| This dissertation examines the history of parent education from 1915-1940, describing it as a movement to reform families, and ultimately American society, through the popularization of information on child development to parents nationwide. Although professionals in the fields of psychology, education, and medicine provided the content and leadership for parent education programs, the movement itself was orchestrated primarily by mothers who organized thousands of child study groups. Close examination of the records of parents' groups--their curricula, minutes of meetings, and social composition--complements the larger institutional history of parent education. By analyzing both the professional framework of parent education and the inner dynamics of child study groups, this study discloses the historical forces which contributed to the demand for information on childrearing, and the dynamics whereby mothers assimilated or rejected such knowledge.;The dissertation focuses on three major fronts of the parent education movement. First, I examine the role of women's organizations, such as the American Association of University Women, the Parent-Teacher Association, and the Child Study Association of America, in fostering child study work among club women. I also analyze child study clubs established among rural and small town women by university departments of home economics in conjunction with agricultural extension programs and child welfare institutes. Finally, I investigate those child study groups specifically designed by parent educators to reach immigrant, poor, and African-American women in urban centers. The activities of all these groups shed light on the utilization of social science and theories of progressive education in the "Americanization" campaigns of the 1910s and 1920s.;The dissertation examines both the content and methodology of child study work. The study uncovers variations in the educational techniques used in groups based on the class and ethnicity of the participants, as well as distinctions in the ways that women from diverse backgrounds processed and utilized theories of child development. Finally, it focuses attention on the overarching impact of the burgeoning mental hygiene movement on the ways that mothers thought about their children, themselves, and their families. |
