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The Determinants of Parental Behavior

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DOI: 10.4324/9780429301001-4

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 5
DETERMINANTS OF
PARENTING

Categories of Determinants Stable Characteristics Determinants

A Mid-Level Model Stable Parent Characteristics
Cultural and Distal Determinants Stable Child Characteristics
Culture Stable Family Characteristics
Socioeconomic Status Situational Determinants
Religion Context
Contextual Determinants Transient Parent Characteristics
Parental Employment Transient Child Characteristics
Stress Interrelations Among Determinants
Social Support Chapter Conclusions
Neighborhood Thought Questions

LEARNING OUTCOMES
To explain the types of influences on parental behavior.
To compare the different types of influences.
To summarize how determinants can interact.

Individuals rear their children in different ways. Picture one father who frequently bel-
lows demands at his children in contrast to another who patiently and gently makes
requests. Consider the contrasts between one mother who is constantly controlling and

113
114 Part I ■ Understanding Parents and Child Rearing

intrusive while her neighbor is sensitive and child centered. We are reminded of such
differences when we read about certain celebrity parents whose poor parenting practices
make the evening news. Why do parents act the way they do? Where does it come from?
What influences their behavior? This chapter addresses those questions.

CATEGORIES OF DETERMINANTS
For more than 60 years, parenting researchers have investigated why parents behave the
way they do. The first extensive assessment of the topic was conducted by Lois Stolz
(1967), who concluded that parent behavior can be influenced by many variables and pres-
sures, only some of which win out and determine child-rearing behavior. To provide some
organization to these many variables, Harmon and Brim (1980) used four basic categories
of influences on parenting behavior. These influences are called determinants or predictors:

1. General cultural factors (nationality and socioeconomic status)

2. Individual factors (parental characteristics and unconscious influences)
3. Interpersonal factors (child behavior and family structure)
4. Setting (e.g., the home or a park)

A Mid-Level Model
A short time after Harmon and Brim published their classification scheme, Jay Belsky
(1984) proposed a model depicting how some of these determinants work together. The
model provided the framework for many subsequent studies. Belsky identified three cen-
tral categories of influence:

1. Parental psychological resources, such as developmental history and personality

2. Child characteristics, including gender and behavior
3. Contextual sources of stress and social support, such as marital relations, social
networks, and work relationships

These three sets of influences combine to determine how a parent interacts with a child.
It begins with a parent’s developmental history. Based on his or her childhood experiences
and genetic makeup, the individual’s personality emerges. The parental personality influ-
ences three different types of variables: marital relations, work, and social network (or fam-
ily and friends). In turn, each of those three variables, along with the child’s characteristics,
has a role in affecting parenting behavior.
Of all the determinants identified, Belsky and his colleagues believed that personal-
ity played the most important role in parenting behavior. A psychologically stable and
emotionally strong parent can better withstand the stresses that come with a tempera-
mentally challenging toddler or a child with developmental disabilities. Such individuals
can also better deal with contextual pressures—such as marital disharmony or financial
burdens—than other individuals. In fact, according to Belsky, all the other determinants
are mediated through a parent’s personality and individual psychological functioning.
 Chapter 5 ■ Determinants of Parenting 115

Picture two parents in a troubled marital relationship, characterized by frequent argu-

ments and considerable hostility. The parents likely are distressed, irritable, and perhaps
depressed. This could, in turn, lead to being impatient with their children, inconsis-
tent in discipline, harsh, and emotionally unavailable (Vondra, Sysko, & Belsky, 2005).
However, a parent with a stable emotional and psychological base would be more likely
to stay engaged with her children, control her temper, and perhaps try to help the child
cope with the hostile climate in the home.
Social supports and resources are another important determinant that can mediate
the impact of stressors. Social supports include parents, other children, grandparents,
and other relatives, friends, and neighbors. Resources can include financial assets, social
and emotional support, and material goods. If one parent faced with a challenging child
has a spouse who is an actively involved and effective co-parent, then the parent will be
less stressed than would similar parents with less spousal support. This would reflect a
protection or buffering of the parenting system (Belsky, 1984).
In an evaluation of Belsky’s model, more than 30 years after its publication, Taraban
and Shaw (2018) found that the model has largely held up to the test of time. They did
provide an update (see Figure 5.1) that more fully captures several determinants that had
been left out. In particular, the revised model captures socio-economic status, and sev-
eral variables that the research has found to be particularly important. The model nicely
organizes three key determinants of parenting and their interrelations. However, it fails
to take into account all the ways that these determinants mutually influence each other.
The model is also missing some more distal or distant determinants, such as the par-
ent’s cultural background or socioeconomic status (SES). Figure 5.1 provides an updated
model from a review of determinants (Taraban & Shaw, 2018) that includes some of the

FIGURE 5.1 ■ An Updated Model of the Determinants of Parenting

Marital Quality Social Support

Family Structure Culture

Family
Social Environment

Personality Negative Emotionality

Depression
Stress Response
Parent Child
Gender
Characteristics Parenting Characteristics
Genetics
Cognitions
and Affect

Developmental History Emotion Regulation

Socio-Economic Status

Source: Taraban & Shaw, 2018.

116 Part I ■ Understanding Parents and Child Rearing

missing variables. Belsky’s model, then, can be described as mid-level determinants: It

effectively captures some of the key influences on parenting somewhere between proxi-
mal and distal levels.
However, the model ignores a number of other determinants on child rearing. Some
of the missing influences are immediate or proximal. For example, there are situational
influences: Was the parent at home or in a public setting? Did the interaction occur
before dinner when everyone was tired and hungry or at a park on the weekend? Transient
parental qualities—such as mood or illness—can also influence parenting.

CULTURAL AND DISTAL DETERMINANTS

Child rearing is influenced by several types of cultural or distal variables. These variables
have been investigated primarily under the headings of SES, religion, and race/ethnicity.
These determinants influence child rearing through parental goals, values, and behavior.
Examples of the first three types of distal determinants will be provided next.

Culture
Think about a child being reared in a Brazilian favela (slum), an American Indian reser-
vation in Oklahoma, or a suburb in Paris. Each child experiences a dramatically different
culture. The cultural context can be defined as the way of life shared by its members
(Ogbu, 1988). It reflects the social, economic, and psychological adaptation of a peo-
ple. When related to child rearing, culture involves many aspects of the environment.
It includes the setting; methods of care; material products (toys, clothing, media); and
parental values, goals, and beliefs as well as norms and expectations for acceptable behav-
ior in children. It also prescribes general rules of parenting conduct (Weisner, 2011).
Cultural anthropologists were the first to note similarities and differences in parents
from various countries (e.g., Whiting & Child, 1953). They also realized that by com-
paring children’s development in different cultures, it would reveal whether certain types
of parental behavior had uniform effects. Cross-cultural, child-rearing studies are now
widespread, with the majority of studies outside of North America coming from Western
Europe, Australia, China, and Japan. However, parenting studies from Africa and South
Asia, for example, are increasingly being published.
Conducting cross-cultural research is difficult and expensive. It often requires over-
coming language or dialect barriers. Moreover, cultural constructs do not always transfer
smoothly across cultures. Just try comparing a typical elementary school in Tokyo—with
its strict academic structure—to one of the “Waldkindergartens” in Germany, where
children spend most of the day in a forest, encouraged to learn about their world mainly
through unbridled exploration. Both of these settings are schools, but the realities within
them are worlds apart. These types of issues must be considered when analyzing and
comparing cultures. But despite the challenges, psychologists are increasingly applying
cross-cultural research as a way of examining both the universals of parenting and how
parents differ across cultures.
Usually, researchers simply define a parent’s culture by the country where the par-
ent dwells (or from which he or she immigrated), but sometimes it is broken down
 Chapter 5 ■ Determinants of Parenting 117

more precisely. For example, two investigators

examined parental values in rural Cameroon by
comparing parents who were Muslim, Christian,
or adherents to the indigenous African religion
(Nsamenang & Lamb, 1995). In most cases,
however, when parents are compared in cross-
cultural studies, it is usually where one sample
from one country is compared with a sample

Source: [Link]
from a second country. Both samples of parents
are assumed to be representative of that culture—a
big assumption.
Exploring cultural differences in parent-child
relationships is a popular topic in cross-cultural
research; it is thought that impressions from a cul-
PHOTO 5.1: An
ture are stamped early in a child’s development (see African mother and
Photo 5.1). One unusual cultural practice with daughters, at least from the perspective of her child.
many Western families, that begins during the preschool years, is described in Box 5.1.

Socioeconomic Status
Subordinate to culture, but also a potent determinant of behavior, is the socio-economic
status (SES) of the parent. Formerly called social class, SES is a multifaceted variable
that reflects the distribution of resources, power, and influence within a society (Hill
& Witherspoon, 2011). SES is most often determined by income (or poverty) level, edu-
cation level, and employment status, occupation, or occupational prestige. For research
purposes, scales are created to measure these factors and then parents are grouped, often
arbitrarily, into SES levels. Occupations that received high scores included doctors,
lawyers, and business executives. Occupations at the other end of the scale, considered

BOX 5.1 A PLACE WHERE OBESITY IN GIRLS IS PRIZED

In most homes in the United States, parents in order to obtain foie gras) (Popenoe, 2004).
do not seek to “fatten up” their daughters for Girls who resist or get sick are subjected to
marriage. But in the sub-Saharan West African physical punishment, forced to drink their own
country of Mauritania (as well as some other vomit, and sometimes even tortured. A study
West African countries), obesity in women is published in 2013 found that 23% of women in
valued as a sign of wealth—and health. In turn, Mauritania reported being force fed as chil-
obese young women are more likely to get mar- dren (Ouldzeidoune, Keating, Bertrand, & Rice,
ried. Consequently, some parents force their 2013). The government is working to combat the
daughters, beginning as young as five years old, practice through a health education program to
to drink each day up to five gallons of camel’s inform the women about the dangers associated
or cow’s milk. This practice is called gavage with obesity, including Type 2 diabetes, strokes,
(the term also used for force-feeding geese sleep apnea, and mental health problems.
118 Part I ■ Understanding Parents and Child Rearing

Source: © [Link]/track5

PHOTO 5.2: Living

in the inner city.

low status, included convenience store attendants and child care workers (see Bornstein
& Bradley, 2003).
Typically, studies have contrasted parents of lower and middle SES on a range of
behavioral variables, including warmth, breastfeeding habits, toilet training practices,
and disciplinary techniques. Although rates of corporal punishment are decreasing across
all parents, one of the most common findings is that parents from a lower SES back-
ground (see Photo 5.2) are more likely to use physical punishment or coercive discipline
in comparison to middle-class parents, who rely more on noncoercive discipline such as
reasoning or guilt (Ryan, Kalil, Ziol-Guest, & Padilla, 2016).
What accounts for the relation between SES and parent behavior? One plausible
explanation has been around for a long time. Melvin Kohn (1979) theorized that parental
occupation and general life situations lead parents to hold particular child-rearing values.
Specifically, parents from higher social classes occupy jobs where responsibility, self-
direction, initiative, and independence are valued and rewarded. Those parents, in
turn, are likely to value and promote similar goals in their children by encouraging,
for instance, autonomy, responsibility, and creativity. On the other hand, parents from
a lower SES, who have relatively little freedom or responsibility in their jobs, are more
likely to value conformity to external authority. Obedience and the ability to stick to the
rules are more likely to pay off in blue-collar or manual labor occupations. Consequently,
such parents are likely to emphasize obedience, getting along with others, and acting in
the socially prescribed way that a boy or girl “should” act.
Kohn’s pioneering model reflects the way requirements or demands of one’s life situ-
ation affect child-rearing values, which in turn modify child-rearing practices. This can
be diagrammed as follows:

socioeconomic status values child-rearing values parenting behavior

 Chapter 5 ■ Determinants of Parenting 119

Parenting behavior, according to Kohn, is thereby strongly influenced by SES. Support

for links between SES and parental values have been found in eight countries (Kohn, Naoi,
Shoenbach, Schooler, & Slomczynski, 1990). This work has been extended by Lareau
(e.g., Weininger & Lareau, 2009), who differentiates two SES-influenced approaches to
parenting. Higher-SES parents facilitate their children’s development through concerted
cultivation or promoted skills and abilities by providing additional resources not typically
available to children of lower-SES families (e.g., tutoring, music lessons). In contrast, lower-
SES parents adopt a natural growth approach to child rearing. Here, while conformity to
external authority is valued, these parents do not schedule their children’s free time but
allow their children to pursue their own interests and thus develop “naturally.” Subsequent
investigations have largely confirmed that these two parenting approaches are influenced
by SES (e.g., Bush & Peterson, 2013).

Religion
Religious beliefs for those who adhere to a particular faith can have a powerful effect
on child rearing (Holden & Williamson, 2014). Religion not only influences parents’
beliefs and practices, but it also can have a potent impact on the law, cultural insti-
tutions, cultural norms, transmission of moral values, regulation of sexuality, and
interpersonal orientations (Browning, Green, & Witte, 2006). Recall from Chapter 1
the Puritan ministers’ admonitions to parents about the need to use strict discipline.
Children were perceived as born with a propensity to sin, and parents were instructed
by their ministers to break the will of children in order to socialize them into faithful
adults. In contrast, both Confucianism and Islam espouse the view (also promulgated by
the Catholic Jean-Jacques Rousseau in 1762) that children are inherently good (Husain,
1979; Stewart et al., 1999).
Studies of parenting practices often focus on differences among religious groups.
This is not surprising, given the prevalence of religiously-based, child-rearing articles
and manuals. In the United States, bookstores are stocked with dozens of Christian
parenting books, including best sellers like James Dobson’s Dare to Discipline books
(Dobson, 1992), which have sold more than 3.5 million copies. Hadassah Magazine
frequently publishes articles that inform and prescribe practices for Jewish parents.
Similarly, child-rearing manuals based on the Qur’an (or Koran) are readily available PHOTO 5.3: A
monk in training.
for Muslims (Husain, 1979; Sabiruddin, 1990;
see Photo 5.3). Child-rearing advice can even be
found stemming from Buddhism. In line with
the Buddhist orientation toward selflessness and
living-in-the-present is the concept of mindful
parenting. This refers to a moment-to-moment,
nonjudgmental awareness by which parents reach
<insert
Source: [Link]

beyond their automatic thoughts and feelings

to remain intentional in their child rearing and "photo 5.3">
grounded in the present moment (Kabat-Zinn &
Kabat-Zinn, 1997). When translated to parenting,
mindfulness means listening with full attention, a
nonjudgmental acceptance of self and child, being
120 Part I ■ Understanding Parents and Child Rearing

emotionally aware, regulating behavior before responding, and having compassion for
both the child and oneself (Duncan, Coatsworth, & Greenberg, 2009). Mindful parents
have been found to experience less child-rearing stress and depressive symptoms (Beer,
Ward, & Moar, 2013).
Fundamentally, religion is about what is to be valued in life. Several cross-
cultural studies have examined relations between organized religion, religiosity (how
faithfully religion is practiced), and adult values. A meta-analytic review of research
across cultures and religious groups determined that religious people shared the val-
ues of kindness, tradition, and conformity, while they disdained hedonism (Saroglu,
Delpierre, & Dernelle, 2004). In analyzing 63 societies, Inglehart and Baker (2000)
discovered that adults who described themselves as religious were more likely to value
tradition, obedience, respect for authority, and religious faith in their children over
independence and self-determination.
All three of the world’s great deistic religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam)
emphasize the family and encourage parents to devote considerable time and attention
to their children. It follows, then, that religious parents (compared to nonreligious par-
ents) would hold different values, allocate time differently, and be more likely to involve
their children in social networks associated with a religious community. Links between
religious beliefs and parenting have been made in multiple areas. For example, religious
parents are more likely to be more involved and affectionate with their children; provide
more supervision, guidance, and firmer discipline; and model better behavior (e.g., health
promoting, coping) and less likely to maltreat their children than nonreligious parents
(Holden & Williamson, 2014).
One popular topic of inquiry is how religion can influence attitudes about child
discipline. In particular, Christian denominations in the United States and Holland
that espouse literalist interpretations of the Bible have been studied. Many conserva-
tive Protestants accept as God’s literal intention such statements as “Do not withhold
discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die” (Proverbs
23:13, New International Version). These parents report more positive attitudes
toward (and more frequent use of) physical punishment than do other Christians or
adherents of other religions (de Roos, Iedema, & Miedema, 2004; Gershoff, Miller,
& Holden, 1999). Children reared by conservative Protestants are less likely to show
some of the behavior problems associated with corporal punishment—so long as their
parents stopped spanking them during the preschool period (Ellison, Musick, &
Holden, 2011).
Religion and parenting are also related in a different way. The onset of parenthood can
initiate greater religious involvement; for some men, fatherhood prompted them to return
to church (Palkovitz & Palm, 1998).

CONTEXTUAL DETERMINANTS
Contextual determinants refer to those features of the environment that influ-
ence child rearing. Four variables provide particularly good illustrations of how
context can influence parenting: parental employment, stress, social support, and
neighborhoods.
 Chapter 5 ■ Determinants of Parenting 121

Parental Employment
Parental employment can have a variety of influences on child rearing. But, how employ-
ment influences parenting is not as simple as whether or not the parent is working outside
the home. Employment represents a complex constellation of subtle variables. The objec-
tive features of the job (such as the type of job and the number of hours spent at work) are
central considerations. But, so are a host of related variables such as the family’s financial
need and resources, a person’s career orientation versus family orientation, and a person’s
subjective feelings about the job (how fulfilling or stressful he or she finds it). Despite the
complexity of this determinant, psychologists have documented that the “long arm of the
job” influences a parent’s values, psychological and physical well-being, daily moods, and
availability for involvement in parenting activities (Crouter & McHale, 2005). In the case
of mothers’ work, depending on such variables as the type and quality of the job, maternal
ethnicity and SES, and the child’s developmental level, maternal employment can have
either positive or negative effects on child outcomes (Bush & Peterson, 2013).
Prompting much of the attention to this topic is the dramatic increase in the propor-
tion of young mothers who work outside the home. In 1960, only 18% of mothers with
children under age six worked outside the home. By 1987, the proportion had climbed
to about 57%. By 2018, 65% of mothers with children under six years of age worked
outside the home (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019). This remarkable social change in
the way families lead their lives, graphed in Figure 5.2, has resulted in a number of con-
sequences for parents.

FIGURE 5.2 ■ Changes in Maternal Employment Levels From 1961 to 2018

80
73 71.1
71 70
70 67
65 64 64 65.1

60 56 58
61 61 61 59.6
50 47 46
52
39
40 42

30 34

20

10

0
1975 1980 1990 2000 2010 2014 2018

^s Source: Laughlin, 2011; Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019.

Note: Data are of first-time mothers working outside the home after three months. Data for 2012 at the three-
month mark were unavailable.
122 Part I ■ Understanding Parents and Child Rearing

One important change has been an increased reliance on infant and childcare centers
as well as other forms of substitute care. Another effect of maternal employment is the
impact on paternal involvement. Families are dynamic; husbands as well as wives are
affected by their spouses’ employment. In general, husbands of working wives are more
involved in child care and household work than are those in families with single-earner
fathers (Gottfried, Gottfried, & Bathurst, 2002). However, time spent in child care is not
divided equally between parents. Several different studies, including investigations from
a variety of industrialized nations, have found major discrepancies between the number
of hours worked by mothers and fathers, as will be discussed in the next chapter.
One variable that plays an important influence in the relation between work and par-
enting is child-rearing commitment. The amount of time and energy parents commit
to their multiple roles (parent, spouse, and worker) has implications for parental behavior,
stress, and perceptions of children. A study investigating some of the relations between
parenting and working illustrate one aspect of this issue. Ellen Greenberger and her col-
leagues found mothers to be just as committed to their employment work as fathers were,
and they shared a similar level of job satisfaction. However, mothers experienced more
stress than fathers did as they attempted to balance the demands of parenting along
with work (Greenberger, Goldberg, Hamill, O’Neil, & Payne, 1989). This is not at all
surprising, given the fact that mothers continue to shoulder a majority of household and
child-rearing tasks in addition to their paid employment. Box 5.2 addresses the issue of
mothers’ versus fathers’ reports about paternal involvement in childcare.
For good or ill, maternal employment affects a mother’s emotional state. On the
positive side, it can impact her general satisfaction and morale by providing mental stim-
ulation, building self-esteem, and offering a break from child care and home chores.
Also, maternal employment serves as a buffer from the stress of marital difficulties or a
challenging child. Therefore, maternal employment can potentially enhance the quality
of parenting during the time the mother is home, particularly if the woman enjoys her job
and exercises some responsibility in it (Gottfried et al., 2002). However, many mothers
feel conflicted about their work and being separated from their children. The extent of
this role conflict depends not only on whether or not the mother is employed but also on
her preferences (whether she wants to be employed), the extent of her anxiety over

BOX 5.2 HE SAID, SHE SAID: MOTHERS’ VERSUS FATHERS’

REPORTS OF FATHER INVOLVEMENT

To what extent are fathers involved in child rear- to bed, playing inside with the child, and telling
ing? It depends on whom you ask. In one study, the child that something they did was appreciated.
fathers reported spending significantly more time The biggest discrepancies with mothers were in
(18% more) engaged in 11 child care activities than reports of helping the child eat, letting the child
mothers thought their husbands did. The most help with chores, and putting the child to bed. In
frequent activities fathers reported engaging in each case, fathers reported doing it more than
(at least five days a week) were: putting the child mothers reported they did it (Mikelson, 2008).
 Chapter 5 ■ Determinants of Parenting 123

separation from her child, and the degree to which she is invested in her maternal role
(e.g., Hock, DeMeis, & McBride, 1988).
In addition to causing guilt and anxiety for some mothers about being away from
their young children, employment can add considerable stress to a mother’s life. Indeed,
there is evidence that under some circumstances, a mother’s emotional state, child-rearing
practices, and perceptions of children may be negatively affected by her employment.
However, most studies have found that maternal employment may actually have a posi-
tive impact on parenting and it is not a risk factor for children (Crouter & McHale, 2005).

Stress
Another general contextual factor that can dramatically influence parenting is stress.
Stress on parents comes in a variety of manifestations, both positive and negative. Even
such apparently positive events as a major job promotion, the birth of another child, or an
economic windfall are experienced as stressful because they trigger changes in the family
system. Major life stressors include natural disasters, serious illness or injuries, death,
separation or divorce, moving, and change in employment. A second group of stressors,
those related to everyday occurrences, has also received considerable research attention.
There are four main classes of these proximate stressors:

1. Marital or relationship stressors

2. Work or financial stressors
3. Personal characteristics
4. Child-related stressors

Parenting stress, the discomfort or distress that stems from the child or parenting role
is the fourth category of stressors (Hayes & Watson, 2013). The degree of stress expe-
rienced is a function of individual child characteristics (e.g., challenging temperament,
developmental disabilities), parent characteristics (e.g., age, attributions about the child’s
behavior), and situations (e.g., premature birth, living in a violent neighborhood) (Crnic
& Low, 2002). Some of these stressors reflect acute situations; others are chronic. When
two or more stressors team up, they likely have an additive effect on parents (Deater-
Deckard, 2004).
Stress is not benign, as it can have a powerful negative influence on parental health
and functioning. Stressed parents are less nurturant, supportive, patient, and involved.
Instead, they are likely to be irritable, negative, punitive, and withdrawn (Crnic & Low,
2002; Deater-Deckard, 2004). In turn, children’s functioning can be negatively affected.

Social Support
Social support, or assistance from other people, helps to counteract the effects of stress.
There is someone to turn to when life is challenging, when the unexpected happens, or
when a crisis arises. A socially supported person feels cared for, loved, and valued. Social
support can come from a variety of individuals including relatives, friends, neighbors, and
fellow members of a faith-based organization. Usually, the principal support for a parent is
124 Part I ■ Understanding Parents and Child Rearing

the partner or spouse, and this support (an example of positive co-parenting) manifests in
emotional comfort and instrumental assistance (McHale et al., 2002). Instrumental assis-
tance can be in the form of babysitting, running errands, or providing food or clothing.
A number of studies have indicated that support from a social network can mitigate
the effects of stress and promote positive parenting. For example, not surprisingly, Dutch
parents of children diagnosed with cancer reacted with high levels of distress (Hoekstra-
Weebers, Jaspers, Kamps, & Klip, 2001). Those fathers (but not mothers in this sample)
who received more social support experienced less distress. Support was also found to
have a positive effect in a very different sample of poor African American single mothers.
Mothers who received more support were found to engage in more nurturant parenting,
although this relation weakened in high-crime neighborhoods (Ceballo & McLoyd, 2002).

Neighborhood
It is not hard to see how a person’s residence can influence his or her parenting behavior.
Look at the photograph of urban high-rise apartment buildings (see Photo 5.4). How
might child rearing be affected by living in such apartments in contrast to other environ-
ments, such as suburbia or rural environments?
Urban poverty is the most problematic neighborhood characteristic. Being raised in
a poor, inner-city neighborhood is associated with a wide range of negative outcomes for
children: crime, health problems, academic failure, substance abuse, and teen pregnancy.
The atmosphere has been described as a “war zone” and a toxic atmosphere for children
to grow up in (Garbarino, Kostelny, & Barry, 1997). It is not surprising that parenting
in high-crime neighborhoods is characterized by a distrust of nonfamilial individuals,
an encouragement of children’s early independence and self-reliance, an emphasis on
aggressive play, and an early withdrawal of emotional support (Halpern, 1990). Some

PHOTO 5.4:
Source: ©[Link]

Urban high-rise
apartments
created
neighborhoods
with high
concentrations
of low-income
families.
 Chapter 5 ■ Determinants of Parenting 125

observers have argued that these patterns result from the behavior of stressed, powerless
mothers whose own needs are not being met, which renders them unable to provide
consistent, supportive, nonpunitive parenting.
Investigations into the topic of parenting in the inner city have documented some
of the difficulties and consequences of living in dangerous and low-income neighbor-
hoods (e.g., Ceballo & McLoyd, 2002). Some parents respond to living in such contexts
with depression and harsh child punishment, but others are active and strategic in their
child-rearing efforts (Burton & Jarrett, 2000). Parents who are successful in helping their
children live in low-income environments engage in actions to prevent various prob-
lematic child outcomes that they observe around them, such as dropping out of school,
getting pregnant, joining a gang, or experimenting with drugs. Thus the inner city rep-
resents a unique context that elicits different types of parenting behaviors, depending on
the particular parent. It provides a clear example of how the living context can determine
child-rearing behavior.

STABLE CHARACTERISTICS
DETERMINANTS
Yet another group of determinants on child rearing are variables that reflect stable charac-
teristics of the parent, child, or the family. Examples of these will be briefly reviewed next.

Stable Parent Characteristics

There are several stable attributes of parents. The four central characteristics related to
child rearing are gender, prior experiences, social cognitions (attitudes and beliefs), and
personality.

Gender
Do mothers and fathers parent differently? This question has been the topic of much PHOTO 5.5: A
father playing with
speculation and research. The answer is not simple, in part due to the social trends his son.
that result in changes in parenting roles and
levels of involvement with children (Cabrera,
Tamis-LeMonda, Bradley, Hofferth, & Lamb,
2000). For example, maternal employment and
father absence due to divorce are two societal
changes with clear implications that result in
modification of both mothering and fathering
(see Photo 5.5).
One reliable difference between mothers and
Source: [Link]

fathers in most families concerns involvement in

child care. For example, paternal involvement,
despite having increased significantly over
the past three decades, still lags well behind
maternal involvement. Fathers are estimated to
126 Part I ■ Understanding Parents and Child Rearing

spend 67% as much time as mothers during the weekdays in child-related activities
(Cabrera et al., 2000). Involvement changes dramatically, of course, when fathers are
single parents. See Box 5.3 for a description of single fathers who assume the role of
primary caregiver.
Mothers and fathers also differ in certain behaviors and attitudes. Using the ecological
momentary assessment approach, researchers in several countries have observed fathers
interacting with their children differently from mothers. Fathers tend to engage in verbal
or didactic play less than mothers do; they are more physically stimulating and rough in
their play. Mothers, compared to fathers, tend to be more responsive to variations in their
children’s play; they are more likely to enforce rules and communicate and play peeka-
boo-type games (Lamb & Tamis-LeMonda, 2004). Mothers and fathers also differ in
their child-rearing attitudes (Holden & Buck, 2002). For example, mothers place greater
importance on expressive issues such as emotions, intimacy, and the child’s enjoyment,
in contrast to fathers, who place greater value in self-control, achievement, and respon-
sibility. However, there are many aspects of child rearing where mothers and fathers do
not differ (Lamb, 2004).

Prior Experiences
At least three types of prior experiences are particularly relevant as parenting determi-
nants: experiences from the parent’s own childhood, nonparenting experiences with other
children, and previous parenting experiences.

BOX 5.3 FATHERS AS SINGLE PARENTS

Census information indicates there are three these men, they often consist of very small sam-
million children being reared by single fathers ples. In two of the more recent empirical efforts
in the United States (Livingston, 2018). These into this topic, only 20 single fathers were
father-headed homes represent almost 7% of included in one study (Hilton & Desrochers,
single-parent homes. Men assume this role for 2000) and 10 in another (Coles, 2002).
various reasons. Many are divorced fathers, Available evidence indicates that men can
some are widowed, others were never married, certainly be competent fathers. However, to
and some of the fathers are gay men. How do fully understand the effect of single fathers, it
these men fare as primary caregiving parents? is necessary to look at the specific features of
Despite the increasing attention being devoted their caregiving and their situation. Information
to the role of fathers in development (Cabrera is needed about the nature and extent of their
et al., 2000; Lamb, 2010), research on fathers as involvement, the quality of their child care and child
single parents is limited. rearing, alternative care and experiences the child
Why is this? In part, single fathers who are has, the stress and support the fathers receive,
the primary caregivers are difficult to study and, in general, their life situation (such as the rea-
because they are relatively rare and, like all son for being a single parent and their employment
single parents, they are extremely busy. Their status). Indeed, these are the same types of varia-
schedules do not allow much time to participate bles needed to understand how any type of parent
in research. When studies are conducted with may influence their children’s development.
 Chapter 5 ■ Determinants of Parenting 127

A powerful influence on future parental behavior comes from “ghosts in the nursery”
(Fraiberg, 1987) or experiences with one’s own parents. From a social learning theory
perspective, a number of studies have found similarities between two generations of indi-
viduals in terms of the disciplinary practices they use or prefer (Holden & Zambarano,
1992). Using Bowlby and Ainsworth’s attachment theory, a number of investigators are
discovering links between a mother’s perception of her own early attachment experience
and her relationship with her child (Bretherton & Munholland, 2008). For example,
mothers’ representations of attachment with their own mothers subsequently predicted
attachment classification when their infants were 12 months old in 75% of the cases
(Fonagy et al., 1991). In another study, mothers’ internal working models were associated
with the quality of their parenting as well as with their toddlers’ and preschoolers’ adjust-
ment (Eiden, Teti, & Corns, 1995). Those studies provide strong evidence for internal
working models as a determinant of parenting.
A second type of prior experience comes from babysitting or otherwise interacting
with other children. In most cultures, girls are exposed to many more childcare expe-
riences than boys are. This experiential discrepancy may well account for why females,
compared to males, are generally considered more adept at child rearing. Presumably,
extensive babysitting experience contributes to greater competency as a parent (Fogel &
Melson, 1986). There is some supporting evidence for this idea: Recall from Box 3.4 that
individuals with more childcare experience (either through parenthood or babysitting)
solved a child-rearing problem more efficiently and accurately than did those without
such experiences (Holden, 1988).
Prior experiences can also result from on-the-job training or learning based on rais-
ing the firstborn child. Whiteman, McHale, and Crouter (2003) examined parental
reports of behavior and the quality of interactions with firstborn teenagers and—
several years later—with second-born teenagers at the same age. Parents appeared to
have learned from their experiences with their firstborn child and had become more
effective parents. They had greater knowledge of the second-born child’s needs and
lower rates of conflict.

Social Cognitions
Parental social cognition is another key determinant of parental behavior. Some types
of social cognitions are relatively stable, such as certain attributions and attitudes. If a
father has an unrealistic expectation about when children are capable of toilet training,
he is likely to become frustrated and angry when his child continues to have “accidents.”
Mothers who have positive beliefs and attitudes about breastfeeding or reading to young
children are likely to engage in these beneficial behaviors.
Social cognitions are important because they can be closely linked to behavior and emo-
tions. In a longitudinal study, it was found that having a positive attitude about spanking
is a strong predictor of future spanking (Vittrup, Holden, & Buck, 2006). As would be
expected, the mothers who viewed spanking as an effective technique for stopping mis-
behavior were most likely to engage in it. The advertisement reproduced in Photo 5.6
exemplifies the idea that some parents believe paddling is a useful educational tool.
Parental mood is also affected by social cognition. Specifically, parents’ beliefs about
the degree to which they can control a child’s behavior (parental self-efficacy) affect
128 Part I ■ Understanding Parents and Child Rearing

parental emotion. Mothers who believed they had little

power in influencing the behavior of a child were likely
to be unassertive and irritable when interacting with
children. Such parents, when interacting or anticipat-
ing future interactions with children, actually showed
measurable increases in bodily stress, such as increased
sweating, heart rate, and cortisol levels (e.g., Bugental
& Cortez, 1988; Martorell & Bugental, 2006). These
effects are particularly strong with children who have
challenging temperaments.
Parental social cognitions are important, not just
because they influence behavior but because they pro-
vide the most readily accessible avenue for changing
parental behavior. As proximal influences, they may
supersede more distal ones such as culture and SES.

Personality
Recall from earlier in this chapter that Jay Belsky placed
parental personality at the top of the list in his model of
parenting determinants. He argued that parental matu-
rity and psychological well-being were fundamental
ingredients for effective parental functioning (Belsky &
Barends, 2002). Thus, parental personality is considered
by many to be a key determinant of child rearing.
Studies have indeed linked personality to parent-
ing cognitions and behavior, though the relations are
not necessarily simple. Marc Bornstein and his col-
PHOTO 5.6:
leagues (Bornstein, Hahn, & Haynes, 2011) found
Shingles can also that the five-factor model of personality (openness, neuroticism, extraversion, agree-
be used for child- ableness, and conscientiousness) related to 35% of maternal cognitions and 10% of
rearing purposes,
according to this
the child-rearing behavior assessed. Another researcher, Grazyna Kochanska, and her
old advertisement. colleagues discovered a good example of how personality can affect parenting. Parents
who had memories of unhappy and unstable childhoods were likely to engage in power
assertion (Kochanska, Aksan, Penney, & Boldt, 2007). However, that relation was
moderated by certain personality characteristics, such as optimism and trust. Thus,
personality characteristics can compensate for negative experiences and result in posi-
tive parenting practices.
Various other specific personality characteristics, such as patience and calmness,
have been proposed to influence parenting. However, one personality attribute that has
received much attention is the capacity for empathy (e.g., Psychogiou, Daley, Thompson,
& Sonuga-Barke, 2008). This refers to a parent’s ability to experience events from the
child’s point of view and therefore understand better what an infant or young child
might be feeling. Not surprisingly, parents judged to be higher in empathy levels are more
involved, nurturant, and positive toward their children than those considered lower in
empathy. Empathy in parents is described in more detail in Box 5.4.
 Chapter 5 ■ Determinants of Parenting 129

BOX 5.4 THE POWER OF EMPATHY

Empathy, or lack thereof, can greatly influence parent without empathy at the time—whether
how parents react to a particular misbehavior due to a lack of skill or overwhelming personal
or annoying characteristic in a child. Consider needs—will likely have one thought: How do I
children who throw a noisy tantrum when they shut this kid up?! Parents’ empathic concerns
cannot get a toy to work as they want it to. about their children represent a necessary and
Parents with empathy will be able to consider key attribute of positive parenting. One study
the situation from the child’s perspective before found parental empathy was associated with
deciding on an appropriate action. The parent positive outcomes in emerging adults. College
might consider the child’s physical needs (Is the students who viewed their parents as empa-
child tired?), emotional needs (Does the child thetic had higher self-esteem and were less
need help to properly deal with his or her frus- likely to report symptoms of depression or to
tration?), or personal desires (Is there some- exploit others (Trumpeter, Watson, O’Leary, &
thing I can help the child achieve?). However, a Weathington, 2008).

Other Parenting Characteristics

There are several other types of stable parental characteristics that have received research
attention, such as intelligence and parental age. There are no clear consistent findings about
how intelligence (at least in the normal range) affects child rearing. However, studies of par-
ent age have received sustained attention. Two separate age-of-parent questions have been
investigated. One concerns the quality of child care provided by adolescent parents, a topic
further discussed in Chapter 12. For example, adolescent mothers are more likely to engage
in harsh discipline than older mothers (Lee, 2009). The other question is whether older
parents (usually those in their 30s and 40s) of young children differ in their parenting from
younger parents. The effects of age on parenting are of interest in part due to the increas-
ingly common trend for women to wait longer to bear children. The mean age of women in
the United States for having their first child is now 26.6 years (Martin et al., 2018).
Studies examining how individuals behave when they become parents at different ages
have had conflicting results. That may be because the answer depends on the particular
child-rearing domain. For example, warmth and taking care of the physical needs of the
child have relatively few age-of-mother effects. However, other parenting behaviors, such
as maternal speech to a child, structuring the environment, and disciplinary techniques
are closely linked to the child’s age. Adolescent mothers and emerging adult mothers (19
to 25 years) were less likely to talk to their children and structure the environment but
more likely to spank than older mothers (Bornstein, Putnick, Suwalsky, & Gini, 2006;
Lewin, Mitchell, & Ronzio, 2013). Another age-related finding is that mothers who give
birth in their 30s have children who achieve higher levels of educational attainment
than younger or older mothers (Fishman & Min, 2018). There are fewer investigations
into the impact of paternal age, but there is some evidence that paternal age may have
subtle effects on children’s social development (Janecka et al., 2017). In particular, young
fathers, in their early 20s, and those men with advanced paternal age (45 years and older)
were most likely to have children that differ from the children of other fathers.
130 Part I ■ Understanding Parents and Child Rearing

Stable Child Characteristics

Research has shown that the characteristics of children can be prime determinants of how
their parents behave toward them. The best documented characteristics are the child’s
age, the child’s gender, the child’s temperament, and the child’s birth order.

Child’s Age
Age of the child is the single most powerful influence on parental behavior. This occurs
because as the child grows, there are dramatic changes in physical stature, cognitive and
linguistic ability, emotional maturity, and social skills. In response to their children’s
changing characteristics, parents show affection, communicate, discipline, and provide
care in very different ways (see Holden & Miller, 1999). The role of child age in parenting
will be examined in some detail in the second part of this book.

Child’s Gender
“Is it a boy or a girl?” That is likely the first question asked about a newborn, if the answer
isn’t already known from prenatal sonograms. The answer to that question will have
a profound effect on his or her development. Whether the child is a boy or girl influ-
ences parental behavior in various ways. First, fertility decisions are often based on sex.
Mothers may bear more children until the desired son or daughter is born. Also, parents
who had wanted a child of the opposite sex were more likely to perceive problems with
their child and to spend less time playing with him or her compared with parents who were
pleased with the gender of their child (Stattin & Klackenberg-Larsson, 1991).
To what extent do parents treat boys and girls differently? Many observational stud-
ies have found that certain aspects of parental behavior appear to be influenced by
the sex of the child. Recall from Chapter 3 that parental perceptions of newborns and
young children were dramatically affected simply by the label of girl or boy. Given the
large number of studies in this area, two researchers (Lytton & Romney, 1991) set out
to conduct a systematic review. The meta-analytic review of 172 studies, concerning
whether parents systematically treat boys and girls differently, arrived at a surprising
conclusion: Gender effects are not as pervasive as commonly believed. In fact, there
were few significant findings. The strongest gender effects appeared to be in parental
expectations or early perceptions about boys and girls, but most differences in paren-
tal treatment decreased with children’s age. The authors concluded that when all the
evidence is taken together, there are few robust, consistent differences in how boys and
girls are treated by their parents.
Other reviewers have identified certain parental behaviors that appear to be influ-
enced by the child’s gender from the early childhood years through adolescence (e.g.,
Leaper, 2002; Leaper & Bigler, 2011). For example, early autonomy is encouraged in
boys but not in girls. Boys are more likely to be encouraged to play, explore, and achieve
more, whereas girls are encouraged to help their mothers around the house and focus on
interpersonal relationships. There is also evidence of parenting differences in such areas
as affectionate behavior, emotion talk and expressiveness, gender-typed play, household
chores, and explicitly or implicitly supporting gender stereotypes.
 Chapter 5 ■ Determinants of Parenting 131

Recent studies continue to find subtle differences related to child gender. An obser-
vational study discovered that fathers of female toddlers were more attentive, sang more,
and used language related to the body and emotions more than fathers of male toddlers.
With sons, fathers engaged in more rough housing (“rough and tumble play”) and used
more achievement-related language (Mascaro, Rentscher, Hackett, Mehl, & Rilling,
2017). In a study about parent-child conversations after trips to the emergency room,
parents were four times more likely to warn girls to be careful about engaging in certain
activities (O’Neal, Plumert, & Peterson, 2016).

Child’s Temperament
The child’s temperament is arguably the second most important determinant of paren-
tal behavior. Temperament refers to the biologically rooted behavioral style of the child.
It helps define how emotionally expressive the child is and how the child responds to
changes in his or her environment. Models of temperament are likely to include variables
such as the child’s activity level, emotions, ability to self-regulate, and social behavior.
However, there is considerable disagreement about exactly which traits are the core com-
ponents of temperament (Zentner & Bates, 2008).
As many researchers recognize, it is not the child’s temperament itself that is
most important for his or her early development but rather how the child’s parents
relate to it (Putnam, Sanson, & Rothbart, 2002). One parent might label a quiet,
introverted child as “good” because the child does not interrupt. Another may call
the same child “rude” because the child will not address strangers. Now, imagine
describing the same child as “thoughtful and perceptive” or “prefers to listen” or
even “courageous” when he or she does speak up. You can see how a particular child
can be exposed to very different parenting based on how that parent perceives and
reacts to the child’s temperament.
Indeed, a parent’s interpretation of and interaction with a child’s temperament can
have a profound effect on the child’s self-perception and development. How well parental
actions relate to a children’s temperament has been called matching, congruence, or good-
ness of fit. Sometimes a child fits like a glove into his or her family. When this is not the
case, significant parental effort may be required in order to relate well to a child with an
extremely shy or challenging temperament.
Children who are perceived by their parents as difficult to manage are likely to elicit
less positive and responsive caregiving from mothers than are those perceived as easy
going. Several different studies have shown that parents of challenging children are
more likely to be negative and use punitive techniques, whereas parents of easy-going
children appear more authoritative and responsive (e.g., Combs-Orme & Cain, 2008;
Putnam et al., 2002). A Finnish study of mothers and their six-year-old children
shows that other variables can affect how a child’s temperament is responded to. The
researchers found that maternal well-being mediated the relationship between a child’s
challenging temperament and parenting (Laukkanen, Ojansuu, Tolvanen, Alatupa, &
Aunola, 2014). Mothers who were psychologically healthy were able to be more affectionate
and less negative with challenging children compared with mothers who had depressive
symptoms and low self-esteem.
132 Part I ■ Understanding Parents and Child Rearing

Child’s Birth Order

Since the 1950s, investigators have explored ways in which parenting and, in turn, chil-
dren may be affected by birth order. It continues to be a question that has fascinated
people (Marini & Kurtz, 2011; Rodgers, 2014). Among the typical findings is that first-
born infants receive more care, attention, and affection than do later-born infants, largely
because first-time parents have more enthusiasm and energy to devote to the child.
However, firstborn children also were reported to receive more pressure for achievement,
presumably because the parents hold higher expectations for them than for later-born
children (Lasko, 1954; Rothbart, 1971).
More recent investigations into the topic have shown that the influence of birth order
on parenting is more complicated than traditionally thought. At least three other vari-
ables also come into play: the child’s gender, the spacing (time between births) of the
children, and the family size. In perhaps the most careful observational study conducted
to date on this topic, 193 mothers were observed interacting with their three-month-old
babies (Lewis & Kreitzberg, 1979). As predicted, the firstborn children generally received
more maternal attention than did the later-born children. The spacing between the chil-
dren also had a significant effect: Both closely and widely spaced children received more
attention than did moderately spaced (1.5 to 3.5 years) children. The authors concluded
that the spacing of their children modified mothers’ perceptions and thus the attention
devoted to the children.
Of course, there are other child characteristics besides age, gender, temperament, and
birth order that can be determinants of parenting behavior. As will be discussed in a
subsequent chapter, premature babies or children with developmental disabilities (such
as autism) are two examples of such child characteristics. Parents of children with dis-
abilities are more likely to experience distress, disruptions in normal family functioning
(mealtimes, sleep schedules, social life), marital difficulties, and even psychiatric prob-
lems than are parents of children without disabilities (Hayes & Watson, 2013; Yirmiya &
Shaked, 2005). In sum, stable child characteristics and other differences among children
represent a basic determinant of parental behavior.

Stable Family Characteristics

Two stable family characteristics have frequently been found to influence parenting: fam-
ily structure and marital relations.

Family Structure
The primary variable of family structure is whether it is a single- or two-parent family.
In 2016, 39.8% of all births in the United States were to unmarried women (Martin
et al., 2018). About 30 years earlier, that percent was 18.4%. These 12.9 million single
parents—81% of them women—differ from married parents in some of their parent-
ing behavior. In part as a result of the increased stress and pressure of limited time,
unmarried single parents, compared to married parents, tend to spend less time with
their children and engage in less supervision and monitoring. Because single parents
must deal with all aspects of parenting by themselves, they are at risk for high stress,
exhaustion, and depression. There is some evidence that single mothers exhibit more
 Chapter 5 ■ Determinants of Parenting 133

psychiatric symptoms (e.g., depression, anxiety) than married mothers (Schleider,

Chorpita, & Weisz, 2014). They also expressed a diminished level of parenting with
regard to the time and attention they are able to devote to their offspring (Weinraub,
Horvath, & Gringlas, 2002). Single parents will be discussed further in Chapter 11.
A second key family structure variable is the number of children in the home. Given
that there is only so much time and energy parents can devote to children, it comes as
no surprise that family size has been associated with differences in parental behavior.
Family structure, in terms of number of children, can influence parenting practices.
The average American mother now has two children, with the fertility rate at 1.82
(Martin et al., 2018). See Figure 5.3 for the fertility rate of women in 10 different
countries. There is only limited and dated evidence that family size influences parental
disciplinary practices. For example, in larger families (four or more children), it was
found that discipline tends to be more punitive and authoritarian than in smaller
families (Wagner, Schubert, & Schubert, 1985).

Marital Relations
How the marital relationship affects child rearing provides a clear example of systemic
interactions described by family systems theory. Here, there are reciprocal relations
between functioning in the spousal and parental subsystems. Close, supportive,
and satisfying marital relationships were found to be associated with sensitive and
positive parenting as well as more positive attitudes and perceptions about children
(Grych, 2002; Kwok, Cheng, Chow, & Ling, 2013). On the other hand, conflict
between spouses can result in negative parenting and child adjustment problems.
Rhoades (2008) reviewed a meta-analysis of 71 studies and found that children and

FIGURE 5.3 ■ Number of Children Born per Woman in Ten Countries

0
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iti

co

da

s
an

te
in

di
az

pa
Ha
an

an
ex
In
Ch

a
Br

rm

Ja

St
Fr

Ug
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Ge

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ite
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Source: CIA, 2017

134 Part I ■ Understanding Parents and Child Rearing

youth who experience interparental conflict are likely to show physiological, behav-
ioral, self-esteem, and relational problems.
Parents experiencing discordant marriages, compared with those in happy marriages,
exhibit less consistent and less effective child-rearing practices. It is likely that parents
in unhappy marriages are less emotionally available and less involved with their chil-
dren (Easterbrooks & Emde, 1988). Marital discord may manifest itself in disagreements
over child-rearing practices. Consequently, parents in discordant relationships tend to
be more negative in disciplinary practices than nondiscordant parents. In addition, the
interspousal conflict may spill over, bringing on parent-child conflict and, in turn, child
adjustment problems (Coln, Jordan, & Mercer, 2013; Grych, 2002).
Such a negative spillover into parenting can be dramatically seen in homes of battered
women. Men who physically abuse their wives are frequently irritable. According to one
study, almost all of the battered women reported that they argued with their husbands at
least every few days. In contrast, only 16% of women in a comparison group reported a
similar rate of arguments. It is likely that at least some of these marital arguments spilled
over into the father’s interactions with his children. Violent men reportedly got angry at
their children every few days, in contrast to the comparison fathers’ rate of less than once
a week (Holden & Ritchie, 1991).
An alternative to the spillover hypothesis is the compensatory hypothesis. Here, a
parent who fails to find love and warmth in a marital relationship may seek to meet those
needs in her relationship with her child. According to the hypothesis, the child may in
this way be buffered from the ill effects of the marital discord. However, to date, there is
little research evidence to support this hypothesis (Erel & Burman, 1995; Grych, 2002).

SITUATIONAL DETERMINANTS
Does the immediate situation that parents find themselves in affect their child-rearing
behavior? It certainly does. As will be shown, parenting is much more flexible, fluid, and
changeable than many people without children think. Effective parents must adapt their
behavior to the situation by taking into account a change of setting, a swing of mood, a
recent experience, or an upcoming event. These situational determinants can be grouped
into context, transient parent characteristics, and transient child characteristics.

Context
Relatively few studies have examined the role of context in parent-child relationships.
But, context is very important in determining child-rearing behavior. Parents take the
context into account when interacting with their children. Ask parents how they react
when their children misbehave, and they are likely to respond, “It depends on the situ-
ation.” The central features of a context for parents are the setting (location) where the
interaction takes place, the presence of others, and the time of the day and year.
The most obvious contextual variable is the setting or environment that a parent is
in. Parenting occurs most often in the home but also in the car, at the supermarket, on
vacation, and in numerous other locales. Observational studies that compared parental
behavior across two or more settings (such as the home, a laboratory, or a park) arrived
 Chapter 5 ■ Determinants of Parenting 135

at similar conclusions: Parental behavior can show considerable variation across different
settings (Bradley, 2002; Holden & Miller, 1999; Miller, Shim, & Holden, 1998). Even
within a particular setting, child-rearing behavior is affected by ongoing activity in that
setting. If a mother is multitasking, her parenting will change considerably. A child’s rau-
cous laughter might delight a mother playing hide-and-seek but irritate the same mother
trying to make a phone call.
A second contextual variable that can influence dyadic interactions is the presence
of additional individuals. The presence of another child or a second parent can mod-
ify parental behavior. This type of second-order effect was explained under family
systems theory. The presence of many people in a home (i.e., crowding) can also
affect child rearing. Parents in crowded homes tend to talk in less-complex sentences
to their children than parents who live in uncrowded homes (Evans, Maxwell, &
Hart, 1999). Related to crowded homes is chaos. Children in chaotic homes exhibit
more problems than other children (Evans & Wachs, 2010). Items from a family
chaos scale are listed in Table 5.1.
A final contextual variable that has received some research attention is the time at
which the interaction occurs—both the time of day and the time of year. During the
summer months, parental involvement and monitoring can change systematically in
relation to a parent’s work status (Crouter & McHale, 1993). The time of day that inter-
actions occur is also likely to influence behaviors. If parents are in a hurry or tired, they
are likely to behave differently than they would otherwise. Fatigue on the part of parents
and children may account for the finding that mothers are twice as likely to spank their
children in the evening as in the morning (Holden et al., 1995).

Transient Parent Characteristics

Two types of parent characteristics that influence parenting can be considered transient
because they are likely to change within a short period of time: thoughts and emotions.
As described earlier, parental social cognitions can provide stable influences on behavior,
as in the case of attitudes and beliefs. Thoughts can also, however, have transient effects,

TABLE 5.1 ■ Items From the Confusion, Hubbub, and Order Scale (CHAOS)

1. You can’t hear yourself think in our home.

2. There is very little commotion in our home. (reverse scored)
3. It’s a real zoo in our home.
4. We are usually able to stay on top of things. (reverse scored)
5. There is usually a television turned on somewhere in our home.
6. The atmosphere in our house is calm. (reverse scored)
7. We almost always seem to be rushed.
8. We can usually find things when we need them. (reverse scored)

Source: Matheny, Wachs, Ludwig, & Phillips, 1995.

136 Part I ■ Understanding Parents and Child Rearing

as is the case with short-term goals, which can change minute by minute. The particular
goal that a parent has in mind is potentially a strong influence on that parent’s behavior.
For instance, parents often enter situations with either child-centered, parent-centered,
or socialization goals in mind (Dix & Branca, 2003). Child-centered goals are oriented
around the child’s needs rather than the parent’s. Socialization goals focus on long-term
development; examples of them were listed in the last chapter (see Table 4.3).
Closely linked to goals are emotions. Positive or negative emotions are aroused
when parental goals are either met or frustrated, respectively (Dix, 1991). These emo-
tions are essential for effective parenting because they help to organize the parent’s
sensitive and responsive child-rearing behaviors. However, when emotions are too
strong, too weak, or inappropriately matched to the child’s behavior, they serve to
undermine effective parenting.
Several empirical studies have documented linkages among parental cognitions, emo-
tions, and behavior. To give one example, mothers’ attachment classification with their own
mothers, as assessed by the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), is related to how they parent
their two-year-old children. For example, preoccupied mothers exhibit angry and intrusive
caregiving. In contrast, dismissing mothers—those who had depressed symptoms—were
less warm and responsive than secure mothers (Adam, Gunnar, & Tanaka, 2004).

Transient Child Characteristics

Parental behavior can also be influenced by a child’s rapidly changing emotions and
behavior. We know that children are more susceptible than parents to changes in their
physiological or emotional states. This is why we can have compassion for a screaming
toddler who has just dropped his or her ice cream cone. For a two-year-old, that is
as serious as totaling a new car. Effective parents are able to take into account these
changes in their children—whether it is toddler frustration or teenage angst—when
doling out consequences.
The best way to study how transient child characteristics influence parental behav-
ior is through the child effects and transactions approach. Studies examining parental
responses to changes in a child’s behavior have shown that when a child misbehaves, the
type of misdeed is a powerful determinant (Grusec & Kuczynski, 1980). However, the
mother’s attitude and the child’s gender are also important determinants of responses
(Hastings & Rubin, 1999).

INTERRELATIONS AMONG
DETERMINANTS
As is now obvious to the reader, parental behavior is influenced or determined by a large
number of factors. Characteristics of the parent, the child, and the context all contribute
to the ways the parent behaves. Unfortunately, the more than 30 influences on parenting
that have been identified in the research literature cannot be clearly demarcated like the
components of a chemical reaction or entered into a formula.
 Chapter 5 ■ Determinants of Parenting 137

Different contexts can affect each other, as the ecological model proposes. What hap-
pens in the work environment can be brought home and affect the quality of parenting,
as Jennifer Matjasko and Amy Feldman (2006) found. They investigated whether there
was evidence of how the context of work could spill over to child rearing once the parent
was home. They found evidence that both mothers and fathers can bring emotional expe-
riences from the workplace to the home. When mothers reported being happy, angry,
or anxious at work, they also reported feeling similar emotions at home. Fathers, on the
other hand, reported only bringing feelings of anxiety home with them.
The different determinants of parenting can also influence each other in several ways.
Most commonly, the variables can have additive, moderating, or mediating effects. In
addition, they can work together by interacting or compensating. Each of these interrela-
tions between variables will be explained next.
Additive effects (also called cumulative effects) result from variables combining to form
a stronger influence on behavior than any of the variables has on its own. A parent with
an explosive temper plus a temperamentally difficult child is a dangerous combination.
Add to this equation a loss of the parent’s employment and the risk of abusive parenting is
considerably higher than it would be if only one or even two of these variables were pres-
ent. Sometimes these potentially problematic variables are called risk factors. The more
risk factors affecting parental behavior, the greater the likelihood of a poor child-rearing
environment. In a study of risk factors, Kristi Hannan and Tom Luster (1991) assessed
six potentially detrimental influences on child rearing in 602 families with 1-year-old
children: three contextual factors (absence of a partner, three or more children, and low
income); two maternal characteristics (low IQ score and adolescent mother); and one
child characteristic (difficult temperament). The risk factors present in each family were
then added together to form a risk index. Each family was also assessed on the HOME
(Home Observation for the Measurement of the Environment) scale, which rated the
quality of the home environment. The results revealed a strong relation between risk
index and low HOME score. Only 22% of families with one risk factor had low HOME
scores, in contrast to 88% of those families with all six risk factors.
Recall from Chapter 3 the discussion of moderating and mediating variables. For par-
enting, the most important moderating variable is the marital relationship. Supportive
spouses can reduce the effects of stress by providing assistance, advice, and encourage-
ment to their mate. A loving marital relationship can moderate the negative parental
effects of financial hardship (Simons, Lorenz, Conger, & Wu, 1992) and even of a
parent’s psychologically painful childhood. For example, supportive spouses provide
encouragement, promote healing, and suggest positive child-rearing behaviors rather
than allowing their partners to engage in the negative child-rearing behavior that they
experienced in childhood.
A mediating variable affects the strength of another variable, sometimes negating it
completely. For example, economic hardship can certainly influence a parent’s behavior.
But as a determinant, economic problems are mediated by feelings of economic strain. If
a parent fails to recognize his or her financial problems, ignores them, or is surrounded
by others content in the same situation, it is unlikely that economic hardship will have
much influence on his or her parenting. But when the financial problems are recog-
nized and experienced in the form of strain or worry, parenting will likely be negatively
138 Part I ■ Understanding Parents and Child Rearing

impacted (Simons et al., 1992). Thus, in this case, parental awareness, attitude, and even
the neighborhood context can mediate or moderate the strength of economic hardship as
a determinant of child rearing.
Generally, the single most important mediator of child rearing is parental cognition.
If parents can revise or reframe their thinking, then parental behavior can be changed.
For example, mothers with irritable infants provided less supportive care if they believed
(true or not) that responsive care would reinforce the demandingness of their infants.
Thus maternal beliefs mediated the extent to which infant irritability was predictive of
maternal sensitivity (Crockenberg & McCluskey, 1986). Faulty cognitions (including
attributions, expectations, and problem solving) are a key determinant of why some par-
ents maltreat their children (Seng & Prinz, 2008).
A fourth way that parenting determinants can relate to one another is through their
interaction. Interactions occur when one parenting variable impacts a second parent-
ing variable. A common interaction found in parent-child relationships is between the
gender of the parent (a parent characteristic) and the gender of the child (a child char-
acteristic). Fathers, for example, are sometimes observed to behave differently toward
their sons than toward their daughters (Russell & Saebel, 1997). Another example of
an interaction with parent gender is that children disclose more personal and emo-
tional experiences to their mothers than to their fathers (Smetana, Metzger, Gettman,
& Campione-Barr, 2006).
Finally, determinants can relate through compensation. If one positive variable is
strong enough, it can compensate for the presence of a negative one. The features that
are perceived to make babies cute and adorable to parents help to compensate for the
incredible amount of work required to rear a child. A second example concerns stress. As
described above, parental stress can be a powerful negative influence on child rearing.
However, high levels of social support could compensate for the stress so that parenting
would not be adversely affected.

CHAPTER CONCLUSIONS
This chapter addressed the question “What determines how a particular parent behaves?”
The simple answer is that there are a lot of determinants. More than 30 variables can
influence parenting behavior. These variables range from proud cultural traditions to
fleeting thoughts and emotions that we might not even notice—if a researcher was not
observing them. Four categories were used to organize these determinants. The most
general type of variable was that of cultural and distal variables such as socioeconomic
status and religious beliefs. The second category concerned contextual variables. These
influences included parental employment status, stress, social support, and the neighbor-
hood where the family resides. Stable characteristics of the parents, children, and family
formed the third category. This group of variables included such considerations as paren-
tal gender and personality, child age and temperament, and family size and structure.
The final category consisted of situational variables that are prone to change rapidly—
such as the context of the interaction or the parent’s mood.
 Chapter 5 ■ Determinants of Parenting 139

When trying to chart out the relations between these variables, the task quickly
becomes overwhelmingly complex. The determinants of parenting can relate to each
other in at least five ways. The simplest relation is when two or more variables have
similar and therefore additive effects. However, other variables may moderate, mediate,
interact with, or compensate with or for another variable. Just how particular determi-
nants relate depend on which variables are being examined.

Thought Questions
What were the major influences on your What are some approaches to modifying
parents’ child-rearing behavior? parental beliefs?

Identify the determinants that are the easiest What are some of the implications of
to modify. knowing the different influences on
parenting?
Select two or three determinants. How do they
interrelate? Is one more powerful than another?

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