A study on meta-parenting: Yemeni parental cognition

Abstract

Over the past decade, a plethora of research stressed the importance of understanding parental cognition, including meta-parenting. The existing literature echoed a wide range of parental variations accredited more to a child's psychological attainment and parental social cognition of implicit elements, such as beliefs, emotions, values, and culture. However, increasing contemporary research is warranted to diagnose deliberate and mindful parenting constructs. This topic has not been widely examined in Yemen and Arab countries. Given this gap, the main aim of this study was to assess the relationship between meta-parenting and non-meta-parenting and an inter-correlation among all dimensions. The comparison between mothers' and fathers' parental awareness concerning (1) age, (2) marital status, and (3) education using the version of the new relatively social cognition construct, meta-parenting (anticipating, assessing, reflecting, problem-solving) and non-meta- parenting (ruminating) scale of Hawk and Holden (2006). For data collection, cross-sectional survey research composed of 21-item was administered to a sample of 317 (mothers and fathers) aged 27 to 55. Unexpectedly, results denote a high level of parental cognition among Yemenis parents; it indicated positive correlations between the overall meta-parenting and non-parenting among Yemenis parents. Findings also revealed significant differences in problem-solving dimension and ruminating favoured fathers. Results indicated significant differences in all dimensions except anticipating, problem-solving, and ruminating, which favoured parents 31 years old and above. In addition, a significant correlation was found in overall meta-parenting except problem-solving and ruminating, which favoured the married group of parents and those with a university level.