This article considers claims of Mesman et al. (2017) that sensitive responsiveness as defined by Ainsworth, while not uniformly expressed across cultural contexts, is universal. Evidence presented ...demonstrates that none of the components of sensitive responsiveness (i.e., which partner takes the lead, whose point of view is primary, and the turn-taking structure of interactions) or warmth are universal. Mesman and colleagues' proposal that sensitive responsiveness is "providing for infant needs" is critiqued. Constructs concerning caregiver quality must be embedded within a nexus of cultural logic, including caregiving practices, based on ecologically valid childrearing values and beliefs. Sensitive responsiveness, as defined by Mesman and attachment theorists, is not universal. Attachment theory and cultural or cross-cultural psychology are not built on common ground.
We examine how the shift to remote work altered responsibilities for domestic labor among partnered couples and single parents. The study draws on data from a nationally representative survey of ...2,200 US adults, including 478 partnered parents and 151 single parents, in April 2020. The closing of schools and child care centers significantly increased demands on working parents in the United States, and in many circumstances reinforced an unequal domestic division of labor.
A parent-directed intervention designed to foster growth-oriented mindsets about math was evaluated in a longitudinal randomized-control trial. Parents ( N = 615; 61% White, 22% Black; 63% with at ...least a bachelor’s degree) participated in the intervention or an active control condition in which they learned about the Common Core math curriculum. Parents reported on their math mindsets and parenting practices (e.g., autonomy-supportive math homework assistance) over 15–18 months; their young elementary school children’s ( M age = 7.17 years; 50% girls) math adjustment (e.g., mindsets and achievement) was also assessed. The intervention (vs. control) led to sustained increases in parents’ beliefs that math ability is malleable and math failure is beneficial for learning. The intervention, however, did not improve their math parenting practices or children’s math adjustment relative to the control. Instead, there were generally improvements in math parenting practices and children’s math adjustment over the course of the study regardless of condition, perhaps because the control condition provided parents with useful information about the Common Core math curriculum. Overall, the findings indicate that although the mindset intervention was effective in instilling stronger growth-oriented mindsets about math in parents, this did not translate into benefits for children’s math learning over and above the active control condition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)
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Understanding social aspects of parental well‐being is vital because parents' welfare has implications not only for the parents themselves but also for child development, fertility, and the overall ...health of a society. This article provides a critical review of scholarship on parenthood and well‐being in advanced economies published from 2010 to 2019. It focuses on the role of social, economic, cultural, and institutional contexts of parenting in influencing adult well‐being. The authors identify major themes, achievements, and challenges and organize the review around the demands‐rewards perspective and two other theoretical frameworks: the stress process model and the life course perspective. The analysis shows that rising economic insecurities and inequalities and a diffusion of intensive parenting ideology were major social contexts of parenting in the 2010s. Scholarship linking parenting contexts and parental well‐being illuminated how stressors related to providing and caring for children could unjustly burden some parents, especially mothers, those with fewer socioeconomic resources, and those with marginalized statuses. In that vein, researchers continued to emphasize how stressors diverged by parents' socioeconomic status, gender, and partnership status, with new attention to strains experienced by racial/ethnic minority, immigrant, and sexual minority parents. Scholars' comparisons of parents' positions in various countries expanded, enhancing knowledge regarding specific policy supports that allow parents to thrive. Articulating future research within a stress process model framework, the authors show vibrant theoretical pathways, including conceptualizing potential parental social supports at multiple levels, attending to the intersection of multiple social locations of parents, and renewing attention to local contextual factors and parenting life stages.
•34.6% of parents said their child’s behavior had changed since the pandemic.•Two out of five parents met criteria for depression or anxiety disorder.•Parent depression and stress were negatively ...associated with home education.•Parent anxiety and stress were positively associated with child anxiety.•Parents were hugging/ showing affection to child more often during pandemic.
This study reports on parent-child dynamics during initial COVID-19 related school closures, based on cross-sectional analyses of a survey that utilized a convenience sampling approach. Data were collected in April 2020, approximately five weeks after the World Health Organization declared that the Coronavirus was a pandemic. Participants (N = 405) were adults recruited throughout the U.S. This study examines data from parents (69% mothers and 31% fathers) with at least one child 0–12 years of age. The majority were White (71%) and 41% had at least a bachelor’s degree. The majority of parents (78%) were educating their child at home due to COVID-19. Most (77.1%) reported use of online tools for at-home education, including educational apps, social media, and school-provided electronic resources. More than one-third (34.7%) of parents said their child’s behavior had changed since the pandemic, including being sad, depressed, and lonely. Most parents were spending more time involved in daily caregiving of their children since COVID-19. Two out of every five parents met the PHQ-8 criteria for major depression or severe major depression (40.0%) and the GAD-7 criteria for moderate or severe anxiety (39.9%). Multivariate analyses indicated that, compared to non-depressed parents, parents who met criteria for probable major or severe depression (B = −0.16, 95% CI = −0.29, −0.02, p = .021) and parenting stress (B = −0.37, 95% CI = −0.47, −0.27, p < .001) were negatively associated with parents’ perceived preparation to educate at home. Compared to parents with minimal or mild anxiety, parents with moderate or severe anxiety reported higher child anxiety scores (B = 0.17, 95% CI = 0.06, 0.28, p = .002). Parenting stress was also positively associated with higher child anxiety scores (B = 0.40, 95% CI = 0.32, 0.48, p < .001). Content analyses of open-ended questions indicated that school closures were a significant disruption, followed by lack of physical activity, and social isolation. Overall, study results suggested that parents’ mental health may be an important factor linked to at-home education and child wellbeing during the pandemic.
The present meta-analysis integrates research from 1,015 studies on associations of parenting dimensions and styles with internalizing symptoms in children and adolescents. Parental warmth, ...behavioral control, autonomy granting, and authoritative parenting showed very small to small negative concurrent and longitudinal associations with internalizing symptoms. In contrast, harsh control, psychological control, authoritarian, and, in part, neglectful parenting were associated with higher levels of internalizing symptoms. Parental warmth, behavioral control, harsh control, psychological control, autonomy granting, and authoritative parenting predicted change in internalizing symptoms over time, with associations of internalizing symptoms with parental warmth, psychological control, and authoritative parenting being bidirectional. Moderating effects of study characteristics are identified. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
Parental burnout is a specific syndrome resulting from enduring exposure to chronic parenting stress. It encompasses three dimensions: an overwhelming exhaustion related to one’s parental role, an ...emotional distancing from one’s children and a sense of ineffectiveness in one’s parental role. This study aims to facilitate further identification of the consequences of parental burnout for the parents themselves, their spouses and their child(ren). In a sample of 1551 parents, we examined the relationship between parental burnout and seven possible consequences: escapism and suicidal thoughts, addictions, sleep disorders, marital conflicts, a partner estrangement mindset, and neglect and violence towards one’s child(ren). We examined (1) to what extent parental and job burnout related to each of these possible consequences and (2) whether parental burnout is specifically related to neglectful and violent behaviour towards one’s child(ren). The results suggest that parental burnout has a statistically similar effect to job burnout on addictions and sleep problems, a stronger effect on couples’ conflicts and partner estrangement mindset and a specific effect on child-related outcomes (neglect and violence) and escape and suicidal ideation. These results emphasize the importance of accurately diagnosing this syndrome.
The proliferation of new video conferencing tools offers unique data generation opportunities for qualitative researchers. While in-person interviews were the mainstay of data generation in ...qualitative studies, video conferencing programs, such as Zoom Video Communications Inc. (Zoom), provide researchers with a cost-effective and convenient alternative to in-person interviews. The uses and advantages of face-to-face interviewing are well documented; however, utilizing video conferencing as a method of data generation has not been well examined. The purpose of this paper is to examine the specific attributes of Zoom that contribute to high quality and in-depth qualitative interviews when in person interviewing is not feasible. While video conferencing was developed to facilitate long-distance or international communication, enhance collaborations and reduce travel costs for business these same features can be extended to qualitative research interviews. Overall, participants reported that Zoom video conferencing was a positive experience. They identified strengths of this approach such as: (1) convenience and ease of use, (2) enhanced personal interface to discuss personal topics (e.g., parenting), (3) accessibility (i.e., phone, tablet, and computer), (4) time-saving with no travel requirements to participate in the research and therefore more time available for their family. Video conferencing software economically supports research aimed at large numbers of participants and diverse and geographically dispersed populations.
Social scientists have documented a substantial increase in both mothers’ and fathers’ time spent with children since the 1960s in the United States. Yet parenting behaviors remain deeply divided by ...social class and gender, with important implications for the reproduction of inequality. To understand rising parental investments in children and persistent class and gender differences in parenting, popular accounts and academic studies have pointed to an apparent cultural shift toward norms of time-intensive, child-centered parenting, particularly for mothers and among middle-class parents. However, prior research has produced inconclusive evidence relating to social class, gender, and contemporary parenting norms. Using data from an original vignette survey experiment conducted with a nationally representative sample of more than 3,600 parents, this study examines cultural norms related to parenting elementary school-aged children, considering how both social class and gender shape views about good parenting. Results indicate that parents of different social classes express remarkably similar support for intensive mothering and fathering across a range of situations, whether sons or daughters are involved. These findings suggest that cultural norms of child-centered, time-intensive mothering and fathering are now pervasive, pointing to high contemporary standards for parental investments in children.
The COVID‐19 outbreak imposed to Italian families many changes in their daily life increasing the risk of developing psychological problems. The present study explored risk factors associated with ...parenting stress and implications for children’s emotion regulation in families with different socioeconomic risks. Parents of 2–14 years old children completed a survey reporting difficulties experienced due to the lockdown, level of household chaos, parenting stress, parent involvement in the child’s daily life, and children emotion regulation competences. The general mean levels of parenting stress and children emotion regulation abilities were not at clinical level compared with Italian norms. Household chaos predicted higher levels of parenting stress, which, in turn, was associated with less effective emotion regulation in children through the mediating role of parental involvement. More stressed parents were less involved in their children’s activities, decreasing children’s effective emotion regulation. Only for SES no‐risk families, the lockdown constraints increased parenting stress. For SES at‐risk families, the impact of parenting stress and involvement on children regulation strategies was stronger, with a protective role played by parental involvement on children’s negativity not evident for SES no‐risk families. Dealing with the lockdown is a stressful experience for parents who have to balance personal life, work, and children upbringing, without other help. This situation potentially impairs their ability to be supportive caregivers and is consequently detrimental for children well‐being. Policies should take into consideration the implications of the lockdown for families’ mental health and tailor supportive interventions according to family’s risk factors.
Resumen
El brote de la COVID‐19 impuso a las familias italianas muchos cambios en su vida cotidiana, los cuales aumentaron el riesgo de desarrollar problemas psicológicos. El presente estudio analizó los factores de riesgo asociados con el estrés de la crianza y las consecuencias para la regulación emocional de los hijos en familias con diferentes riesgos socioeconómicos. Un grupo de padres de niños de entre dos y 14 años contestó una encuesta donde informó las dificultades vividas debido al confinamiento, el nivel de caos en el hogar, el estrés en la crianza, la participación de los padres en la vida diaria de los hijos y las competencias de los hijos para regular sus emociones. Los niveles promedio generales de estrés en la crianza y las habilidades de regulación emocional en los niños no estuvieron a nivel clínico en comparación con las normas italianas. El caos en el hogar predijo niveles más altos de estrés en la crianza, el cual, a su vez, estuvo asociado con una menor regulación emocional eficaz en los niños mediante el rol mediador de la participación de los padres. Los padres más estresados participaron menos en las actividades de sus hijos, lo cual disminuyó la regulación emocional eficaz en los niños. Solo en los casos de las familias sin riesgo socioeconómico las limitaciones del confinamiento aumentaron el estrés en la crianza. Para las familias de riesgo socioeconómico, el efecto del estrés en la crianza y la participación en las estrategias de regulación emocional de los niños fue más profundo, y en el caso de las familias sin riesgo socioeconómico, no se evidenció el papel protector desempeñado por la participación de los padres en la negatividad de los niños.
Lidiar con el confinamiento es una experiencia estresante para los padres que tienen que compatibilizar la vida personal, el trabajo y la educación de los niños sin ninguna otra ayuda. Esta situación puede deteriorar su capacidad de ser cuidadores comprensivos y, como consecuencia, ser perjudicial para el bienestar de los niños. Las políticas deberían tener en cuenta las consecuencias del confinamiento en la salud mental de las familias y adaptar intervenciones de apoyo de acuerdo con los factores de riesgo de las familias.
摘要
新冠肺炎疫情给意大利家庭的日常生活带来许多变化，增加了出现心理问题的风险。本研究探讨不同社会经济风险家庭中，与父母压力相关的风险因素及它们对儿童情绪调节的影响。2至14岁儿童的父母完成了一项调查，报告了由于禁闭、家庭混乱程度、父母压力、父母参与儿童日常生活和儿童情绪调节能力所经历的困境。与意大利标准相比，养育压力和儿童情绪调节能力的一般平均水平没有达到临床水平。家庭混乱预示着更高程度的父母压力，反过来，通过父母参与的中介作用，孩子的情绪调节能力更低。父母压力越大，参与孩子活动就越少，孩子有效情绪调节能力就越弱。只有对没有社会经济地位风险的家庭来说，禁闭才会增加养育子女的压力。在有社会经济地位风险的家庭中，父母的压力和参与对儿童调节策略的影响更大，而父母参与对儿童消极情绪的保护作用在没有社会经济地位风险的家庭中并不明显。
对于那些不得不在没有其他帮助的情况下平衡个人生活、工作和抚养孩子的父母来说，应对禁闭是一件很有压力的事情。这种情况可能损害他们成为支持性照顾者的能力，因此对儿童的福祉有害。政策应考虑到封锁对家庭心理健康的影响，并根据家庭的风险因素制定支持性干预措施。
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