Abstract
The associations between menarcheal status and several child-rearing and outcome variables were examined for mother-daughter and father-daughter dyads. All variables were assessed with questionnaires as an extension of earlier observational studies. Analyses were conducted via multiple regression analyses wherein menarcheal status was treated as a continuous variable and was entered into the regression equation as a set of power polynomial terms. The results indicated that most of the significant relations occurred for the mother-daughter dyad, and most of these relations were curvilinear. When menarche occurs at or around the modal time, changes in parent-child relations may be best thought of as temporary perturbations, but when menarche occurs early the effects may persist.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alexander, J. F. (1973). Defensive and supportive communication in family systems.J. Marr. Fam. 35: 613–617.
Baumrind, D. (1968). Authoritarian vs. authoritative control.Adolescence 3: 255–272.
Block, J. H. (1978). Another look at sex differentiation in the socialization behaviors of mothers and fathers. In Sherman, J., and Denmark, F. (eds.),Psychology of women: Future Directions of Research, Psychological Dimensions, New York.
Blos, P. (1962).On Adolescence: A Psychoanalytic Interpretation, Free Press, New York.
Blos, P. (1979).The Adolescent Passage, International Universities Press, New York.
Blyth, D. A., Thiel, K., and Garbarino, J. (1978). Parent telephone interview from transition to adolescence study. Unpublished manuscript, Boys Town Center for the Study of Youth Development, Boys Town, Neb.
Brooks-Gunn, J., and Ruble, D. N. (1983). The experience of menarche from a developmental perspective. In J. Brooks-Gunn, J., and Petersen, A. C. (eds.),Girls at Puberty: Biological and Psychosocial Perspectives, Plenum, New York, pp. 155–178.
Cohen, J., and Cohen, P. (1983).Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, N.J.
Deutsch, H. (1944).Psychology of Women, Grune & Stratton, New York.
Devereux, E. C. (1970). The role of peer group experience in moral development. In Hill, J. P. (ed.),Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology, (Vol. 4), University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, pp. 94–140.
Duncan, O. D. (1977). A socioeconomic index for all occupations. In Reiss, A. J., Jr. (ed.),Occupations and Social Status, Arno Press, New York, pp. 109–138.
Erikson, E. (1968).Identity: Youth and Crisis, Norton, New York.
Faust, M. S. (1960). Developmental maturity as a determinant of prestige of adolescent girls.Child Dev. 31: 173–184.
Freud, A. (1958). Adolescence.Psychoanal. Stud. Child 13: 231–258.
Freud, A. (1966).The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense, International Universities Press, New York.
Garbarino, J. (1978). Family and neighborhood interview. Unpublished manuscript, Boys Town Center for the Study of Youth Development.
Greif, E., and Ulman, K. H. (1982). The psychological impact of menarche on early adolescent females: A review of the literature.Child Dev. 53: 1413–1430.
Hall, G. S. (1904).Adolescence: Its Psychology and Its Relations to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion, and Education, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Hetherington, E. M., Stouwie, R., and Ridberg, E. H. (1971). Patterns of family interaction and child-rearing attitudes related to three dimensions of juvenile delinquency.J. Abnorm. Psychol. 77: 160–176.
Hill, J. P. (1980). The family. In Johnson, M. (ed.),Toward Adolescence: The Middle School Years. The Seventh-Ninth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp. 32–55.
Hill, J. P., and Lynch, M. E. (1983). The intensification of gender-related role expectations during early adolescence. In Brooks-Gunn, J., and Petersen, A. C. (eds.),Girls at Puberty: Biological and Psychosocial Perspectives, Plenum, New York, pp. 201–228.
Kandel, D., and Lesser, G. S. (1972).Youth in Two Worlds, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Kohn, M. L. (1977).Class and Conformity, 2nd ed., University of Chicago press, Chicago.
Newson, J., and Newson, E. (1968).Four Years Old in an Urban Community, Pelican, Harmondworth, Eng.
Petersen, A. C., and Taylor, B. (1980). The biological approach to adolescence: Biological change and psychological adaptation. In Adelson, J. (ed.),Handbook of Adolescent Psychology, Wiley, New York, pp. 117–155.
Schaefer, E. S. (1955). A circumplex model for maternal behavior.J. Abnorm. Soc. Psychol. 59: 226–235.
Schaefer, E. S., and Bayley, N. (1963). Maternal behavior, child behavior, and their intercorrelations from infancy through adolescence.Monogr, Soc. Res. Child Dev. 28 (Ser. No. 28).
Spence, J. T., and Helmreich, R. L. (1978).Masculinity and Femininity: Their Psychological Dimensions, Correlates, and Antecedents, University of Texas Press, Austin.
Steinberg, L. D. (1981). Transformations in family relations at puberty.Dev. Psychol. 17: 833–840.
Steinberg, L. D., and Hill, J. P. (1978). Patterns of family interaction as a function of age, the onset of puberty, and formal thinking.Dev. Psychol. 14: 683–684.
Tanner, J. (1962).Growth at Adolescence, 2nd ed., Charles C Thomas, Springfield, Ill.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The research reported here was funded by Father Flanagan's Boys Home, Inc., and by a grant to the senior author from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, “Family Relations in Early Adolescence.”
Received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Harvard University.
Received his M.S. from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Received her M.S. in counseling psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Received his M.S. from the University of Nebraska.
She received her Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Cornell University.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hill, J.P., Holmbeck, G.N., Marlow, L. et al. Menarcheal status and parent-child relations in families of seventh-grade girls. J Youth Adolescence 14, 301–316 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02089236
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02089236