From a consideration of middle-class versus lower-class child-rearing practices, two contradictory types of predictions were formulated concerning possible effects of social class on children's motoric constrictionexpansiveness. Middle-class permissiveness compared to lower-class restrictiveness regarding parental sanctions for child behavior implies the outcome of greater motoric expansiveness for middle-class than for lower-class children. On the other hand, the relative dominance of verbal forms of expression in the middle class compared to nonverbal forms of expression in the lower class implies the outcome of greater motoric expansiveness for lower-class than for middle-class children. With 283 white children as subjects, greater motoric expansiveness, as measured in terms of designdrawing activity, was consistently found for lower-class than for middle-class children at each of four grade levels spanning the elementary school years, and this outcome also replicated for members of both sexes. Thus, the latter rather than the former theoretical perspective concerning social class effects clearly was supported by the data.
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