The Parenting Gold Standard: Maternal Master Narratives of Parenting Black Emerging Adult Children

Abstract

Little is known about the prevailing narratives of how to be a “good” parent in American society, and even less is known about parenting emerging adults in Black families. To address these gaps, this qualitative study employed a master narrative approach to investigate the maternal master narratives of parenting and the mechanisms by which Black mothers ( N = 20) of emerging adults navigate such constraints through cultural alternative narratives. Themes that emerged for a master narrative of parenting emerging adult children focused on education, over-parenting, hands-off parenting, permissive parenting, guidance and support role, and contribution to society. Results also described how mothers utilized alternative narratives to make sense of their culture in light of American society through themes that emphasized stern parenting, family values, cultural generational awareness, parenting independent of norms, restrictions on parenting, guidance and support role, and contribution to society. Findings indicated instances of microlevel culture. Ultimately, the major implication from this study was the importance of taking into account culturally related experiences when defining what is “appropriate” parenting.