Mothers' Perceptions of Relative Advantages and Disadvantages of Children at Different Ages and of Various Characteristics

-Mothers of 138 boys and 138 girlsalmost all middle class Caucasian Californians-rated the relative advantages and disadvantages of children at different ages. These broad trends held true, i n general, for both sexes and different birth orders, as well as for an additional rating of "children in general": (1) Pregnancy: more disadvantages than any other age except adolescence; ( 2 ) Ages 2 to 4 or 5: more disadvantages than ages 6 to 11; ( 3 ) Ages 6 to 11: a relatively advantageous plateau; ( 4 ) Ages 12 to 19: more disadvantages than any earlier age since birth. In general, ratings were toward the "advantages" side, but some analyses suggest that this may have resulted in part from distortion i n ratings Boys were rated as having more disadvantages than girls. The predictions tha t ratings would show more disadvantages (1) with each parity and ( 2 ) when made by mothers with larger families received support in comparisons berween some subgroups.