COVID-19 is a global crisis that has added fear, uncertainty, and stress to parents. Parents are going through several challenges related to school closure, financial insecurity and working remotely. ...These stressors are affecting the mental health of parents.
This study aimed to observe major stressors along with the impact of COVID-19 on parental concerns and practices during lockdown.
Sample (N = 923) was selected through purposive sampling from parents attending Out Patients Departments of hospitals in three provincial capital cities of Pakistan having a high burden of COVID-19, i.e. Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar. Parents having at least one child younger than 18 years were included in the study.
A quantitative design was used using a COVID-19 Parenting Response Scale (α = 0.74). It was used as a self-administered tool for parents who knew how to read and write Urdu/English language, however it was conducted as a structured interview for those who could not read/write. Data was analyzed by applying descriptive statistics (frequency, mean, percentage), independent sample t-test and Pearson Product Moment Correlation.
Findings of the current study showed several stressful factors for parents during COVID-19 pandemic, mainly financial burden, children's education, uncertainty of the situation, and many others. The study also suggests an association of parental concerns during COVID-19 with parenting practices.
COVID-19 pandemic presents a global crisis not only of the health of the people but also on family relations and mental well-being. Findings of this research indicate the need for targeted and accessible interventions for mental health of parents especially during these challenging circumstances so that they can cope with the challenges in an effective way and be able to take care of their children better.
Objective
We present parenting regulatory focus as a theoretical framework to understand parenting goal motivations and describe the development and validation of a 16‐item Parenting Regulatory Focus ...Scale.
Background
Most parenting research is focused on parenting behaviors, but it is also important to understand the goal motivations behind parental approaches to raising children.
Method
We used two independent samples (N1 = 856; N2 = 497) to validate the Parenting Regulatory Focus Scale as a two‐factor structure composed of promotion‐ and prevention‐based parenting regulatory focus. Across two studies, we tested the construct validity of the Parenting Regulatory Focus Scale through correlations with general regulatory focus, parents' personality traits, child temperament, parenting styles and behaviors, and child adjustment.
Results
The scale scores demonstrated good internal reliabilities (αs = .86–.91), as well as 2‐week (αpromotion = .65, αprevention = .77) and 6‐month test–rest reliabilities (αpromotion = .61, αprevention = .66). Path analysis supported the relationship between parenting regulatory focus and child adjustment as mediated by parenting styles and behaviors.
Conclusions and Implications
The Parenting Regulatory Focus Scale is a promising tool that can contribute to parenting research and tailoring of parenting interventions.
The importance of parenting in influencing mental health outcomes, particularly depression, during childhood and adolescence is well known. However, the mechanisms are unclear. Emotion processing ...impairments in children are believed to be influenced by negative parenting behaviors and fundamental to depression. As such, investigating the association between parenting behavior and the neural underpinnings of emotion processing in children could provide fundamental clues as to the link between parenting and depression.
Eighty-six children (49 girls, mean age 10.1 years), as part of a longitudinal study, participated. Observational measures of maternal behavior were collected during 2 mother-child interactions. Children underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing an implicit emotion-processing task, and measures of child internalizing symptoms were collected.
Maternal negative behavior exhibited during an event-planning interaction was associated with decreased activation in the lingual gyrus in girls, whereas maternal negative behavior during a problem-solving interaction was associated with increased amygdala activation in the entire sample during processing of angry and fearful faces. Maternal communicative behavior during the 2 mother-child interactions was associated with increased activity in the bilateral middle orbitofrontal cortex in the entire sample. Negative behavior during the problem-solving interaction was associated with connectivity between the amygdala and superior parietal lobe. Brain activity/connectivity was not related to internalizing symptoms.
Results suggest that, in children, maternal behavior could be associated with activity in brain regions involved in emotion processing. However, more research is needed to elucidate the link among parenting, emotion processing, and depressive symptoms in young people.
The present study examined bidirectional effects between maternal and paternal parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive) and infant temperament (negative affect, ...orienting/regulatory capacity, surgency) in a diverse sample of 201 mothers and 151 fathers. Using 3 waves of longitudinal data (prenatal, 6 months, and 18 months), this study examined (a) whether maternal and paternal parenting styles prospectively predicted infant temperament; (b) whether mother- and father-reported infant temperament domains predicted parenting styles at 18 months; and (c) whether infant temperament and parenting styles at 6 months predicted parent-reported externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors at 18 months. Mothers and fathers reported on their expected parenting styles at all three waves, infant temperament at 6 months, and their toddler's emerging internalizing and externalizing problems at 18 months. Prospective parenting style effects revealed that maternal authoritative and permissive parenting style predicted infant orienting/regulatory capacity. Child evocative effects indicated infant orienting/regulatory capacity and negative affect predicted greater maternal permissive parenting style. Significant prospective parenting style effects on infant temperament and child evocative effects on paternal parenting style were largely not observed. Several parenting styles and infant temperament domains at 6 months predicted toddlers' externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors but results differed by parent. Findings suggest maternal prenatal perceptions of parenting style predict infant temperament, but temperament can also affect subsequent parenting. More research is needed to identify fathers' bidirectional effects including how fathering is affected by their children's characteristics.
This study identified the profiles of Chinese children’s perceived parenting style and examined profile differences in worry and intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and whether differences on worry were ...mediated by IU. A sample of 591 primary school children (aged 9–12 years) in China completed self-report questionnaires assessing perceived parenting style, IU and worry. Latent profile analysis on six parenting dimensions (emotional warmth, rejection and overprotection for fathers and mothers) identified four parenting profiles: supportive, disengaged, harsh, and highly harsh. The supportive and disengaged parenting profiles showed lower levels of worry than the harsh and highly harsh parenting profiles, and the supportive parenting profile had the lowest level of IU. The results of multicategorical mediation analysis showed that difference in child worry between the supportive and harsh parenting profile was fully mediated by IU. The findings of this study revealed the internal mechanisms of child worry using a person-centered approach within the Chinese cultural background and provided initial evidence for parenting interventions to alleviate children’s worry.
Highlights
Chinese primary school children indicated four perceived profiles of parenting style.
The supportive profile led to low levels of worry and intolerance of uncertainty (IU).
IU fully mediated differences in worry between the supportive and harsh profiles.
Relations among parenting stress, parenting style, and child executive functioning for children with disabilities are not easily teased apart. The current study explored these relations among 82 ...children and adolescents age 7–18: 21 with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, 33 with autism spectrum disorder, and 28 typically developing. Results indicated that children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder or autism spectrum disorder had more executive functioning deficits, and their parents reported more parenting stress and a greater use of permissive parenting, compared to typically developing children. In general, increased parenting stress was associated with greater use of authoritarian and permissive parenting styles, as well as more problems with behavior regulation for children. Authoritarian and permissive parenting styles were associated with poorer child executive functioning. Child diagnostic group (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, typically developing) moderated relations between parent stress and child functioning, and between parenting style and child functioning. Implications for intervention with families of children with disabilities are discussed.
Prior studies have suggested the importance of individual characteristics among youths (e.g., self-efficacy) and parents (e.g., parenting style) that may mediate the risk of the youth engaging in ...compulsive, addictive behaviors like Internet addiction (IA). The current work was the first to examine the associations of IA with self-efficacy and parenting styles among a unique sample of Muslim college students in Israel. Participants (n = 500) reported on their symptoms of IA, self-efficacy, and their parents’ parenting practices. Consistent with the study hypotheses, authoritative parenting style and self-efficacy were correlated with fewer symptoms of IA (r = −0.34, p < 0.01; r = −0.49, p < 0.01, respectively), whereas permissive and authoritarian parenting styles were correlated with elevated indicators of IA (r = 0.41, p < 0.01; r = 0.46, p < 0.01, respectively). These findings are consistent with previous literature in Western samples, suggesting the cross-cultural importance of these personal attributes for reducing the risk of addictive Internet use.
Introduction; Caring for children and adolescents with mental disorders brings a unique set of stressors and challenges to the whole family. This study aimed to establish the proportion of caregiver ...burden for children with mental disorders and the parenting styles used by their primary caregivers. Methodology; this was a cross-sectional study: 74 caregivers for children (1-17 years) receiving care at Butabika hospital were enrolled using consecutive sampling method. Caregiver burden was measured using Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) and parenting styles assessed using the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire (PSDQ). Data was analyzed descriptively, using SPSS v25. Results; the mean age of caregivers 41± 9.7 years and were taking care of children with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder 20(27.0%), psychotic disorder 16(21.6%), Bipolar Affective Disorder15(20.3%) and autism spectrum disorder 14(18.9%). The mean caregiver burden score was 41.8 ±21.5 and majority 24(32.4%) had moderate to severe burden with 79.7% at a risk of developing depression. Authoritative parenting style was the most preferred (mean = 4.1±1.0). The study revealed that there is no significant relationship between caregiver burden and parenting styles used. Conclusion. There is substantial caregiver burden among caregivers of children with mental disorders with many at high risk for depression. Recommendations; Caregivers using alternative methods of parenting such as permissive and authoritarian need training to adapt the recommended parenting method. We recommend that health workers take a lead role in embracing parent centered programs to support and relieve the parenting stress such as triple P (positive parenting program) for those entering the caregiving role. Further studies to determine association between parenting styles and the caregiver’s quality of life need to be done in order to adapt culturally acceptable interventions.
Parenting in Chinese culture has been a central topic and there have been debate on whether western-derived parenting style is applicable to Chinese cultures in terms of both behavioral profiles and ...their relationships with child and adolescent adjustment. This study identified the subtypes of Chinese maternal parenting style and examined their stability and changes over the transition to early adolescence. In an urban Chinese sample (
N
= 2173, 48% girls), four waves of longitudinal data were collected when the adolescents were in the fifth (
M
= 11.27 years), sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Latent profile analysis identified four subtypes of parenting style: authoritative, authoritarian, average-level undifferentiated, and strict-affectionate. Adolescents of authoritative mothers exhibited the best overall adjustment, while adolescents of authoritarian mothers showed the worst adjustment. Adolescents of strict-affectionate mothers generally adjusted as well as those of authoritative mothers, except they showed lower academic achievement. The strict-affectionate parenting represented a culture-specific subtype of parenting style in Chinese culture. Latent transition analysis revealed high stability of parenting styles during early adolescence, but transitions between subtypes were also evident. These findings highlight the importance of revisiting Chinese parenting and examining the developmental course of parenting style.
Research on parenting styles and attachment experiences has paid little attention to the dimensions of moral development. It is, therefore, interesting to explore the relationship between parenting ...styles, internal working models of attachment, and the development of moral skills, in terms of moral disengagement. The study involved 307 young people (aged 19-25 years), and the dimensions examined were: parental styles (measured by the PSDQ: Tagliabue et al.,
2014
); attachment styles (ECR: Picardi et al.,
2002
); moral disengagement (MDS: Caprara et al.,
2006
). Results showed that the authoritative parenting style is negatively correlated with the two measures of attachment styles (anxiety and avoidance) and moral disengagement. The authoritarian and permissive styles are positively correlated with the two measures of attachment styles (anxiety and avoidance) and moral disengagement. Results also revealed a significant indirect effect of the authoritative style (b = −0.433, 95% BCa, CI −0.882, −0.090) and authoritarian style (b = −0.661, 95% BCa, CI .230, 1.21) on moral disengagement through anxiety. A serial mediation of anxiety and avoidance on the relationship between permissive style and moral disengagement (b = .077, 95% BCa, CI .0006, .206) is significant.
PDF
