Journal of Pedialric Psychology, Vol. 21, No. 3, 1996. pp.

433-446

Child-Rearing Difficulties Reported

by Parents of Infants and Toddlers'
Marion O'Brien2

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Universiry of Kansas

Received May 2, 1994; accepted July 21. 1995

Surveyed a nonclinical sample of 413 parents of infants and toddlers about child-
rearing difficulties, child behavior problems, and their own needs for support.
Despite their high educational and income level, the parents surveyed reported
raising young children to be a difficult task. Most concerns centered on children's
irritating but developmentally typical behavior such as whining, noncompliance
with adult requests, and interruption of adult activities. Parental reports of
difficulties were highest for parents with more than one child and when children
were past their second birthday.

KEYWORDS: infants and toddlers; child-reanng difficulties; child behavior problems; parent
needs.

Both popular perceptions and epidemiological studies of the prevalence of child

behavior problems suggest a steady increase in the number and intensity of
school-age children's problem behaviors in recent years (Achenbach & Howell,
1993; Rahim & Cederblad, 1984). Separate studies of preschool children's be-
havior problems conducted in Great Britain over several decades indicate a

'This research was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special
Education Programs, under award HO24U8000I. Portions of this work were presented at the Eighth
International Conference on Infant Studies, Miami Beach, Florida in May 1992, and the biennial
conference of the Society for Research in Child Development, New Orleans, Louisiana, in March
1993. The author thanks all the families who participated in the project, Melissa Boisen for assis-
tance with data collection, and Janice Chazdon and Samantha Chnsty-Dangermond for help in
preparation of the manuscript.
2
AII correspondence should be addressed to Marion O'Brien, Department of Human Development
and Family Life, 4001 Dole, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045.
433
0I46-K69.V96/O6O0-O43JJO9 50/0 C 1996 Pfcraim PuMishmg Cotporaion
434 O'Brien

similar trend among 3-year-olds. In 1975, Richman, Stevenson, and Graham

estimated 7% of 3-year-old children to exhibit moderate to severe behavior
problems, whereas in 1993, Stallard reported a prevalence of 10% using a similar
parent-report method. In addition, Stallard (1993) found that 16% of the parents
he surveyed reported having "a lot of concern" about their 3-year-olds' behavior,
suggesting that substantial numbers of parents are distressed about their young
children's behavior even though the children do not meet clinical cutoff scores on
behavior checklists.
Longitudinal research using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achen-
bach & Edelbrock, 1983) with 2- to 18-year-old children in the United States
indicates that behavior problems are not transient or variable. Instead, 2- to
3-year-old children who score within the clinical range on the CBCL at one time

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point tend to continue to show significant behavior problems across several years
(Stanger, McConaughty, & Achenbach, 1992; Verhulst & van der Ende, 1992).
Similarly, among British children birth to age 5, some types of behavior prob-
lems, such as night waking and temper tantrums, are reported by parents to be
persistent difficulties (Jenkins, Owen, Bax, & Hart, 1984) and to be related to
children's health status (Hart, Bax, & Jenkins, 1984). In a longitudinal study of
Australian children who were not clinic-referred, the majority were rated by
mothers as stable over time in either having behavior problems or having no
problems, whereas only 21% were considered to have "transient" problems
(Prior, Smart, Sanson, Pedlow, & Oberklaid, 1992). Given the consistency over
time in children's behavior problems, early identification in the infant, toddler,
or preschool years could add significantly to our ability to implement effective
preventive interventions.
Many health care professionals believe children who are ill or who have
chronic health problems exhibit negative or difficult behavior because of their
illness (Mattson & Weisberg, 1970; Stern & Arenson, 1989; Stern, Ross, &
Bielass, 1991). Furthermore, there is a widespread perception that mothers pam-
per children who have illnesses, thus contributing to continued behavior prob-
lems (Estroff, Yando, Burke, & Snyder, 1994; Walker, Ford, & Donald, 1987).
Yet when families with a child who is ill are compared with control families,
usually there are no differences in parents' reports of concerns, their satisfaction
with child rearing, or their approach to discipline (Davies, Noll, DeStefano,
Bukowski, & Kulkarni, 1991; levers, Drotar, Dahms, Doershuk, & Stem,
1994). These discrepancies between professional views and parents' experience
may be attributable to a lack of information about normative patterns of behavior
on the part of pediatric health care providers.
Few reports on the nature or prevalence of problem behaviors in U.S.
infants and toddlers, or about the response of parents to troublesome child
behavior, have been published in recent years. This is somewhat surprising,
given the widespread perception of 2-year-old children as difficult and demand-
Child-Rearing Difficulties 435

ing and the theoretical importance placed on the role of early childhood, and
particularly early parent-child relationships, in later development (Lamb, Ket-
terlinus, & Fracasso, 1992; Rutter, 1987). Achenbach, Edelbrock, and Howell
(1987) used parents' descriptions of their 2- and 3-year-old children's behavior
problems to suggest six possible clinical syndromes, but did not report the
frequency with which these can be identified in the general population. Several
descriptive studies of parental reports of their young children's behavior have
been carried out in Britain, generally focusing on specific problem areas such as
teething, sleeping, eating, toileting problems, temper tantrums, and high activity
level (Jenkins et al., 1984; Ounsted & Simons, 1978; Richman et al., 1975;
Stallard, 1993). None of these studies included information regarding parents'
response to their children's behavior or parents' perceptions of the difficulties

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involved in parenting infants and toddlers.
The present study was designed to provide a description of the nature of
child-rearing problems experienced by middle-class U.S. parents of infants and
toddlers in the 1990s. A nonclinical sample of more than 400 parents was
surveyed regarding the kinds of day-to-day events they find irritating, the catego-
ries of child behavior they consider to be problems, and the nature of their needs
for assistance with parenting. These normative data can provide a benchmark
against which clinicians can evaluate parents' complaints about their young
children, as well as suggesting areas of potential intervention or education for
parents.

METHOD

Subjects

The participants in this study were 413 parents living in a Midwestern

suburban area and identified through birth records as having a child who was
either 9, 18, 27, or 36 months of age. All families recorded as having a child of
the target age who were still living in the county were sent a packet of question-
naires along with a description of the purposes of the study. Of 1,273 packets
mailed out, 454 (35.7%) were returned. Forty-one subjects were not included in
this report because of a large amount of incomplete data, inaccurate or indeter-
minable child age information, or the presence of a child or other family member
with a disability, which might create sets of problems or child-rearing difficulties
that would not be comparable to other families. The sample was predominantly
middle-class (89.1%) and European American (97.1%), and almost all the re-
spondents (98.8%) were married, with two parents living in the household. The
children on whom data are reported included 238 males (57.6%); 32.4% were
only children, 46% had one older sibling; and the remaining 21.5% had two or
436 ' O'Brien

more older siblings. Mothers ranged in age from 21 to 43, with a mean of 31.6
years, and 59.6% of the mothers were employed outside the home.
Of the 413 families whose data are included in this report, 22 returned
questionnaires completed by the father. Initial analyses were carried out to deter-
mine if the fathers' responses differed systematically from those of mothers. As
no differences were found, the fathers' and mothers' questionnaires were com-
bined into a single sample. (Throughout this report, the entire sample is referred
to as "parents" and at times as "mothers," even though some fathers are in-
cluded.)

Measures

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Parenting Daily Hassles (Crnic & Greenberg, 1990). This measure lists 20
situations that are likely to occur in households with young children. Respon-
dents are asked to indicate the frequency with which each situation occurs in their
household using a 4-point scale (rarely, sometimes, a lot, constantly), and also
how much of a hassle the situation is to them using a 5-point scale (1 = no
hassle; 5 = big hassle). Based on Crnic and Greenberg (1990), six variables were
computed from this scale. A total frequency score was calculated as the sum of
the frequency ratings across all 20 items, and a total intensity score was calcu-
lated as the sum of the hassle ratings. Cronbach's alphas on these total scores
were reported by Cmic and Greenberg as .81 for frequency and .90 for intensity.
In the present sample, the alphas were .82 and .81, respectively. Frequency and
intensity scores for two subscales were also calculated (see Table I for the items
included in each subscale). The Parenting Tasks subscale included 8 items in-
volving time- or energy-consuming parental duties and the Challenging Behavior
subscale included 7 items describing child behavior that often presents diffi-
culties to parents. Crnic and Greenberg did not report alphas for these subscales;
in the present study, the alpha for Parenting Tasks frequency was .64 and for
intensity .63, and alpha on the Challenging Behavior subscale was .66 for
frequency and .68 for intensity.
Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (CB1; Eyberg & Ross, 1978; Robinson,
Eyberg, & Ross, 1980). This measure lists 36 child behaviors that may be
identified as problems; for each, parents are asked to indicate the frequency of
occurrence and whether or not the particular behavior is a problem for them. In
this study, the original frequency scale was modified from a 7- to a 3-point scale
(never, sometimes, often); because these results are not comparable with others
in the literature, they are not reported here. Only the parents' reports of whether
or not they consider each item a problem are included in the analyses. In a large
nonclinical sample of children ages 2 to 17, Burns, Patterson, Nussbaum, and
Parker (1991) reported a Cronbach's alpha of .91 for the problem scale. In the
present study, coefficient alpha was .91.
Child-Rearing Difficulties 437

TaWe I. Means and Standard Deviations for Frequency and Intensity of Daily Hassles

Frequency Intensity

Item M SD M SD

1 Cleaning up toys & food" 3.17 0.77 2.% 0.90

11 Need to keep a constant eye 2.76 1.04 234 1.05
on children*
8 Kids demand to be played with 2.29 0.76 2.19 094
or entertained''
2 Kids nag, whine, complain'' 2.27 0 83 294 1 19
12 Kids interrupt adults'" 2.23 0.83 2.49 1.12
15 Difficulties getting privacy 2.21 0.99 2 02 1.08
5 Hard to find babysitters 2.03 1.00 2.74 1.49

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3 Mealtime difficulties 201 0.92 2.29 1.19
4 Kids don't listen* 200 0.97 2.61 1.35
10 Kids, interfere with adult chores" % 0 76 2.22 0.95
16 Kids are hard to manage in public* .80 0 79 2.53 1.30
9 Kids resist bedtime* .78 0.86 2.24 1.26
6 Kids' schedules" .78 0.81 1.97 1 02
17 Hard to leave for outings on time" 75 0.74 2.14 1.07
20 Running extra errands for kids" 74 0 75 .60 0.81
14 Frequent changes of clothes" .66 0.78 .54 0.79
13 Changing plans because of .51 0.62 .92 1.07
children's basic needs"
7 Refereeing sibling arguments" 49 1.07 .81 1.42
18 Difficulty separating 40 0 68 .77 1.05
19 Kids have difficulties with friends .24 0 65 45 0.90

Total score 39.5 6.7 43.8 10.4

Parenting Tasks 15 2 3.0 16.2 4.3
Challenging Behavior 15 3 31 17.3 48

"Items making up the Parenting Tasks subscale.

''Items making up the Challenging Behavior subscale

Parent Needs Survey. An inventory of expressed parent needs was adapted

from a survey developed by Seligsren and Darling (1989) for use with parents of
children with disabilities. The survey was adapted for families of typical children
by eliminating items addressing children's special needs and adding 5 items
(improving parent's education or skills, information about toys, time to keep in
shape, information about household safety, and help in dealing with stress). The
resulting instrument was a 20-item list of possible needs; for each item, parents
indicated whether they had no need for help, would like some help, or really
needed help. A total needs score was then calculated by summing the number of
items on which parents indicated any need for help.
438 O'Brien

RESULTS

Descriptive Data

Means and standard deviations for the Frequency and Intensity scores of
items making up the Parenting Daily Hassles scale are shown in Table I; the
percentage of parents reporting each of the behaviors on the Eyberg Child Behav-
ior Inventory to be a problem for them is shown in Table II; and the percentage of

Table II. Percentage of Parents Reporting Child Behavior to be a Problem

on the Child Behavior Inventory

% reporting

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Item problem

15 Whines 43.1
9 Refuses to obey unless threatened 37.5
12 Gets angry when doesn't get own way 35.1
4 Refuses to eat food presented 32.9
10 Acts defiant 30.5
17 Yells or screams 29.8
29 Interrupts 29.3
1 Dawdles in getting dressed 29.1
13 Has temper tantrums 28.8
7 Refuses to go to bed on time 28.6
2 Dawdles at mealtime 24.2
6 Slow getting ready for bed 23.7
8 Does not obey house rules on own 23.7
5 Refuses to do chores 23.7
33 Has difficulty entertaining self 21.5
28 Constantly seeks attention 20.3
18 Hits parents 19.9
16 Cries easily 19.6
23 Teases other children 18.4
11 Argues with parents about rules 18.4
25 Verbally fights with siblings 18.2
14 Sasses adults 17.2
27 Physically fights with siblings 15.3
3 Poor table manners 14.3
35 Overactive or restless 14.3
20 Careless with toys 14.0
32 Fails to finish task 11.4
22 Lies 11.4
24 Verbally fights with peers 10.9
31 Short attention span 10.2
19 Destroys toys 9.2
30 Easily distracted 9.0
26 Physically fights with peers 8.2
36 Wets the bed 6.5
34 Difficulty concentrating 6.3
21 Steals 1.2

Mean no. of problems 7.16 (SD = 6.74)

Child-Rearing Difficulties 439

parents reporting a need for assistance with each of the items on the needs survey
is reported in Table III.

Family Demographic Factors

Initial analyses were run to test for differences associated with child gender
and family demographics. No differences based on child gender were found for
any of the measures. Correlation coefficients between maternal age and the
summary variables from the Parenting Daily Hassles scale were low in magni-
tude, ranging from - . 0 8 to .27. Analyses of the role of maternal education
indicated that mothers with some college reported a lower intensity of daily
hassles than those with either less or more education, F = 6.07, p < 01, and

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mothers with only a high school education reported needing help in more areas of
their lives than did college-educated mothers, F = 8.49, p < .001. The sample
was relatively homogeneous with regard to other potentially important demo-
graphic factors such as marital status and socioeconomic status (SES) based on
father's job classification; thus, these factors were not analyzed.

Child Age and Family Size

Multivariate analyses of variance, with follow-up univariate tests and Scheffe'

post hoc comparisons, were used to test for differences associated with child age
Table III. Percentage of Parents Reporting a Need for Assistance

Item %

13 More time for self 83.3

18 Time to get in shape 76.5
20 Help in dealing with stress 68.8
7 Information about behavior problems 60.0
1 Someone who can babysit 58.8
6 Someone to talk to about child-rearing problems 55.4
4 More money 49.9
3 Information about child development 46.5
11 More friends with children my child's age 42.1
15 More time to be with child 39.2
9 Information about nutrition or feeding 35 1
5 Information about childcare 32.7
8 Bigger/better house or apartment 30.0
16 Improving own education or skills 300
14 Problems with spouse 29.1
19 Information about household safety 20.6
10 Problems with rclatives/fnends/neighbors 19.1
2 Better medical care 11.1
17 Toys for my child 90
12 A car or other transportation 6.5

Mean total no. of needs reported 10.3 (SD = 5 7)

440 O'Brien

(4 groups) and family size (3 groups: 1 child, 2 children, and 3 or more children)
on all measures. Because of the number of analyses conducted, only results
significant at the .01 level are reported.
Parenting Daily Hassles. Child Age (4) X Family Size (3) multivariate
analyses of variance were carried out on the total hassles scores and on the
subscales measuring Parenting Tasks and Challenging Behavior. For the total
frequency and intensity scores, there was not a significant Child Age x Family
Size interaction, Hotelling's F(\2, 788) = 1.38, or main effect for Child Age,
Hotelling's / r (6, 788) = 2.15, but the main effect for Family Size was signifi-
cant, Hotelling's F(4, 788) = 8.64, p < .001. Univariate results indicated that
both the frequency, F = 15.67, p < .001, and intensity, F = 12.85, p < .001, of
hassles varied with Family Size. Post hoc tests showed that parents' reported

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frequency of daily hassles was significantly lower in families with only 1 child,
M = 36.9, SD = 5.8, than in families with 2, M = 40.5, SD = 6.8, or 3 or more
children, M = 41.6, SD = 6.3. Similarly mothers with one child perceived the
intensity of hassles to be lower, M = 39.3, SD = 9.3, than did those with 2,
M - 45.4? SD = 9.9, or 3 or more children, M = 47.1, SD = 10.6. No
interaction effect or main effect for age of child was found for the Parenting Tasks
subscale; not surprisingly, however, there was a highly significant main effect for
Family Size, Hotelling's F(4, 788) = 13.12, p < .0001. Univariate and post hoc
tests showed that both the frequency, F = 23.59, p < .0001, and intensity, F =
18.14, p < .0001, of Parenting Tasks increased linearly with the number of
children in the family. For parents with 1 child, Parenting Tasks frequency
averaged 14.3 (SD = 2.8); with 2 children, 15.3 (2.9), and with 3 or more
children, 16.6 (2.9). Parenting Tasks intensity scores followed a similar pattern:
1 child, M = 14.6, SD = 4.0; 2 children, M = 16.3, SD = 4.1; and 3 or more
children, M = 18.1, SD = 4.3. A significant Child Age x Family Size interac-
tion was found for the Challenging Behavior subscale, Hotelling's F(12, 788) =
2.34, p < .01. Univariate results indicated that this result was accounted for by
the Challenging Behavior intensity scale, which is graphed in Figure 1. For
families with 1 child, increasing Child Age was associated with a linear increase
in the reported intensity of Challenging Behavior, whereas families with 2 or
more children perceived Challenging Behavior to be equally intense across all
ages studied. The frequency of Challenging Behavior increased with Family Size
but was not systematically related to Child Age. Parents with 1 child had average
Challenging Behavior frequency scores of 14.4 (SD = 2.9), significantly lower
than those with 2 children, 15.9 (3.3), or those with 3 or more children, 15.5
(2.7).
Child Behavior Inventory. An ANOVA was used to analyze for the effects of
Child Age (4) and Family Size (3) on the number of problems reported by parents
on the Child Behavior Inventory. The interaction of Child Age with Family Size
was not statistically significant, F(6, 401) = 1.91, but both main effects were
Child-Rearing Difficulties 441

20

15-

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10-
• • X - - three or more chidren
— O— two children
• onechBd

-18 27 36
Age in Months of Youngest Child

Fig. I. Mean Challenging Behavior Intensity scores for families of varying size whose youngest
child is 9. 18, 27, or 36 months of age.

significant: Child Age, F(3, 401) = 12.2, p< .0001; Family Size, F(2, 401) =
10.5, p < .0001. Across all sizes of families, child behavior problems were
perceived as increasing in frequency from 9 months (M = 4.9, SD = 6.1) to 18
months {M = 6.8, SD = 5.5) to 27 months (M = 9.8, SD = 7.8), and then
declining slightly at 36 months (A/ = 8.9, SD = 6.3). Parents with I child
perceived their children to have fewer behavior problems (M = 5.0, SD = 5.3)
compared with those having 2 (M = 7.7, SD = 7.0) or 3 or more children (M =
9.2, SD = 7.4). Because there are two items on the CBI that involve sibling
difficulties, these analyses were run again omitting these items, which would not
be applicable to parents with only 1 child. The results were essentially identical
to those reported above using the total problem score.
Parent Needs Survey. The number of areas in which mothers reported a need
for help did not vary by Child Age or Family Size. Thus, even though mothers of
older children and those with larger families perceived child-rearing to be more
442 O'Brien

difficult and saw their children as having more problems, they were not more
likely to report a need for help with parenting.
Correlations Among Measures. Pearson product-moment correlation coeffi-
cients were calculated to determine the interrelationships among the measures
used. All correlations were statistically significant at a .0001 level, given the
relatively large sample. The two summary measures from the Daily Hassles
scale, frequency and intensity, were correlated with each other at .69. Correla-
tions between these measures and the total problem score from the CBI were .41
for the frequency of hassles and .53 for the intensity scale. Parents' reported
needs correlated with the frequency of hassles at r = .31, with the intensity of
hassles at r = .33, and with the total CBI problem score at r = .29.

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Maternal Employment

As 60% of the sample responding to the survey were employed mothers, the
role of out-of-home work in mothers' perceptions of child-rearing problems was
of interest. T tests comparing employed with at-home mothers indicated no
effects of employment on any of the summary measures from the Parenting Daily
Hassles scale or the Child Behavior Inventory. Mothers who were employed did
report a marginally higher number of areas of need, M = 10.85, SD = 5.83,
compared with at-home mothers, M = 9.49, SD = 5.36, /(411) = 2.42, p < .05.
This difference, although statistically reliable, translates into only slightly more
than one additional area of need. In general, mothers of young children report
similar difficulties and needs for help with child-rearing regardless of their work
status.

DISCUSSION

It is clear from the results of this survey that parenting infants and toddlers is
perceived as a difficult task, even by relatively affluent and well-educated
middle-class parents with healthy and typically developing children. Parents'
reports of their day-to-day experiences on the Daily Hassles scale show that they
find both the frequency and the intensity of child-rearing demands to be consid-
erably more troublesome than a sample of parents of 5-year-olds surveyed by
Crnic and Greenberg (1990). In addition, almost a quarter (95 or 23.0%) of the
parents surveyed reported their children to have 12 or more problems, placing
them above the recommended clinical referral score for 2-year-olds and older
children on the Child Behavior Inventory (Eyberg & Ross, 1978). Although not
all of these children should necessarily be considered at high risk for later
behavior disorders, this finding suggests that a substantial number of middle-
class parents could benefit from information about appropriate behavior manage-
ment approaches. Although it has been often suggested that routine pediatric care
Child-Rearing Difficulties 443

should include a greater focus on child behavior and parent education (Chamber-
lin, 1974; Christophersen, 1986; Howard, 1991), this recommendation is rarely
heeded (Glascoe, MacLean, & Stone, 1991; Triggs & Perrin, 1989). Pediatric
psychologists may need to increase their efforts to educate pediatricians about the
importance of anticipatory guidance for parents while their children are infants
and toddlers.
The difficulties and problems reported by the families in this survey were
relatively consistent, suggesting that many concerns were shared by these
middle-class parents of children from infancy through the early preschool years.
On the CBI, more than 40% of all parents reported children's whining to be a
problem for them. Other problems reported by more than a third of all families

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were children's refusing to obey unless threatened and getting angry when they
don't get their own way. Children's refusal to eat food presented was the fourth
most common problem reported. Also, about 30% of all parents reported several
problems suggesting that their children are sometimes out of control or defiant.
On the Daily Hassles scale, approximately a third of all parents reported the same
difficulties: finding babysitters; nagging, whining, and complaining; children's
refusal to do what they are asked; and the difficulty of managing children in
public. Continually cleaning up messes of toys or food was a complaint of 25%
of the parents, and kids interrupting adults of 20%. Most of these problems are
relatively mild annoyances, but they can escalate into more serious concerns as
children grow.
It is interesting to compare these parents' reports of common problems with
a description of 2-year-olds with minor pediatric illnesses (Mattson & Weisberg,
1970). While they were sick, children were described as "clinging" and "whiny,"
insisting on physical closeness, frequently interrupting mothers' activities, irrita-
ble, intolerant to frustration, and unable to occupy themselves. All of these
behaviors are also typical of healthy toddlers. Thus, pediatric health care pro-
viders should not automatically assume that parents' reports of difficulties with
their children, that come up when the child is being treated for a medical prob-
lem, are related to the child's illness.
The results of the present study indicate that parents with two or more
children find parenting more difficult and challenging than do parents of one
child. This may be related simply to the increased demands placed on parents
who have several young children in the household. It also appears from this study
that parents perceive their 2-year-olds to be more difficult than infants, I-year-
olds, or 3-year-olds. Parents' reports of problem behaviors were highest in the
present sample when children were just past their second birthday. Similarly, the
Challenging Behavior subscale of the Parenting Daily Hassles measure showed a
peak at 27 months. From the results of this study, it is not possible to determine
whether the reputation of the "terrible 2s" biases parents' perceptions of their
children's behavior, or alternatively, the combination of the typical toddler's
increased mobility, emotional lability, and newfound autonomy may in fact pose
444 O'Brien

considerable difficulties for parents, even those with substantial educational and
Financial resources.
Most parents in this sample recognized a need for help with the difficult task
of parenting, suggesting that today's parents may be particularly open to inter-
vention and education efforts. Parents of young children also expressed a need
for more time for themselves (83.3%) and time to get in shape and look nice
(76.5%). These needs were cited equally often by mothers who were full-time
homemakers as by mothers employed outside the home. In general, although
employment of both parents is typically seen as placing stress on the family
(Jordan, Cobb, & McCully, 1989; Sperry, 1993), employed mothers in this
sample did not report more child-related difficulties or behavior problems than
nonemployed mothers.

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Because the families surveyed in this study were contacted by mail and only
slightly more than a third of those receiving packets returned them, the results of
the survey must be interpreted cautiously. The demographics of the sample
indicate that some categories of families may have chosen not to participate,
limiting the generalizability of the findings. For example, essentially all the
families responding were intact, two-parent families of European American an-
cestry. Most had college degrees and were of middle to upper middle-class SES.
This was expected at the outset because the suburban area where the surveys
were distributed is relatively homogeneous and highly affluent. Thus, the results
can be seen as reflecting the views of well-educated parents who have adequate
incomes to support their families.
In general, the task of parenting is not one for which adults in our society
are specifically trained. Parent education efforts are more often remedial than
preventive, even though it seems likely that early establishment of effective
parenting practices would be more successful in reducing the incidence of child
behavior problems than later efforts to change negative or coercive patterns of
interaction. The results of the survey presented here can help professionals
identify areas of concern to a large number of parents and target education efforts
in directions that parents are likely to find most useful. In addition, these results
indicate categories of infant and toddler behavior that are irritating to parents but
that do not necessarily suggest psychopathology. These data thus provide a
normative comparison against which to evaluate parental reports of child behav-
ior problems and child-rearing difficulties.

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