Family: beyond attachment and parenting styles Flashcards
What are the dimensions of parenting?
expressed affection
involvement
conflict = levels they are comfortable with
control = boundaries
monitoring
teaching = how they see their role of teachers (active vs not)
security = focal point of research bc of attachment theory (Bowlby = a dominant theory)
Who is Diana Baumrind (1973), and what did she do?
Influential and early research n = 134, white American preschool children + mothers, lived with them + conducted interviews.
Assessed four dimensions of parenting:
control
nurturance
clarity of communication
maturity demands
In combination = four distinct parenting styles.
What is Baumrind’s Parenting Styles Model (1973)?
authoritative vs permissive
authoritarian vs neglectful (added later after a review by Macoby and Martin)
What is Authoritarian parenting styles?
High on control & demandingness (assertion of parental
power, and expect their orders to be obeyed without explanation)
Low nurturance & responsiveness = rarely praised / show pleasure at child’s achievements
Children = low levels of independence + social responsibility.
What is Permissive parenting styles?
high on love & affection, but exercise limited control, + place
few demands on children
Children tend = aimless, immature, lack impulse control and self-
reliance, as well as lacking social responsibility and independence.
What is authoritative parenting styles?
High levels of warmth and achievement demand. Firm, but
non-punitive control, and open communication between parents and children.
Children =most competent: self-reliant, socially responsible, keen
to achieve cooperative
What is rejecting-neglecting: disengaged parenting style?
Parents = neither responsive/ demanding. They may be actively rejecting/neglecting their child-care responsibilities.
Most harmful to children = low levels of cognitive and social competence.
What happened in Dornbusch et al.’s adolescent school performance (1987) study?
N = 7,836 adolescents
Questionnaires asking about Authoritarian, Permissive and Authoritative parenting.
Findings = difficult to classify families as one parenting style (they are combo), can be used as predictors of grade point differences, stronger predictor of a higher grade was ethnicity
In western samples, what has authoritative parenting styles have been linked to?
Higher self-esteem and life satisfaction
Lower depression
Lower substance and alcohol (mis)use in adolescence
(Sahityhya et al., 2019)
Are there cross cultural difference in parenting styles?
Predominance of WEIRD samples
Socialisation goals differ = impacts parenting styles Chinese children showed retelling was higher about other people and social engagement (Wang & Leichtman, 2000)
Recent cross-cultural review = similar results for West vs Indian studies BUT also cultural shift in Indian families from authoritarian- authoritative parenting practices (Sahithya et al, 2019)
Chinese American parents in US more likely to be more authoritarian = related to neighbourhood disadvantage Main et al., 2014)
What are the current perspectives of parenting styles
Research shifting towards studying parenting in terms of dimensions than global styles; more specificity
role of child-driven processes (e.g. legitimacy beliefs; adolescent disclosure)
focus on mediating and moderating factors e.g different beliefs and the different meanings behaviours have in different cultural contexts.
What is the effect of the child on the parent?
Responsive parenting = Adaptation to different developmental stages and temperaments
More attractive infants elicit more affectionate and playful interactions from their mothers (Langlois et al., 1995)
Some is about children’s growing agency. Some parenting differs based on how their child is.
What does Oliver’s study about bidirectionally show (2015)?
Longitudinal research = 4yrs, 7yrs + 9yrs
measures of parenting bhvrs, neg. parenting bhvr, children’s conduct problems
Used a cross lagged mode
results = children who had conduct probs @4, were eliciting neg. parenting at 7yrs = proof of child to parent effect
What is the Family Systems Theory?
subsystem (mother-child relationship) = focused most in the lit
system = mother-child, marital and father-child relationships
they are all interlinked = things that happen in one subsystems, it will affect other subsystems as well.
How did Minuchin (1985) describe system theory?
Wholeness = a system is an organised whole that is
greater than the sum of its parts
Integrity of subsystems = Systems are composed of
subsystems that may be studied in their own right
Circularity of influence = all components are mutually
interdependent, change in one has implications for all
Stability and change = systems are open to outside
influences that may change it
