance of spanking than time-out.

Time-out differences. In regard to sex of the participants, female participants were more positive about using time-out as a discipline strategy (M = 33.72, SD = 8.76) than were male participants (M = 30.81, SD = 8.97) (p < .05). In regard to ethnicity of the participants, White participants were more positive about using time-out as a discipline strategy (M = 34.63, SD = 8.54) than were Non-White participants (M = 28.45, SD = 8.55) (p < .05). In regard to year in school, Freshmen more positive about using spanking as a discipline strategy (M = 34.34, SD = 9.23) than were Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors (M = 31.66, SD = 8.25) (p < .05).

Spanking differences. In regard to ethnicity of the participants, Non-White participants were more positive about using spanking as a discipline strategy (M = 35.09, SD = 10.02) than were White participants (M = 27.87, SD = 10.72) (p < .05). In regard to year in school, Freshmen were less positive about using spanking as a discipline strategy (M = 28.28, SD = 11.42) than were Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors (M = 31.34, SD = 10.26) (p < .05). There were no significant differences in regard to sex of the participants (p > .05) in the opinion of spanking.

Copyright: The Spanking Versus Time-Out Scale. 2006 by Mark WhatleyPhD, Department of Psychology, Valdosta State University, Valdosta, Georgia 31698. Use of this scale is permitted only by prior written permission of Dr. Whatley ().Information on the reliability and validity of this scale is available from Dr. Whatley.