Parental Goals Research Articles

Parental conflicts and resource sharing: Evolutionary trade-off

The genetic struggle between parents and their offspring is a fundamental aspect of kin selection theory and the gene-centered perspective of evolution. Parental resource conflict, or parent-offspring conflict, is an intriguing concept within evolutionary biology. It refers to the natural disagreement between parents and their young regarding how parental resources should be distributed. This disagreement emerges from the differing evolutionary goals of parents for their offspring. Conflict arises only if parental behavior is influenced by genetic trade-offs concerning offspring success and the parent’s capacity to nurture more offspring, and its manifestation is significantly influenced by the nature of these trade-offs. There is a hypothetical scenario in which parents can influence gene expression in embryos directly. Similar to genomic imprinting, this may happen as a result of sexual selection in males competing with other males to gain more resources for their offspring from their mothers. One significant evolutionary theory that sheds light on parent-offspring resource conflict is parental investment theory, introduced by Robert Trivers in 1972. This theory posits that to enhance the survival prospects of their young, parents need to dedicate resources (such as time, energy, food, and care) to their offspring. However, given that resources are finite, parents must determine the amount of their available resources to distribute among each child or prospective child as well as who will contribute what. Mothers and fathers possess distinct reproductive priorities. Females generally put more effort into raising their young due to biological reasons (such as gestation and breastfeeding). Conversely, males may encounter different advantages and disadvantages regarding their contribution to offspring, which could result in conflicts over how resources ought to be allocated between parents and their young. Males and females employ distinct strategies to enhance their reproductive success, leading to competition over how resources are distributed to offspring. These strategies are influenced by sexual selection. To sum up, the competition for resources between parents, viewed through the lens of evolution, arises from the differing reproductive goals of parents and their offspring, fuelled by the fight for scarce resources. This interaction has molded the strategies and behaviors that affect resource distribution within families, applicable to both humans and other species.

Resilient Cultural Practices in Mexican Immigrant Families: Children's Helping and Parental Goals and Aspirations.

This study examined 20 parental interviews of third-grade children in U.S. Mexican-heritage families in California, focusing on their children's helping at home, parents' goals for their children, and the values they hoped to instill in their children. The families varied in their experience with Learning by Observing and Pitching In (LOPI), a way of organizing learning that is consistent with the traditions of Indigenous and Indigenous-heritage communities of the Americas. Based on previous research in Mexico, we expected to find differences between the families related to familiarity with middle-class ways of organizing learning (associated with increased schooling) or familiarity with LOPI. Instead, we found that children in all families were helping at home and that when parents spoke about the goals and values they hoped their children remembered, they consistently spoke about the importance of community, family, and respect in a pattern that is consistent with the ideas of LOPI regardless of increased school experience. We explored the idea of resilient cultural practices in immigrant communities and the development of a repertoire of cultural practices, drawing on multiple traditions in different situations. This contributes to the idea that different cultural forms of organizing teaching and learning need not be mutually exclusive. It also supports the idea that efforts aimed at continuing historical cultural traditions can maintain these cultural practices over generations, even in the case of migration and increased participation in other cultural institutions (like school).

Challenging the dichotomy: Examining parent socialization goals and behaviors regarding positive affect in Bengaluru, India.

Parents' responses to youth positive affect (PA) have been dichotomized as enhancing and dampening. This dichotomy may not fit with cultural scripts about emotion in communities where a balance between positive and negative emotions is preferred. To assess parents' PA socialization in a culturally relevant manner for urban, middle-class families in India, we developed a new measure of parental goals about happiness and adapted the Responses to Adolescent Happy Affect Scale (RAHAS). We tested the psychometric properties of these measures and assessed relations among parental socialization goals and behaviors across 5 months. Our sample included 377 adolescent (84.4% girls; Mage = 14.47) and parent (63.9% mothers) dyads, primarily Hindu, in Bengaluru, India. Two parental goals factors emerged: "Balancing and Controlling" and "Maximizing and Sharing" happiness. Three factors emerged for the adapted RAHAS. Two factors were the same as the original RAHAS: (a) "Enhancing" strategies to upregulate PA and (b) "Dampening" strategies to downregulate PA. A third factor emerged: (c) "Balancing" strategies, which were culturally salient for families in India and aimed for moderation. Among socialization behaviors, "Enhancing" and "Dampening" were inversely related, while "Balancing" related positively to each. Balancing and Controlling goals were only correlated to "Balancing" behaviors. Maximizing and Sharing goals were correlated positively with "Enhancing" and inversely with "Dampening." Longitudinally, Maximizing and Sharing and Balancing and Controlling goals were related to a significant increase and marginal decrease in "Dampening," respectively. Challenging the dichotomy, our findings highlight the relevance of balancing to theories of PA socialization.

Gritty Parenting: The Development and Validation of the Parental Grit Scale.

In this study, we aimed to expand the domain specificity of grit by exploring it in the realm of parenting. Parental grit was defined as parents' inclination to demonstrate perseverance, sustained passion, and adaptability in pursuing long-term parenting goals. With longitudinal data from 1,373 U.S. parents, we developed and validated the Parental Grit Scale (PGS) in three phases: item development and revision, establishment of factor structure, and examination of criterion-related and incremental validity. The PGS exhibited a three-factor structure and (partial) scalar measurement invariance across genders, the status of the child's special needs, and measurement occasions. The PGS demonstrated moderate temporal stability. We found evidence of its validity in predicting parental emotional exhaustion, self-efficacy, autonomy support, and parents' perceptions of children's school well-being. Parental grit explained variance in these outcomes beyond domain-general grit and conscientiousness. The PGS has sound psychometric properties and is a valuable measure in the parenting domain.

The Homeostasis-Enrichment-Plasticity (HEP®) Approach for Premature Infants with Developmental Risks: A Pre-Post Feasibility Study.

Background: The environmental enrichment (EE) framework has inspired several early intervention (EI) approaches. This study evaluated the feasibility, safety, caregiver acceptance, and satisfaction of implementing the HEP Approach intervention, a novel EI model based on the EE paradigm. Outcome measures for motor development, individual functional goals, sensory functions, caregiver-provided environmental affordances, and motivation for movement were examined. Methods: A pre-post-study design examined 18 premature infants (<33 weeks six days gestation) with a corrected age of 4-10 months. A 21-item Likert scale survey assessed the feasibility, safety, acceptability, and satisfaction of implementing the HEP Approach intervention. The Peabody Developmental Motor Scales-2, Test of Sensory Functions in Infants, Affordances in the Home Environment for Motor Development, and Infant Movement Motivation Questionnaire were used for outcomes. The goal attainment scale measured progress toward parent goals. The HEP Approach consisted of 12 one-hour sessions implemented over three months. Results: Most participating parents found the HEP Approach intervention feasible, safe, acceptable, and satisfactory. GAS scores demonstrated significant gains with a mean t-score of 67.75 (SD = 2.00). Results found significant improvement (p ≤ 0.05) in all outcome measures. Conclusions: Results suggest that the HEP Approach intervention is safe, feasible, and acceptable to implement. Outcome measures were meaningful and sensitive in identifying improved motor development, individualized parental goals, sensory functions, caregivers' use of environmental opportunities, and movement motivation in premature at-risk infants. Results suggest further studies on the HEP Approach are feasible, and highlight the potential of this intervention to inspire and guide future research in this field.

Unconditional Cash and Breastfeeding, Child Care, and Maternal Employment among Families with Young Children Residing in Poverty.

Poverty interferes with parents' breastfeeding, child-care, and employment options and ability to meet their parenting goals. This study-the first randomized controlled trial of early childhood poverty reduction in the United States-investigates how increased economic resources affect 1,000 low-income US mothers' breastfeeding, child-care, and employment practices and the ability to meet their intentions for these practices in the first year of their infant's life. The likelihood and length of breastfeeding, use of nonparental child care, and maternal employment did not statistically differ among mothers who received a high ($333) or low ($20) monthly unconditional cash gift. The higher monthly cash gift, however, delayed the starting age of child care by almost 1 month and increased mothers' ability to meet their breastfeeding intentions reported at birth.

The cost of "snubbing": the effect of parental phubbing on filial piety behavior in children and adolescents.

Although numerous studies have used Chinese samples to examine the consequences of parental phubbing, these studies focused on children's mental health and peer interaction. No research to date has directly explored the association between parental phubbing and child-parent interaction. Since parental phubbing is a way how parents interact with their children (parent-child), it might be associated with the way how children interact with their parents (child-parent), such as filial piety behavior, which prescribes how children behave toward their parents and remains one of the goals of parents in educating their children in modern Chinese society. Based on social exchange theory and social gender theory, this study investigated the impact of parental phubbing on filial piety behavior and tested its mediation of perceived parental rejection, its moderation of gender among children and adolescents. This study was conducted using a questionnaire method. A total of 753 students from Grade 4 to 9 (Mage = 12.28 years, SD = 1.81 years) was surveyed using the Parental Phubbing Scale, Perceived Parental Rejection Questionnaire, and the revised Dual Filial Piety Scale. First, parental phubbing was negatively correlated with reciprocal filial piety (RFP) behavior, but not correlated with authoritarian filial piety (AFP) behavior. Second, perceived parental rejection played a mediating role between parental phubbing and RFP behavior. Third, this direct effect was moderated by gender, in that it was stronger for boys than for girls. These findings suggest that there are intergenerational costs of phubbing, such as reducing children and adolescents' RFP behavior. The present study is the first to combine parent-child interaction in the digital media era (parental phubbing) with traditional Chinese child-parent interaction (RFP behavior), which expands the research topic on the influence of parental phubbing on children and adolescents' psychological development.

FROM SURRENDER STORIES TO PERSISTENCE STORIES: YOUNG GIRLS’ NARRATIVES OF AGENCY AND POWER IN CHILD–PARENT CONFLICTS

This paper examines the dynamics of agency and power as revealed in young girls’ fictional narratives about child–parent conflicts that are caused by incompatibility between the goals of children and parents in everyday family life. The data were collected from 26 girls aged 4 to 6 using the Story Magician’s Play Time method. Narrative analysis yielded five types: mediation and compromise stories, surrender stories, persistence stories, solidarity stories, and standoff stories. In the girls’ stories, agency and power were multifaceted and variable phenomena that were negotiated in a relational context in which the gender of the child and parent characters played an important role. Power relations tended to be narrated as more hierarchical and immutable in child–father conflicts, and more often as negotiated in child–mother conflicts. However, when narrated as deploying unyielding and tactical actions, the child characters were only able to exert power over the parent in girl–mother conflicts. Thus, some stories conveyed a clear, hierarchical generational order while others demonstrated children’s agentic power to reshape adult dominance in child–adult conflicts in diverse ways. The practical implications of the findings are also discussed.

CHILDREN’S NAMES FOUNDED WITH THE WORDS «SON» AND «DAUGHTER» IN CENTRAL ASIAN TURKISH PEOPLE

The study deals with children’s names created by using the words son and daughter in the names given to children in the Turkish people of Central Asia.In the society we live in, one of the most important goals of parents in the family is to have a child. One of the most important duties of parents who have children towards a child is to give their child a beautiful name.Throughout the historical process experienced by the Turkish nation, various name-giving traditions have emerged due to different reasons experienced by parents. The names given according to these tra-ditions reflect the history, geography, beliefs, social structure, and cultural characteristics of the society.According to the findings we made in field researches, the conditions in families in Central Asian Turkish communities before the birth of the child, the unexpected developments that occur during the birth of the child and the events that occur after birth play a great role in naming the child.The names formed with the words «son» and «daughter,» which are frequently found in the names given to children in Central Asian Turks, are often seen to be directly related to the desire to have a boy. Today, especially in Kazakhs and Kyrgyz, the third of three daughters born in the family in succession is usually given names formed with the word «ul/son.» For example, names such as «Ulbolsun», «Ulbolgan», «Uljalgas», «Ulergen» directly reveal the desire for a boy, while names such as «Kıztumas», «Kızdıkoy» express more harshly and clearly that the girls of the family have enough and now want boys.In the study, the reasons for the words son and daughter in the names given to children, especially in Central Asian Turkish people, are emphasized and the subject is examined thoroughly.

Language Skills Influence Transition Planning in Adolescents With Fragile X Syndrome.

Individuals with fragile X syndrome (FXS) and their parents have a range of experiences navigating the crucial transition period between adolescence and adulthood. Semistructured interviews of 47 mothers of adolescents with FXS (mean child age = 15.89 years) were analyzed to identify mothers' changing expectations during the adolescent period and parent goals related to work and postsecondary education. Mothers' work and education goals were explored in relation to child factors such as language skills and autism characteristics. Lower language skills were associated with lower likelihood of reporting vocational goals. Results suggest that adolescents with FXS with lower language ability are less likely to have vocational plans for adulthood during this critical period and may need greater transition planning assistance.

Childhood Experiences and Needs: Parental Goals, Mistakes, and Personality Traits and Their Adult Daughters’ Ability to Meet Their Needs

Objectives of the research:. The purpose of this study was to determine whether women’s childhood experiences are related to their ability to meet their needs in adulthood.&#x0D; Research methods: The survey was conducted online with a random sample of 402 women between the ages of 21 and 50. In order to answer the research questions, text mining algorithms and cluster analysis carried out by data mining algorithms were used.&#x0D; A short description of the context of the issue: The ability to fulfill one’s needs is an important determinant of personal happiness, well-being and mental health The study examined whether women who had experienced fewer parental mistakes were better at meeting their needs, and whether there were intergroup differences between women who were more and less efficient at fulfilling their needs in terms of the personality traits their parents tried to mold in them during childhood and the personality traits that the women developed.&#x0D; Research findings: The results revealed that women who experienced fewer parenting errors in childhood and whose parents tried to shape in them personality traits such as Stability (Alpha-Plus), Plasticity (Beta-Plus) and Integration (Gamma-Plus) indeed developed these traits and were more effective in fulfilling their needs in adulthood.&#x0D; Conclusions and recommendations: Experiencing more parenting mistakes in childhood is associated with the development of unfavorable personality traits and lower competence in meeting needs in adulthood.

Parent attributions and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder knowledge as predictors of specific help-seeking interests.

Many children diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) do not receive appropriate services following diagnosis. Although information about ADHD is widely available and abundant, sometimes conflicting information may impede parent help-seeking. The present study examined parent knowledge of ADHD and attributions of child behavior as predictors of interest in formal and informal help seeking at the point of child evaluation for possible ADHD. Participants (89 caregivers of children ages 5-12) completed a measure of ADHD knowledge, rated attributions of child behavior in response to vignettes depicting ADHD symptoms, and indicated their interest in a range of formal and informal services that could be recommended following the child's evaluation. Parents reported strongest interest in academic services followed by medication, child focused therapy, and informal services (e.g., seeking information about ADHD). Family income, ADHD knowledge and attributions that child behavior will persist over time were associated with all types of help-seeking interest except academic services. Perceptions of child control over behavior predicted greater interest in medication. Findings suggest that increasing parent knowledge of ADHD and exploring parent goals and preferences for treatment may increase service utilization for children following assessment/diagnosis of ADHD.

Teaching or learning from baby: Inducing explicit parenting goals influences caregiver intrusiveness.

Caregivers' goals influence their interactions with their children. In this preregistered study, we examined whether directing parents to teach their baby versus learn from their baby influenced the extent to which they engaged in intrusive (e.g., controlling, adult-centered rather than child-centered), sensitive, warm, or cognitively stimulating caregiving behaviors. Mothers and their 6-month-old infants (N = 66; 32 female infants) from the San Francisco Bay Area participated in a 10-min "free-play" interaction, coded in 2-min epochs for degree of parental intrusiveness. Prior to the final epoch, mothers were randomly assigned to receive instructions to focus on (a) teaching something to their infant or (b) learning something from their infant. A control group of mothers received no instructions. Analyses of within-person changes in intrusive behavior from before to after receiving these instructions indicated that mothers assigned to teach their infant increased in intrusiveness whereas mothers assigned to learn from their infant and mothers in the control group did not significantly change in intrusiveness. The study provides experimental evidence that caregivers' explicit goals to teach infants result, on average, in more controlling and adult-centered caregiving behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Analysis of parental goals according to family variables. Implications for quality education in secondary education

This paper presents an exploratory study to identify the parental achievement goals of families in Spain and to detect peculiarities, in terms of their socio-demographic and socio-economic characteristics. A total of 1590 families, represented by one of the two parents, participated by means of convenience sampling. The data were collected through a questionnaire developed ad hoc, validated by using a Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Data processing included descriptive analyses and comparisons between groups, looking for possible significant differences. The results indicate that the task mastery-oriented goal prevails in this research sample, but also that more than half of the participants guide their children towards task success. Therefore, a broad group of subjects simultaneously conveys two different types of goals with divergent orientations, a fact that could lead to a conflict of values for adolescents. Regarding the relationship with the socio-demographic and socio-economic variables of the families, their greatest influence is in the case of the goal oriented towards failure, being lower in the goal aimed at success and decreasing significantly in the goal oriented towards mastery of the task. The results of this study suggest the necessity to offer, within the framework of universal parenting programmes, specific projects which help parents to clarify the values inherent in their parental achievement goals from the perspective of positive parenting. In addition, teachers should be trained in this aspect so that, in exercising their tutorial role, they can encourage all families to attain the goals of parental achievement associated with the quality of education.

The impact of parents' physical activity goals and parental attitudes on physical activity during leisure time among children in middle childhood.

Parents' supportiveness and health-promoting habits significantly affect the intensity of children's physical activity (PA) and the involvement of parents in their engagement in PA; in this domain, both the hours devoted to PA and PA goals can be assessed. The family plays an important role in shaping the physical and social organization of the environment for children aged 4-6 years. A total of 680 families with 5-year-old children (330 girls, 350 boys) took part in the study. Data were collected from these participants, who were recruited from preschools and primary schools in the Pomeranian region of Poland. The aim of this study was to determine whether the involvement of parents in PA mediates the influence of parental attitudes on the ways in which their children spend their leisure time. The results showed that not all parental attitudes had direct impact on children's leisure time in PA and outside PA. Other aspects parental attitude had no significant impact on offspring's free time. Among fathers, only four aspects of parental attitude (namely, acceptance-rejection, inconsistency, autonomy, and overprotectiveness) had an impact on PA goals. Mothers' goals were influenced by the strength of a larger number of aspects of attitude (namely, acceptance-rejection, autonomy, inconsistency, over-demandingness, and overprotectiveness). Similarly, the strength of mothers' and fathers' acceptance-rejection attitudes, attitudes of autonomy, and overprotectiveness had an impact on their PA goals but were not directly linked to their children's leisure-time engagement in PA. Not all parental attitudes have a direct impact on children's PA or non-PA leisure time. However, the goals of PA parents have been recognized influence the leisure time of children in PA and outside PA. The most statistically significant relationship for both mothers and fathers was between parental attitudes and PA goals. Parental attitudes do not play a significant role in explaining involvement in PA or lack of it in leisure time among 5-year-old children.

Malay-Translated Version and Content Validation of Parent Goals for Shared Reading Questionnaire

The interaction between adults and children during shared reading contributes to the conversation and reading in hand and makes the activity interactive. It is, therefore, imperative to understand parents’ goals for shared reading with their children as it will influence their behaviour and, in turn, affect their children’s development of language and literacy skills. In Malaysia, no local psychometric instrument identifying parent goals for shared reading is available. This study aims to translate the English version of the Parent Goals for Shared Reading Questionnaire (PGSRQ) into Malay and validate the translated questionnaire. Four qualified translators carried out the translation processes, and a panel of eight experts subsequently validated the Malay-translated version of PGSRQ. Of 33 items, the validation assessment revealed that 17 items had a content validity ratio (CVR) value of 1.0, while 12 items had a CVR value of 0.8. Only four items had a CVR value lower than 0.78 and were retranslated and modified. The findings of this study can pave the way for more research efforts in the field of shared reading in Malaysia. The questionnaire can also assist a speech therapist in assessing the goals that parents have on shared reading to come up with better designs for shared book reading intervention.

The impact of sense of coherence and the perceived parental goal emphases on teenagers' anxiety disorder

AbstractThe role of the parents is crucial in the children's effective functioning, having a long-term effect on the physical, mental and social health of the individuals. Sense of coherence is one of the most important elements of mental health, having a significant effect on the various aspects of life. So do parental goal emphasis by setting the main directions for the children. The current survey aimed to study the impact of sense of coherence and the perceived parental goal emphasis for teenagers' anxiety disorder. 80 of these students (40 suffering from anxiety disorder and 40 normal individuals) were selected due to a questionnaire about anxiety and sampling method, considering the goal of the research. The sense of coherence questionnaire was filled by students' mothers, and to understand parents', the perceived parental goal emphasis questionnaire was filled by the students themselves. The results were calculated and analysed by a statistical program called SPSS (V.20) with MANOVA on the Dependent variables test. The results indicate that the sense of coherence was different in two groups of mothers and students than anxiety disorder and normal individuals. It shows that sense of coherence had a higher rate in normal students' mothers. Also, the orientation senses of parents and its component had a huge superiority over students with an anxiety disorder than normal.

Association between gender role attitudes and social support from mothers and paternal involvement in childcare

Objective Paternal involvement in child-rearing is an action goal of Healthy Parents and Children 21 (Tier 2), and should be actively promoted. Clarifying the related factors may contribute to countermeasures for promoting paternal involvement in child-rearing. This study aimed to examine the association between fathers' gender role attitudes and social support from their spouses (i.e., the mothers of the children) and their involvement in child-rearing.Methods We obtained the data of fathers involved in childcare (aged 25-50 years; all full-time workers) through an internet research company. The paternal involvement in childcare scale (11 items, 4-point scale, e.g., "taking care of children," "cooking") was used as the dependent variable. The independent variables were gender role attitude ("Husbands should work outside the home and wives should take care of the home," 4-point scale) and social support from the mothers of the children (including appraisal, emotional, and instrumental support). The control variables were father's age, mother's employment status, number of children, the age of the youngest child, children going to nursery school or kindergarten, use of childcare services, self-evaluation of low economic status, work hours on weekdays, and marital relationship satisfaction.Results The data of 360 men were analyzed (mean age 36.8 years, standard deviation 5.6). The results of the multivariable regression analyses with interaction terms are as follows: gender role attitude was significantly associated with childcare (β=-0.103) and housework (β=-0.125); appraisal support was significantly associated with childcare (β=0.142) and housework (β=0.199); and the interaction between gender role attitude and instrumental support was significant (β=0.176), indicating that, in individuals with a high gender role attitude score, a higher level of instrumental support was related to a higher childcare score (β=0.242).Conclusions Fathers with egalitarian gender role attitudes and those who receive appraisal support from the other parent are more likely to participate in childcare. In addition, fathers with traditional gender role attitudes who receive instrumental support from the other parent may tend to participate in childcare.

Conformity between Choices of Career Goals of Junior High School Students and Parents' Careers

This research is motivated by phenomena related to the suitability and incompatibility between the choice of career aspirations of junior high school students and the careers of their parents. Career selection is influenced by several aspects including genetic influences, childhood experiences and individual needs. This study aims to describe the suitability between the career aspirations of junior high school students and their parents' careers. The research method is quantitative with descriptive research type. The research population was 55 people, a sample of 48 students, using a purposive sampling technique. Collecting data using a career choice questionnaire with a Likert scale model. The results of this study found: choice of career goals on the aspect of genetic influence in the high category (54.2%), choice of career aspirations on the aspect of childhood experience in the medium category (47.9%), choice of career aspirations in aspects of individual needs in the high category (60.4%). It was concluded that the choice of students' career aspirations is in accordance with the career of their parents, then counseling services are needed as a follow-up to determine the suitability of the choice of career aspirations with their talents and potential.

EHealth Coaching: Counseling Characteristics of Coaches Used With Parents

Background: Parents experience challenges managing hearing aids for young children. Counseling strategies can facilitate parent learning and enhance parent–professional partnerships. The purpose of this study was to identify clinician communication behaviors and missed opportunities during an eHealth intervention. Method: This study consisted of a qualitative analysis of a subset of the data from a randomized controlled study that included 37 parents of children under 42 months of age who use behind-the-ear hearing aids. These parents participated in coaching via phone calls and viewed instructional videos. The calls were audio-recorded and analyzed for themes within the categories of question asking, responding to parent emotions, engagement in a shared process, and missed opportunities for each category. Results: Themes were identified within each category. Trends included greater use of close-ended questions over open-ended questions, frequent responses to parent emotions, and engagement in a shared process through providing information and exploring progress on parent goals. Missed opportunities occurred within each category. Conclusions: Coaches' communication behaviors demonstrated support for parent learning that was positively received. Joint planning to address parent challenges was a missed opportunity to support parent behavior changes regarding hearing-aid routines.