Parenting Flashcards
1
Q
influences on parenting
A
- characteristics of child
- characteristics of parent
- characteristics of context (ex. Bronfenbrenner’s model)
- all of these interact with each other
2
Q
characteristics of child
A
- Appearance: smiling, crying, cuteness trigger parental responses
- Health status: ex. preemies interact differently with parent
- Gender: influences parents’ descriptions/expectations of kids (ie. crawling abilities)
- Temperament and personality: ex. responsiveness, readability (can you tell what behaviours mean?), predictability
3
Q
characteristics of parent
A
- Biology: ex. genetics
- Personality: influences mate selection, job, etc.
- Age and stage of life: older parents have more realistic expectations, more financially stable, and are more cognitively developed than young parents, but older parents may have biological issues or find it harder to relate to children
- Beliefs, goals, attitudes, expectations, perceptions (ie. of their parenting ability), attributions (ie. reasoning behind why kid didn’t do homework -> lazy or doesn’t understand?)
- Behaviours (ex. responsiveness, control, monitoring, communication, expressions of physical and emotional support/love, etc.)
4
Q
are we biologically wired to parent?
A
- Yes -> reproduce to keep species going; hormones related to birth, breastfeeding, etc.; use IDS
- However, doesn’t necessarily mean we’re wired to be good parents in today’s developed society
5
Q
Baumrind’s parenting styles
A
- Permissive/indulgent: High support, low control
- Authoritative: High support and control
- Authoritarian: Low support, high control
- Uninvolved/neglectful: Low support, low control
6
Q
outcomes of parenting styles
A
- Authoritative produces happy, compliant, autonomous children
- Authoritarian produces unhappy, moody kids without self-confidence
- Permissive produces selfish kids without responsibility and self-control
- Authoritative has most positive outcomes; neglectful has least positive; mixed outcomes for authoritarian and permissive
- Outcomes include: self-reliance, social competence, GPA, academic competence, somatic symptoms of distress, school misconduct
7
Q
Gender and parenting ability
A
- Equal ability to parent between cisgender moms and dads; equal outcomes regarding capacity to parent for trans/non-binary people
- Gender of parents does not seem to impact children’s adjustment
8
Q
Differences in parenting (moms vs. dads)
A
- Fathers spend less time with children
- Fathers assume less responsibility for children
- Moms and dads engage with children in different ways:
- Fathers more playful, more unpredictable
- Mothers more rhythmic, more soothing
- But this is not true for all parents, and is heavily influenced by culture
9
Q
Attachment and parents
A
- Most infants show attachment behaviours to both parents
- But when both parents are present, most infants do prefer mother when distressed (because fathers tend to spend less time with kids)
10
Q
Attachment
A
- Specific, enduring, emotional bond between 2 people
- Infant’s first social relationships
11
Q
Attachment figure
A
- stronger, smarter caregiver to child
- Provides infant with secure base from which exploration can take place
- Provides guidelines for internal working models (ex. Seeing yourself as lovable and worthy)
12
Q
Strange Situation Method
A
- Developed by Ainsworth
- Assesses quality of attachment between infant and primary caregiver
- Categorizes infants into one of 4 styles (secure, insecure-avoidant, insecure-resistant/ambivalent, disorganized)
- Relies on:
- Fear of strangers
- Fear of separation from parents
- Attachment behaviours -> wanting to be near parents
13
Q
secure attachment
A
- Use parents as “secure base” when playing
- Show wariness towards stranger
- Crying/searching when parent leaves
- Re-engage and be comforted when parent returns
- 65% in North America
- Predicted by sensitive, responsive parenting
14
Q
insecure-avoidant attachment
A
- Not distressed by parent leaving
- Actively ignores/avoids parents on reunion
- 20% in North America
- Predicted by unavailable/rejecting parenting
15
Q
insecure-resistant/ambivalent attachment
A
- Keep very close to parents
- Very distressed by stranger and parent leaving
- Act ambivalent upon reunion
- 10% in North America
- Predicted by inconsistent/unresponsive parenting
16
Q
disorganized attachment
A
- Don’t fit any classification
- Show contradictory behaviour patterns
- 5% in North America
- Predicted by abuse/maltreatment
17
Q
Strange Situation Procedure
A
- Mother (M) and Baby (B) enter room and begin to play
- Stranger (S) enters and interacts with B
- M leaves and S plays with or attempts to comfort B if distressed
- M re-enters, then both M and S leave (B is alone)
- S re-enters, plays or comforts
- M returns, S leaves
18
Q
Effects of secure attachment
A
- Predicts positive emotional development
- More pro-social behaviours
- Competence with peers
- Social skills
- Empathy
- More resilience
19
Q
Effects of insecure attachment
A
- Higher hostility
- Higher impulsiveness
- Higher negative affect
- More vulnerable to adverse circumstances
20
Q
Attachment interventions
A
Interventions can be successful if they start before child is 3, are only a few sessions long, and have clear behavioural focus -> ie. Aiming at refining quality of parental responses
21
Q
Other measures of attachment
A
- Q-Sort: based on home observations, gives a continuous score on attachment
- Variations to Strange Situation for different ages (ex. Cassidy-Marvin system, Pre-School Assessment, Main-Cassidy system)
- Doll-Play Procedure: kid instructed to use doll family to complete attachment-related stories
22
Q
adjustment
A
- personal characteristics that allow people to function well in their everyday life
- Well-adjusted people have good social skills, comply with rules/authority, function well at school/work, and establish meaningful relationships
- But, does not account for all individual differences (other factors exist, like culture, personality/temperament, etc.)
23
Q
adjustment is largely affected by
A
- Quality of parenting and parent-child relationships
- Quality of relationship between parents
- Economic, social, and physical resources available to the family (SES)
- Congenital/innate differences
24
Q
adjustment: quality of parenting and parent-child relationships
A
- Degree of love, affection, emotional commitment, reliability, and consistency
- Ability to provide stimulation, guidance, and limits
- Gender not relevant: both men and women have same capacity to be good parents
25
adjustment: quality of relationship between parents
- Marital conflict associated with child maladjustment, whether or not parents are still together
- Employment and division of labour matter less than the parent's satisfaction with them
26
adjustment is NOT largely affected by
- Family Structure
- - divorce
- - single parenthood
- - gender of parents
- - sexual orientation of parents
- - biological relateness
27
adjustment: divorce/single-parent families
- Most children in single-parent and divorced households are well-adjusted
- But they are more likely to have problems (ex. Behavioural, psychological, social, and academic problems)
- - Can be due to parental conflict, financial challenges/changes, less ideal parenting practices, absence of a parent (usually father)
28
adjustment: gender of parents
- Children do not need a female and male parent to be well-adjusted
- Children in non-traditional families often hold more flexible views of gender stereotypes/roles
29
adjustment: sexual orientation of parents
- Children raised by gay/lesbian parents as well-adjusted and successful as children raised by straight parents
- No difference in adjustment of children between gay parents and lesbian parents
- Children raised by same-sex couples often hold more flexible views of gender stereotypes/roles
30
adjustment: biological relatedness of parents and children
- ex. step-families, adoption, etc.
- Adopted kids tend to be as well-adjusted as kids raised by biological parents -> parents are sometimes even more competent/committed
- Differences typically come from early trauma prior to adoption
31
goals of parenting
- Survival of child: nurture and protect them
- Form child into appropriate member of society for your culture (ie. Being self-sufficient)
- Help children understand and express appropriate feelings and emotions
- Help children behave in developmentally appropriate ways
- Preparing children for roles/contexts they'll encounter throughout development (ie. School, work)
32
attachment throughout infancy (development)
- 0-2 months: indiscriminate social responsiveness (respond similarly to multiple different people)
- 2-7 months: discriminating sociability (socially smiling, particularly at parents)
- 7-24 months: attachments begin to form
33
what causes attachment?
- John Bowlby argued that attachments form between infant & caregiver because of evolutionary advantage -> attachment is advantageous for survival
- Quality of adult-infant interaction
- - Sensitive parenting is key (quality important)
- - Quantity of interactions is not as important
34
long-term effects of attachment
- "Internal working model" of relationships: based on their attachment relationships with parents; shapes how a child comes to expect other relationships to be
- Better outcomes associated with secure attachment in infancy (ex. Predictive of lower obesity rates in adolescence)
- Negative outcomes associated with disorganized attachments in infancy
35
adjustment: socioeconomic status
- Measured by income, job prestige, education
- Being from a low SES family is considered a risk factor for children
- Impacts:
- - Parent education (less educated about kid's development)
- - Home environment (less stimulating)
- - General well-being and health (ex. Ability to feed nutritious foods)
- - Social support (ex. Access to doctors)
- - Parenting practices (ex. Talk less to children)
36
culture and parenting
- Most research on parenting has been done with middle-SES, Anglo, US-based couples
- Although universal goals of parenting are the same and universal "wiring" to parent exists, culture shapes parents and parenting behaviour & culture is transmitted through parenting
37
culture and attachment
- Percentage of secure attachment similar across cultures
- All infants in all cultures form attachments
- Certain cultures have different percentages of insecure attachment types (ex. Japan & Israel have higher rates of insecure-resistant attachment)
38
why do certain cultures have different levels of insecure attachment?
Strange Situation could be experienced differently in different cultures where a parent leaving baby alone would be atypical (compared to North American culture where going to daycare/separation is more typical)
39
Chinese families and parenting style
- Chinese parents often authoritarian, yet kids have high academic outcomes
- However, a culture-specific classification of parenting may be at play: "Training/chiao shun"
- Therefore, good outcomes are associated with "Training", rather than authoritarian parenting (as it would be in Western countries)
- - OR, perhaps Western researchers are misinterpreting parenting in other cultures and labeling it as authoritarian? Perhaps "training" is actually authoritative?
40
Training/chiao shun
- Use of parental control, monitoring, guidance
- Emphasize values of hard work, self-discipline, achievement, honour, obedience
- Parenting involvement/investment (guan)
- - If your kids fail, it's seen as a reflection on you -> parental failure
41
culture and parenting styles
- Non-white/non-European parents typically more authoritarian
- Advantages for authoritative parenting less consistent for non-white/non-European families (more advantages for authoritarian parenting)
