Childrearing attitudes among parents of very low birth weight and normal birth weight children.

The childrearing attitudes of parents of school-age children born at weights under 1500 g (VLBW) were compared with those of parents of age- and gender-matched children born at full term (NBW) to determine whether there were systematic differences between the two groups and whether parental attitudes were associated with child outcomes. Parents completed a self-report measure of childrearing attitudes and provided information on the child's health since birth. The children were given measures of IQ and self-concept, and their teachers rated their social and academic competence. Neonatal morbidity and subsequent need for hospitalization were unrelated to parental attitudes. Parents of VLBW children reported less use of guilt as a control strategy. They were also less child-centered, particularly if their children had chronic respiratory or ear-nose-throat problems. Greater parental warmth, less control through guilt, and less parental detachment were associated with more socially competent behavior and more positive self-concept in 9-year-old VLBW children.