Some developmental antecedents of level of aspiration

This study consists of data collected from the children whose mothers participated in the 1951-1952 Sears, Maccoby, and Levin P̲atterns of Child Rearing study.̲ This follow-up focused on the child-rearing antecedents of level of aspiration in later life.

Of the 379 individuals who were five to six years old when their parents were interviewed in 1951-1952, 83 (37 females and 46 males) participated in this follow-up. At the time of this data collection, all participants were 18 years of age. All participants completed two personality scales, following which half performed a task designed to measure level of aspiration. The remaining subjects completed a measure of sensitivity to emotional communication prior to engaging in the level of aspiration performance.

The Murray Center has acquired the computer-accessible data. In addition to the original study (Sears, Maccoby, and Levin, A235), other follow-ups of this sample (Nowlis, A570; Edwards, A575, McClelland, A046; and McClelland & Franz, A1012) are available at the center.