51 MOTHERS' EXPECTATIONS OP DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES

Abstract

Studies of both adolescent and abusive parents suggest that unrealistic expectations for an infant's development stress the child and family. How prevalent are such expectations among more typical, lower-SES urban mothers? What demographic characteristics are associated with accurate or inaccurate expectations for developmental landmarks? We addressed these questions by interviewing 100 adult mothers (67% black, 22% white, 11% Hispanic) attending a hospital primary care clinic with infants less than 90 days old. During a structured interview, mothers indicated the age at which an average infant should master motor, language, social and selfcare milestones. We scored responses as accurate or inaccurate by comparing mothers' expectations with Denver, Bayley and other published norms. Mothers also reported how they learned about childrearing. Major findings were: a) proportions of accurate responses were highest for smiling (78%), rolling (73%) and understanding “no” (74%); b) mothers held early expectations for walking (40% before 11 months), speaking sentences (40% before 14 months), and toilet training (60% before 18 months); c) compared to black mothers, white mothers expected significantly later toilet training; d) 80% of mothers did not expect newborns to see faces; e) factors predicting inaccurate expectations included low SES, low education, foreign birth and primiparity; f) mothers who learned about children from direct experience had more accurate expectations for developmental milestones.

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