Parental Gender Differences Research Articles

Images of God as They Relate to Life Satisfaction and Hopelessness

The purpose of the present study was to (a) re-evaluate a model of God images based on masculine and feminine characteristics and (b) examine how God images relate to hopelessness and life satisfaction, while controlling for additional religious variables. Participants were 254 college students. A factor analysis indicated that God images did not fall into primarily masculine or feminine factors, rather into Loving, Controlling, and Permissive God factors. Individually, these factors were not found to be significant predictors of hopelessness in a regression analysis, when religious service, participant gender, and religious orientation were controlled. However, an interaction between participant gender and the Controlling God factor indicated that women with more controlling images of God experienced more hopelessness, whereas men with more controlling images of God experienced less hopelessness. Results are discussed in relation to parental styles and gender differences as contributing factors in determining one's image of God.

Parents' feelings towards their adoptive and non‐adoptive children

In the current study, we examined parent gender differences in feelings (negativity and positivity) and perceptions of child behavioural and emotional problems in adoptive and biological parent-child dyads. In a sample of 85 families, we used a novel within-family adoption design in which one child was adopted and one child was a biological child of the couple, and tested whether the links between parent feelings and child maladjustment included effects of passive gene-environment correlation. Parents reported more negativity and less positivity as well as higher levels of externalizing behaviour for the adopted child compared to the non-adopted child, although effect sizes were small and no longer statistically significant after correcting for multiple comparisons. Fathers and mothers did not differ significantly in their reports of positive and negative feelings towards their children or in regard to child externalizing and internalizing behaviours. The correlations between parental negativity and positivity and child externalizing and internalizing were similar for fathers and mothers, and for adopted and non-adopted children. The findings suggest similar parent-child relationship processes for fathers and mothers, and that genetic transmission of behaviour from parent to child does not account for the association between parental warmth and hostility and child-adjustment problems.

Gender Equality and Gender Differences: Parenting, Habitus, and Embodiment (The 2008 Porter Lecture)*

Drawing on a four-year research project on Canadian primary caregiving fathers, as well two recent projects on the first year of parenting, this article highlights several theoretical and substantive issues in the study of gender equality and gender differences in parenting. First, I call for shifts from a focus on domestic tasks toward domestic and community-based responsibilities. Second, I argue that the political terrain underpinning the study of mothering and fathering calls for clarity on how researchers interpret the constant interplay between equality and differences. Third, while there has been some change over time, parental responsibilities remain gendered because they are deeply rooted in habitus and embodiment across specific spatial and temporal contexts.

The Role of Acculturation, Parenting, and Family in Hispanic/Latino Adolescent Substance Use: Findings From a Qualitative Analysis

ABSTRACT Focus groups were conducted with adolescents and parents as part of a larger study to understand the connection between acculturation and Hispanic/Latino adolescent substance use. Parents (n = 18) were all mothers and had an average age of 42 years. Students (n = 16) were 62% female and had an average age of 14 years. Results are summarized in five categories: culture/ethnic identity, acculturation, parent–child conflict/relationships, gender, and adolescent substance use. Parents and adolescents held similar views in some areas (e.g., pride in ethnic identity and changes in language use), but diverged in others (e.g., indicators of acculturation, gender differences in parenting, and ideas of freedom and independence). Participants in the focus groups did not endorse the association between acculturation and substance use that has been detected in quantitative studies. Implications for substance use prevention and treatment programs are discussed.

Perceived Parental Control and Parent–Child Relational Qualities in Early Adolescents In Hong Kong: Parent Gender, Child Gender and Grade Differences

This study examined parent gender, child gender and grade differences in perceived parental control and parent–adolescent relational qualities in early adolescents in Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China. Utilizing a longitudinal research design, 2,559 Chinese secondary school students responded to instruments assessing perceived parental behavioral control, parental psychological control, and parent–child relational qualities over three consecutive years. Results showed that there were parent gender and child gender differences in parental control and parent–adolescent relational qualities, but interaction effects of parent gender and child gender were also found. These findings strongly challenge the traditional Chinese cultural belief of “strict fathers, kind mothers”. Results also consistently showed that the levels of perceived parental behavioral control and parent–child relational qualities gradually declined from grades 7 to 9 in early adolescent years in the Chinese culture.

Fathers, Mothers, and Family Structure: Family Trajectories, Parent Gender, and Adolescent Schooling

Previous research has neither fully examined family structure across the life course nor considered increasing variation in family types. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 11,318), I examine the influence of longitudinal measures across childhood of family structure duration and the number and timing of parent transitions (entrances and exits) on indicators of grade point average (GPA), college expectations, and suspension or expulsion in adolescence. I also examine whether parent gender moderates these effects. Results show that mother transitions during early childhood affect all outcomes, whereas time in mother‐absent families influences GPA and school discipline. I find evidence for parent gender differences in transition effects; mother transitions, especially early ones, have more severe consequences than father transitions.

Gender Differences in Students' and Parents' Evaluative Criteria When Selecting a College

ABSTRACT Evaluation of gender differences between students and between parents based on the perceived financial, social, psychological, physical, and functional risks associated with college selection. Nineteen criteria associated with these risks were evaluated for significant gender differences as well as for their level of importance by gender in the selection process. Student gender differences were financial aid, security, academics, friendly atmosphere and religious atmosphere. Parent gender differences were financial aid and degrees offered. Within both groups, females possessed a higher mean. The most important criterion for female students and parents was academics; for male students it was tuition.

Hardiness in families of young children with asthma

This paper reports a study (a) to assess whether there are cultural and gender differences in parents' general well-being, sense of coherence and perception of family hardiness when they have a young child with asthma; and (b) to examine the effects of parents' sense of coherence and well-being on family hardiness. Research on hardiness, a resilience factor that fosters adaptation over time, has been widely studied from an individual perspective, but less from the viewpoint of the family unit. In particular, no study was found that assessed how members of a couple interact to affect their family's hardiness. Consideration of this dyadic phenomenon may provide unique insight about how family members interact with each other faced with a challenge, such as the chronic illness of a child. A cross-sectional research design was used with a sample of 137 two-parent families [76 from Iceland and 61 from the United States of America (USA)]. Questionnaires measuring sense of coherence, parents' well-being and family hardiness were used, and demographic data were also collected. The most striking differences in well-being were between mothers and fathers. In addition to a lower average on the total score for the well-being scale, mothers had poorer scores than fathers on the subscales of depression, self-control, vitality, and general health. Family hardiness differed between countries. The regression indicated that the individual's sense of coherence, depression and positive well-being (all actor effects), as well as the partner's anxiety (partner effect) all contributed significantly to family hardiness, as did nationality. Focused interventions for families with young children with asthma should be developed to enable them to feel more confident in using their resources to meet their demands and increase parents' general well-being and family adaptation. Research is needed to develop and test such interventions, particularly with diverse participant samples, encompassing not only a variety of ethnicities, but also a range of children's ages.

The Long-Term Psychosocial Effects of Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment on Children and Their Families

Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, a study of 77 families was undertaken to examine the long-term psychosocial effects of cancer on children and their families. This paper focuses specifically on the findings in relation to the parents' subgroup of the overall study. Key findings were that the majority of parents and their children readjust to ordinary family life following completion of treatment. Gender differences in parents' coping mechanisms emerged. The period immediately following the cessation of treatment can create feelings of isolation and vulnerability, and many parents have ongoing worries about their child's continued well-being.

Intergenerational Transmission in Turkish Immigrant Families: Parental Collectivism, Achievement Values and Gender Differences

The main objective of this empirical research is the analysis of intergenerational transmission and integration of repatriate families from the former Soviet Union in Germany. Repatriates are of German origin generally coming from Eastern Europe, where their ancestors migrated about 250 years ago. They are permitted to immigrate into the Federal Republic of Germany if they can prove their German origin and a discrimination in the country they live because of their German culture. They can be distinguished from other migrant groups in Germany not only by their cultural closeness to the native population, but also by their legal status upon immigration. They are equal in civil rights to the German population after their admission. Therefore, most people assume that these immigrants do not have any problems to integrate into Germany. But as Germans amongst Germans, being fully supplied with all civil rights, repatriates are still in a real, and very complicated immigration situation. Alltogether 427 same sex parent-child dyads of repatriates from the former Soviet Union were interviewed. The empirical analyses are based on an evolution with standardized questionaires. Special regard is given to the question, how individual skills, contextual restrictions, and familial factors effects the process of acculturation of migrant families from the former Soviet Union in Germany. Specifically the analysis examines how the parent generation influences the children generation and how this affects their integration process.

Perceptions of parents' health status and relationship to somatic preoccupation

Objectives: This study was designed to examine the potential relationship of family factors to somatic preoccupation. Method: A total of 116 internal medicine patients completed research booklets exploring perceptions of parents' health, childhood trauma, borderline personality symptomatology [Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-Revised (PDQ-R)], and somatic preoccupation (Bradford Somatic Inventory). Results: Simple correlations revealed that most of the relationships between somatic preoccupation and remaining study variables were statistically significant (e.g., poor parental health status correlated to somatic preoccupation). Using path analysis, poor perception of mother's health demonstrated an indirect effect on somatic preoccupation via borderline personality symptomatology, whereas, poor perception of father's health demonstrated an indirect effect on somatic preoccupation via childhood trauma. Neither parents' health status demonstrated direct effects on somatic preoccupation. Conclusions: There appear to be parent gender differences in the mediation of the relationship between poor parental health status and somatic preoccupation in the offspring. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Gender differences in parents' perceptions of their adult children's and their families' emotional expressivity

Using a recently published self report measure of emotional expressivity (EES; Kring et al., 1994) and a measure of family expressiveness, we investigated gender differences in ratings of individual and family emotional expressivity. Participants included 27 undergraduate men and 80 undergraduate women who completed self report inventories of their own and their families' emotional expressivity. Mothers and fathers of participants used the same instruments to rate their children's, their own and their families' overall expressivity. Both mothers and fathers were more in agreement with their daughters on the daughters' emotional expressivity and the overall family expressivity than they were with their sons. Parents' ratings were uncorrelated with their sons' ratings of these variables. However, mothers and fathers differed with their offspring in the assessment of the level of positive and negative emotion in the family. For both male and female children, mothers' ratings of positive, but not negative, emotion were correlated with children's ratings. The opposite pattern was apparent for fathers. Fathers' ratings of negative, but not positive emotion in the family were correlated with both sons' and daughters' ratings.

Parents' perceptions of children's worries in a changing world.

The nature and intensity of worries that preadolescent children experience and the extent to which parents are aware of their children's concerns were examined. Questionnaires with three subscales (Physical Harm, Daily Life Matters, and Global Issues) were filled out by 89 6th graders and their parents. Parents underestimated the overall degree to which children worry, and they tended to believe that their children worried most about daily life matters, such as grades and popularity; children were in fact least worried about daily life matters and most worried about global issues, such as pollution and starvation. Both child and parent gender differences were found.

Parental investment theory and gender differences in the evolution of inhibition mechanisms.

Parental investment theory and gender differences in the evolution of inhibition mechanisms.

Parental investment theory and gender differences in the evolution of inhibition mechanisms.

Based on the tenets of parental investment theory, the authors postulate that there was greater pressure to inhibit potentially maladaptive emotional, social, and sexual responses on prehistoric women than men in some contexts, resulting in enhanced inhibitory abilities in women in some domains. They reviewed studies whose researchers examined gender differences on social, behavioral, and cognitive tasks involving inhibition and found gender differences favoring female humans most consistent for social tasks (e.g., control of emotions), somewhat less pronounced for behavioral tasks (e.g., delay of gratification), and weak and inconsistent for cognitive tasks (e.g., conceptual tempo). This pattern was interrupted as being consistent with the position that gender differences in inhibition are relatively domain specific in nature, with women demonstrating greater abilities on tasks related to reproduction and childrearing, which is consistent with parental investment theory.

Gender equality and gender differences in household work and parenting

Gender equality and gender differences in household work and parenting

Gender equality and gender differences in household work and parenting

Drawing on qualitative research with 23 British dual earner couples, this article explores theoretical issues of gender differences and gender equality as they relate specifically to an understanding and analysis of women and men's contributions to household work and parenting. It is argued that the relationship between women's greater contribution to household work and their relative inequality to men in employment and public life — what Dinnerstein (1978) referred to as the relationship between “the rocking of the cradle and the ruling of the world” — remains the chief focus of research and analysis in the subject area of gender divisions of household labour. While recognizing the importance of such a focus, both for feminist research as well as for women outside of academia, I draw attention to one of the costs of such a focus, which has been an inadequate recognition of the various configurations that gender differences may take within household life. In particular, the article argues that there are several critical insights from ongoing feminist debates on gender equality and gender difference which could be usefully incorporated into the methodological and theoretical literature on gender divisions of household labour so as to enrich our understanding and analysis of persistent gender differences in household life and labour.

Marital quality and gender differences in parent-child interaction.

This microanalytic study of family interaction establishes links among marital quality, gender, and parent-child relationships. Dyadic conversational exchanges between 38 mothers and fathers and their 3.5 year-old first-born son or daughter were analyzed. Marital quality was related to gender differences in both parent and child behavior, with less maritally adjusted fathers of daughters showing the most negativity toward their children. Sequential analyses showed that gender differences in parents'and children's responses to one another were also mediated by marital quality. Mothers in less satisfied marriages were the least accepting of daughters'assertiveness and were more likely to reciprocate the negative affect of sons. Daughters of parents lower in marital satisfaction were less compliant with their fathers

Parental educational level, gender differences, and seniors' aspirations for advanced study

Many factors affect an undergraduate student's postbaccalaureate plans. Academic interests, career-related factors, finances, and various psychological and sociological factors all have been found to be related to interest in advanced education. Few studies, however, are gender-specific in examining the relation of parental educational attainment to their children's aspirations. Such data would be helpful in the attempts to understand the continued underrepresentation of women in most fields requiring advanced degrees. All seniors at a large Midwestern university with at least a 3.0 cumulative grade point average planning to graduate in spring or summer of 1986 were sent questionnaires dealing with their postgraduation plans. Of these 1900 surveys, 791 (42%) were returned. Results reported here examine the relation of future educational plans to gender of student, educational level of parent, and field of study. A modeling effect not noted in previous literature is discussed.

Parental Role Strains, Salience of Parental Identity and Gender Differences in Psychological Distress

Although past research indicates that women's higher levels of psychological distress can be accounted for by their greater exposure and vulnerability to role-related stress, the social psychological factors contributing to female vulnerability have not been fully identified. This paper applies identity theory to the phenomenon of gender differences in distress among parents. From an identity perspective, I propose that salience of the parental identity in women's self-conceptions contributes to their vulnerability to parental role strains. Using 1988 survey data from a stratified random sample of married and divorced Indianapolis residents (N = 448), I find that gender differences in distress are explained by differences in exposure to parental role strains. Further analyses reveal, however, that salience of the parental identity contributes to both men's and women's vulnerability to parental role strains. These findings underscore the utility of identity theory for explaining psychological distress among women and men.