Citation

Botkin D, Twardosz S. Early Child Res. Q. 1988; 3(2): 167-177.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1988, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0885-2006(88)90020-8

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study examined differences in (1) the amount of affectionate behavior that early childhood teachers expressed to individuals versus groups of children and (2) the amount of affection that teachers expressed to female and male children. Data were collected by conducting naturalistic observations of 47 female teachers in six day care centers. Teachers' affectionate behavior and the types of recipients were recorded. The behaviors observed were smiling, affectionate words, active affectionate physical contact, and passive affectionate physical contact. The data were converted to percentages and subjected to parametric multivariate analyses of variance. The teachers were found to express more affection to female children than to male children and more affection to individual children than to groups of children. Implications for teacher training and early childhood programs are discussed.