Thinking and Knowledge Underlying Expertise in Parenting: Comparisons between Expert and Novice Mothers

Abstract

This study focuses on investigation and comparison of the thinking processes and knowledge of expert and novice parents. Interview data and verbal protocols were collected through three data collection approaches with expert and novice mothers of infants. Results indicate differences in the knowledge, goals, role beliefs and behaviors as well as cue recognition and interpretation of experts and novices. Results are discussed related to development of instructional approaches for increasing parent competence through parent education. The assumption that parents are the first and most important influence on their children's early development is increasingly accepted. Along with this belief is the recognition that the parent role is a complex, learned role and not one that comes naturally as many people have historically believed. Interest and programming in parent education have expanded and promise to continue based on the broad acceptance of these two widely held beliefs (Bigner, 1989; Fantini & Cardenas, 1980; Fine, 1980; Fine & Henry, 1989; Hamner & Turner, 1985; Harmon & Brim, 1980; Hicks & Williams, 1981; Hobbs et al., 1984; LeMasters & DeFrain, 1983; Wandersman, 1987). As stated by Wandersman (1987), Parent education is based on the principle that parenthood is an extremely complex and demanding job, and that education can help parents perform their job more effectively (p. 207). As the field of parent education has expanded, demands for training and professional development opportunities for parent educators have increased. In the process of planning and delivering professional development offerings for parent educators, it has become increasingly clear that more needs to be known in answer to the question What makes an effective competent parent or caregiver? The observable actions or behaviors of parents have typically been the focus of study in understanding parental competence. Research in child development has yielded extensive data concerning characteristics of effective parentchild interaction and child outcomes associated with various forms of parent behavior and interaction (e.g., Estrada, Asenio, Hess, & Holloway, 1987; Holdez & West, 1989; Maccoby, 1984; Pratt, Kerig, Cowan, & Cowan, 1988; Russel I & Russell, 1987; Wertsch, 1985). Baumrind (1966, 1970), for example, provides extensive evidence about the kinds of parenting which foster the development of socially responsible and independent behavior in children. The authoritative parenting style described by Baumrind, which was found to be the style most closely associated with competence in children, emphasizes the development of autonomy in children within reasonable parental limits. Research evidence on the competence of parents of infants points to the importance of sensitive and consistent parental responsiveness to infant signals to secure infant-parent attachment and development of infant social cognition (Ainsworth, 1979; Ainsworth & Bell, 1974; Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978; Kaye, 1982; Lamb & Easterbrooks, 1981; Lamb, Pleck, Charnov, & Levine, 1987).