Child Effects on Adults

It is usual to consider the effects parents have on children; this title, originally published in 1977, reverses the focus and reveals a subject every bit as important and interesting. The authors, both professional psychologists, present their findings under three major headings - "e;History"e;, "e;Theories and Research Approaches"e; and "e;Concepts and Findings"e; - that discuss the social, psychological, and biological influences children exert on parents. Bell and Harper oppose the "e;intellectual apartheid"e; that prevents behavioural scientists from investigating "e;the continuity of interaction processes from other animals to man"e; and include substantial research findings in mammalian biology to show more precisely the reciprocal relations between parents and their offspring. Their "e;bidirectional approach"e; to the study of child-rearing is meant to offset empirical prejudices that had so far dominated child-care sciences at the time.