Does a profound change in toilet-training affect development of bowel and bladder control?

A major change in toilet-training was observed in two successive generations. The median onset of toilet-training was postponed by 13 months between the First Zürich Longitudinal Study (320 children born between 1954 and 1956) and the Second Zürich Longitudinal Study (309 children born between 1974 and 1984). Bladder control, both day and night, was not affected, but bowel control was delayed by 16 months, due not to a lack of training, but to the abandonment of maternal control. The results strongly confirm earlier findings that the development of bowel and bladder control is a maturational process which cannot be accelerated by early onset and high intensity of potty-training. The child's initiative proved to be a reliable indicator that the child was developmentally capable of being clean and dry. Girls were consistently earlier than boys, indicating different maturation rates. No significant correlations were noted between the socioeconomic status and start and intensity of toilet-training, onset of the child's initiative or development of bladder and bowel control.