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Do African American mothers really "love" their sons and "raise" their daughters?

Jelani Mandara, Fatima Varner, and Scott Richman

J Fam Psychol 24(1):41-50 (2010) PMID 20175607

This study assessed 1500 adolescents from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth to test the hypothesis that African American mothers differentially socialize their girls and boys. The results showed that later-born boys had fewer chores, argued more with their mothers, lived in less cognitively stimulating homes, and were not allowed to make the same decisions as were the girls or firstborn boys at the same age. The later-born boys were also lowest in achievement and highest in externalizing behaviors. Parenting differences accounted for the achievement differences but not for the externalizing behavior differences. It was concluded that the later-born boys would achieve at the same rates as their siblings if they were socialized in the same manner as their siblings.

DOI: 10.1037/a0018072
Version: za2963e q8zad q8zb0 q8zca q8zd1 q8zeb q8zf0 q8zg7

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