The Case for Targeted Parenting Interventions with Reference to Intergenerational Transmission of Parenting: Qualitative Evidence from Three Studies of Marginalised Mothers’ and Fathers’ Participation in Parenting Programmes

Katie Buston,Rosaleen O’Brien,Karen Maxwell

doi:10.1080/13575279.2020.1812533

Abstract

ABSTRACT The idea that how you were parented is key to how you parent your own children is widely recognisable. It is present in popular cultural references, underpins much policy on families and parenting in the UK, and is supported by a substantive body of academic literature. We explore this concept of intergenerational transmission of parenting, understanding it as the context in which parenting interventions have been implemented. We draw on interview data from three Scottish samples of marginalised parents (n = 54) to explore how participants think their own parenting behaviours have been shaped by their experience of being parented and how they talk about participation in a parenting intervention in relation to this. We find that how these parents have been parented is salient in considering their own parenting behaviour, and is a key context for their engagement with the intervention. We make the case for parenting interventions targeted at marginalised parents, arguing that they are acceptable to, and useful for, these parents and may, potentially, be effective in breaking cycles of negative parenting. Policy-makers should not shy away from implementing targeted parenting programmes as part of endeavours to address negative parenting.

Highlights

IntroductionThe idea that how you were parented is key to how you parent your own children is widely recognisable
The idea that how you were parented is key to how you parent your own children is widely recognisable. It is present in popular cultural references, has underpinned policy on families and parenting in the United Kingdom (UK), and there is a substantive body of academic literature supporting it
We focus on the accounts of the parents participating in the three studies to look first, at how they think their own parenting behaviours have been shaped by their experience of being parented, and second, at how they talk about participation in a parenting intervention in relation to this

Summary

Introduction

The idea that how you were parented is key to how you parent your own children is widely recognisable It is present in popular cultural references, has underpinned policy on families and parenting in the United Kingdom (UK), and there is a substantive body of academic literature supporting it. The oft-cited line, “They fuck you up, your mum and dad” (Larkin, 1988) encapsulates the concept of (negative) intergenerational transmission of parenting. In the poem This Be the Verse the parents (and grandparents before them) are portrayed as detrimentally, and inevitably, shaping what their child becomes, including how s/he K. There is far less representation of parents who have “escaped their past” and not made the same mistakes their own parents did in relation to mothering/fathering

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