The conceptual model for malernal behavior was initially suggested by
a factor analysis of a set of inventory scales on maternal attitudes toward
childrearing. The results were interpreted as revealing two meaningful
factors that provide a conceptual framework for much of the data on
parental attitudes--Approval of Maternal Control and Approval of Expression
of Hostility. The control factor was best defined by the scales
of Suppression of Sexuality, Intrusiveness, Exclusion of Outside Influences,
Deification of the Parent, Ascendancy of the Mother, and Breaking
the Will; and the hostility factor by Irritability, Rejection of the Homemaking
Role, and Marital Conflict. By inferring the polar opposites of
the factors, two bipolar dimensions o[ love versus hostility and autonomy
versus control were constructed.