ABSTRACT
Parents in all countries are most concerned about a healthy environment for their children. Even in West Germany, there are a relatively large number of parents perceiving environmental problems as a threat to their children. Hungarian parents are evidently the most content of all with their environment, with only 9% stating that their environment was "not healthy enough", but 56% that it was "very healthy". The "anti-children attitude of the state" is symbolic of the general dissatisfaction of parents on various levels: dissatisfaction with the financial benefits, the childcare situation and the fact that it is made difficult for them to achieve a balance between work and family. While for Hungary the profoundly emotional estimation or children seems to be a basic cultural pattern, in the other countries such an attitude represents a departure from the norm.
