Secular Trends and Individual Differences in Toilet-Training Progress

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Abstract
Longitudinal data were obtained for a group of 71 children between 18 and 33 months old for the age of onset and completion of mature toileting behavior, physiological maturity, and maternal pressure for toilet training. The first appearance of toileting skills and the acquisition of mature toilet-training behavior occurred later in 1975 than in a comparable 1947 cohort: Onset occurred between 18 and 26 months and completion was between 26 and 33 months, with girls finishing sooner than boys. Mothers who press for training have children whose skills emerge sooner. Girls who start sooner finish sooner. Mature boys (as measured by sleep patterns) finish sooner. Partial support was found for the hypothesis that onset of toileting skills depends more on socialization, while completion depends more on maturation. The unexpected sex difference may be due to differences in the relationship of sleep maturity to overall maturation for boys and girls.

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