Abstract The purpose of the current study was to establish a measure of helicopter parenting that was distinct from other forms of parental control, and to examine parental and behavioral correlates ...of helicopter parenting. Participants included 438 undergraduate students from four universities in the United States ( Mage = 19.65, SD = 2.00, range = 18–29; 320 women, 118 men), and at least one of their parents. Analyses revealed that helicopter parenting loaded on a separate factor from both behavioral and psychological control, and that helicopter parenting was positively associated with behavioral and psychological control, but not at levels suggesting complete overlap. Results also revealed that helicopter parenting was positively associated with parental involvement and with other positive aspects of the parent–child relationship; but negatively associated with parental autonomy granting and school engagement. Discussion focuses on the implications of helicopter parenting for healthy development during emerging adulthood.
The present meta-analysis assessed concurrent and longitudinal associations between parental educational expectations and child achievement, and factors that mediate the effect of expectations on ...achievement. A systematic search in electronic databases identified 169 studies that were included in a random-effects meta-analysis. We found small to moderate bivariate cross-sectional (
r
= .30) and longitudinal associations (
r
= .28) between parental expectation and achievement which persisted after statistically controlling for socioeconomic status. Associations varied, in part, by children’s age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, matching of type of expectations and achievement, type of expectation assessed, publication status, and informant. The analysis of cross-lagged effects indicated that parental expectations predicted change in child achievement, thus indicating that expectations had an effect over and above the effect of prior achievement. Effects of expectations on change in achievement were even stronger (
r
= .15) than the effects of achievement on change in expectation (
r
= .09). Parental expectations tended to be higher than the child achievement. Associations between expectations and achievement were partially mediated by educational expectations in the offspring, child academic engagement, and academic self-concept, and to a lesser extent, by parental achievement-supportive behaviors. We conclude that parents are recommended to communicate positive educational expectations to their children. The transmission of positive expectations to the offspring and the encouragement of academic engagement seem to be more effective in realizing parental expectations than parental behavioral academic involvement such as checking homework and staying in contact with teachers.
There is growing interest in the development of behavioral parent interventions targeting emotional and behavioral problems in children with autism spectrum disorders. Such interventions have ...potential to improve a number of child and parental well-being outcomes beyond disruptive child behavior. This systematic review and meta-analysis assesses evidence for the efficacy of behavioral parent interventions for disruptive and hyperactive child behavior in autism spectrum disorders, as well as parenting efficacy and stress. A total of 11 articles from nine randomized controlled trials were included. Sufficient data were available to calculate standardized mean difference and show favorable effects of behavioral parent interventions on parent-reported measures of child disruptive behavior (standardized mean difference = 0.67), hyperactivity (standardized mean difference = 0.31) and parent stress (standardized mean difference = 0.37); effects on parent efficacy are less clear (standardized mean difference = 0.39, p = 0.17). There were insufficient data to explore intervention effects on internalizing behavior in autism spectrum disorders, parenting behaviors, or observational and teacher-reported outcomes, providing important avenues for future research. This review adds to growing evidence of the efficacy of behavioral parent interventions for child behavior and parental well-being in autism spectrum disorders (Prospero: CRD42016033979).
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented families around the world with extraordinary challenges related to physical and mental health, economic security, social support, and education. The current study ...capitalizes on a longitudinal, cross-national study of parenting, adolescent development, and young adult competence to document the association between personal disruption during the pandemic and reported changes in internalizing and externalizing behavior in young adults and their mothers since the pandemic began. It further investigates whether family functioning during adolescence 3 years earlier moderates this association. Data from 484 families in five countries (Italy, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States) reveal that higher levels of reported disruption during the pandemic are related to reported increases in internalizing and externalizing behaviors after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic for young adults (Mage = 20) and their mothers in all five countries, with the exception of one association in Thailand. Associations between disruption during the pandemic and young adults' and their mothers' reported increases in internalizing and externalizing behaviors were attenuated by higher levels of youth disclosure, more supportive parenting, and lower levels of destructive adolescent-parent conflict prior to the pandemic. This work has implications for fostering parent-child relationships characterized by warmth, acceptance, trust, open communication, and constructive conflict resolution at all times given their protective effects for family resilience during times of crisis.
Socioeconomic Status, Parenting, and Child Development presents cutting-edge thinking and research on linkages among socioeconomic status, parenting, and child development. The contributors represent ...an array of different disciplines, and approach the issues from a variety of perspectives. Accordingly, their "take" on how SES matters in the lives of children varies.
This volume is divided into two parts. Part I concerns the constructs and measurement of SES and Part II discusses the functions and effects of SES. Each part presents four substantive chapters on the topic followed by an interpretive and constructively critical commentary.
The chapters--considered as a whole--attest to the value of systematically examining the components of SES and how each flows through an array of specific parenting practices and resources both within and outside the home environment to help shape the course of child development. The result is a more fully delineated picture of how SES impacts the lives of children in the 21st century--a picture that contains a road map for the next generation of studies of SES and its role in the rapidly evolving ecology of family life.
Based on groundbreaking original research, this book provides a comprehensive account of the issues surrounding pregnancy and parenthood for young people in and leaving care. Featuring the voices of ...care-experienced parents, together with reflections from practitioners, it offers valuable insights into the issues facing this group. Using qualitative data to explore why parenthood is such an important issue for young people in and leaving care, this book shows what can be learned from their experiences in order to improve outcomes for parents and children in the future. The author highlights the practical and emotional needs of care-experienced parents and gives clear advice for practitioners on how these needs might be better addressed through summary points, practice guidance and recommendations for policy and practice.
We examined a possible predictor of (step)parent-adult child closeness in adulthood, namely, the frequency of parental involvement in different child-rearing tasks during youth. We expected that ...although involvement in children's lives would be important for the strength of all intergenerational ties, it would be particularly important for stepparents' closeness with their adult stepchildren. We used the Parents and Children in The Netherlands survey to test our hypotheses. Our analytical sample consisted of the reports of adults (25-45 years old; n = 5,107) about how frequently different types of parents engaged with them in activities related to school, leisure, and personal communication (including reports about 1,361 stepmothers and 1,489 stepfathers). Our results clearly demonstrate that an increase in the frequency of performing a task was associated with more closeness during adulthood, but this effect was significantly stronger in stepparent-child compared to biological parent-child ties. We interpret this finding as stepparents having to "earn" or more explicitly demonstrate their desire for closeness to stepchildren. An interesting gender difference emerged in the position of divorced biological parents, with adult children's closeness to divorced biological fathers also being more contingent on parental involvement, whereas that was not unequivocally the case for divorced biological mothers.
How Does the Gender of Parents Matter? Biblarz, Timothy J.; Stacey, Judith
Journal of marriage and family,
02/2010, Volume:
72, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Claims that children need both a mother and father presume that women and men parent differently in ways crucial to development but generally rely on studies that conflate gender with other family ...structure variables. We analyze findings from studies with designs that mitigate these problems by comparing 2-parent families with same or different sex coparents and single-mother with single-father families. Strengths typically associated with married mother-father families appear to the same extent in families with 2 mothers and potentially in those with 2 fathers. Average differences favor women over men, but parenting skills are not dichotomous or exclusive. The gender of parents correlates in novel ways with parent-child relationships but has minor significance for children's psychological adjustment and social success.
In 1975, California courts stripped a lesbian mother of her custody rights because she was living openly with another woman. Twenty years later, the Virginia Supreme Court did the same thing to ...another lesbian mother. In ordering that children be separated from their mothers, these courts ruled that it was not possible for a woman to be both a good parent and a lesbian. The Right to be Parents is the first book to provide a detailed history of how LGBT parents have turned to the courts to protect and defend their relationships with their children. Carlos A. Ball chronicles the stories of LGBT parents who, in seeking to gain legal recognition of and protection for their relationships with their children, have fundamentally changed how American law defines and regulates parenthood. Each chapter contains riveting human stories of determination and perseverance as LGBT parents challenge the widely-held view that having a same-sexual orientation, or that being a transsexual, renders individuals incapable of being good parents. To this day, some courts are still not able to look beyond sexual orientation and gender identity in order to fairly apply legal principles in cases involving LGBT parents and their children. Yet on the whole, Ball's stories are of progress and transformation: as a result of these pioneering LGBT parent litigants, the law is increasingly recognizing the wide diversity in American familial structures. The Right to be Parents explores why and how that has come to be.
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