SOCIALIZATION OF ACHIEVEMENT - INFLUENCE OF MOTHERS NEED FOR APPROVAL ON CHILDRENS ACHIEVEMENT COGNITIONS AND BEHAVIOR

This study investigated the effect of mothers need for approval (nApp) on children's expectancies for success and persistence during failure. Ninety 5th-grade boys and girls were asked to complete 4 puzzles, 3 of which were unsolvable. Subjects stated their expectancies before each trial, before the first and last trials, or before the last trial only. On each trial children's persistence was measured. In addition, nApp of the children's mothers was measured with the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. Gender differences in expectancies were found only for children with high-nApp mothers, with boys stating higher expectancies than girls before both the 1st and last trials. With regard to persistence, differences between groups emerged only for children with high-nApp mothers. No gender differences were found. Implications of these results for parental socialization of achievement are discussed.