Parenting Dimensions Research Articles

Offspring beg more toward larger females in a burying beetle

Abstract Offspring of many animals beg for food from parents. Begging is often costly, and offspring should seek to reduce such costs to maximize their returns on begging. Whenever multiple adults provide care for a joint brood, as in species where multiple females breed communally, offspring should beg toward the parent that provisions the most food. Here, we investigate whether larvae spend more time begging toward larger females in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. Prior work on this species shows that larger females provision more food than smaller ones, suggesting that larvae would benefit by preferentially begging toward larger females. To test for such a preference, we provided experimental broods with a simultaneous choice between two dead females: a smaller and a larger one. Larvae spent more time begging toward larger females. We next examined the behavioral mechanism for why larvae begged more toward larger females. Larvae spent more time in close contact with larger females over smaller ones, whereas there was no evidence that larvae begged more when in close contact with larger females. Thus, larvae begged more toward the larger female simply as a consequence of spending more time close to larger females. Our findings have important implications for our understanding of parent–offspring communication by showing that offspring can choose between parents based on parental attributes, such as body size, reflecting how much food parents are likely to provision.

Parenting practices in childhood and depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms in adolescence: a systematic review.

Parenting practices represent important and modifiable factors for health and wellbeing in children and adolescents; however, strength and quality of studies examining relationships between parenting practices in childhood and risk of depression and anxiety in adolescence are unclear. The objective of this systematic review was to synthesize the longitudinal literature that describes these associations. Six electronic databases were searched for articles published through March 2018. Eligible articles were published in the English language, peer-reviewed, and had prospective cohort study designs. Articles eligible for inclusion examined positive and negative parenting practices of parents and/or guardians when study subjects were between 0 and 9years of age, and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and internalizing symptoms when subjects were between 10 and 19years of age. Heterogeneity of included articles precluded meta-analysis: findings were reported narratively. 4558 references were screened for inclusion, and 19 articles met eligibility criteria and were included for review. Ten articles examined positive parenting practices, and four demonstrated statistically significant associations between positive parenting practices and lower risk of adolescent depression, anxiety, and/or internalizing symptoms. Fifteen articles examined negative parenting practices, and five demonstrated significant associations between negative parenting practices and higher risk of adolescent depression, anxiety, and/or internalizing symptoms. This review demonstrates that the evidence base supporting longitudinal associations between parenting practices in childhood and adolescent symptoms of depression, anxiety, and internalizing problems is inconsistent. Findings from this review highlight limitations of the existing literature and identify understudied parenting dimensions that require further investigation.

Is Mindful Parenting a Mechanism that Links Parents’ and Children’s Tendency to Experience Negative Affect to Overprotective and Supportive Behaviors?

The main goal of this study is to investigate the mediating role of mindful parenting dimensions in the relationship between parents’ and children’s tendency to experience negative affect (i.e., parents’ neuroticism and children’s negative reactivity) and parents’ overprotection and supportive behaviors. A sample of 399 parents (84.2% mothers) of children aged between 6 and 13 years completed self-report questionnaires assessing neuroticism, children’s negative reactivity, mindful parenting, parental overprotection, and support of children’s coping behaviors. A path model was tested through structural equation modeling. Parents’ and children’s tendency to experience negative affect were shown to be associated with lower levels of all mindful parenting dimensions. Parents’ neuroticism was shown to be directly associated with greater overprotection. In addition, parents’ neuroticism and children’s negative reactivity were both shown to be indirectly associated with lower levels of overprotection and supportive behaviors through lower levels of compassion towards the child and of emotional awareness of the child. In contrast, parents’ neuroticism and children’s negative reactivity were indirectly associated with a greater overprotection through lower levels of nonjudgmental acceptance of parental functioning. This study provides insight into how the temperamental tendency to experience stronger and more frequent negative emotions can contribute to parental overprotection and the parental support of children’s coping behaviors. Mindful parenting dimensions seem to shape the way neuroticism and children’s reactivity are associated with overprotection and supportive behaviors.

The role of parents on the home ownership experience of their children: Evidence from the health and retirement study

AbstractWe construct matched panel data sets of adult children with their parents to study the role of lagged parental attributes on subsequent home ownership decisions between 2000 and 2012. Earlier research has demonstrated intergenerational wealth transfers from parents to children are an important source of upfront equity used to purchase a first home, although parental attributes are often omitted as determinants of tenure due to data limitations. A significant role is found for lagged parental wealth on the ability of adult children to become and remain home owners over this period. Endowed differences in parental wealth are estimated to account for the largest explainable share of the white/non‐white gap in becoming a homeowner, and maintaining home ownership once attained.

Do parenting styles matter? Perceived dimensions of parenting styles, creative abilities and creative self-beliefs in adolescents

On a sample of 552 high school students, the present study investigated the relationships between perceived parenting dimensions, and children’s creative abilities assessed by the Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing Production (TCT-DP) as well as their creative self-beliefs (i.e. creative self-efficacy and creative personal identity). Results indicated that the dimension of parental child acceptance and autonomy support were weakly but positively related to children’s creative self-efficacy and creative personal identity. However, no statistically significant relationship was found between parental autonomy support and children's creative abilities. In this sense, this study provides preliminary evidence for the effect of parental style dimensions on children’s creative self-beliefs. Implications and limitations of this study were discussed. Recommendations are also given to researchers for conducting further studies on the topic.

Parents' genetic attributions for children's eating behaviors: Relationships with beliefs, emotions, and food choice behavior

Considering genetic influences on children's eating behavior could result in reduced self-efficacy for healthy child feeding and less healthy feeding behavior among parents. Indeed, one's eating behaviors are typically thought of as the volitional aspects of weight management that one can directly control. The current study assessed parental genetic attributions for their child's eating behavior, and relationships between these attributions and self-efficacy, guilt, and feeding behaviors. Participants included 190 parents of a child between 4 and 7 years old. Parents' genetic attributions for child eating behaviors were lower than genetic attributions related to child weight. Higher genetic attributions for child eating behaviors were related to lower self-efficacy for feeding the right amounts of food, higher-calorie food choices for the child in a virtual reality-based buffet simulation, and higher levels of guilt. The current findings suggest that heightened beliefs about role of genetics in children's eating behavior is associated with maladaptive affect and behavior among parents. This should be kept in mind when considering whether, when, and how to provide information to parents highlighting the role of genetics in children's eating behavior.

Adverse Parenting Is Indirectly Linked to Delayed Reward Discounting via Blunted RSA Reactivity: the Protective Role of a Shift-and-Persist Coping Strategy

Exposure to adverse parenting experiences, either from being reared under conditions of threat or deprivation, is a major source of chronic stress that is linked to youths’ dysregulated stress responses and impulsive decision-making. Many youth, however, adapt well and develop optimal decision-making despite the experience of adversity. Research has shown that the use of cognitive strategies to cope with stress, such as accepting and adapting to an acute stressor (i.e., shifting) and effortfully pursuing future goals (i.e., persisting), can mitigate the influence of adverse parenting experiences on impulsive decision-making and risk behaviors. However, scarce research examines the role of shift-and-persist in mitigating the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the effects of adverse parenting on youths’ decision-making. The current study investigated whether shift-and-persist strategy can buffer the indirect link between adverse parenting and youths’ impulsive decision-making via dysregulated stress reactivity gauged by blunted respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) reactivity. Data were obtained from a longitudinal sample of mostly minority (75.2% African American) low-SES preadolescents and their primary caregivers (N = 101). The youths’ decision-making was indexed by an assessment of delayed reward discounting (DRD). Results indicated that the threat dimension of adverse parenting was significantly linked to youths’ blunted RSA reactivity. Further, employing a shift-and-persist coping strategy significantly mitigated the indirect effect of threatening parenting behaviors on youths’ impulsive DRD via blunted RSA reactivity. Findings from the current study can inform prevention and intervention programs that aim to promote the development of resilience among youth who experience adverse and threatening rearing environments.

Assessment of cross compatibility in three strains of <i>Pleurotus species </i>and yield attributes of the surviving progenies

Despite the upsurge in mushroom consumption in Nigeria, breeding of new strains for improved quality, early maturity and biological efficiency is a new concept. This study investigated cross-compatibility among three mushroom parental strains (Pleurotus ostreatus, P. tuber-regium and Lentinus edodes) and assessed yield attributes in parents and the progenies of compatible strains – (P. ostreatus and L. edodes). The crosses were carried out at the Department of Biology, Kogi State University, Anyigba, Kogi State, Nigeria using the dual culture technique. Among the twenty-seven combinations, only five (5) hybridized successfully. Crosses between P. tuber-regium and the other two strains (P. ostreatus and L. edodes) failed to yield viable progenies while the cross between P. ostreatus (po) and L. edodes (le) yielded five (5) new strains. Data collected on morphological and yield attributes of the compatible parents and the new strains revealed that three (3) strains (po1 x le1, po3 x le2 and po3 x le3) produced white fluffy colony growth morphology which represented the characters of P. ostreatus while the remaining two strains (po2 x le1 and po2 x le3) had milky, appressed morphology, representing the attributes of L. edodes. The strain from cross combination po3 x le3 completed spawn run in 37 days which was the fastest (ρ < 0.05) among the strains and also exhibited superiority (ρ < 0.05 or ρ < 0.01) for all other attributes including fresh yield and biological efficiency over other strains and the two parents. Two other strains viz. po2 x le3 and po3 x le2 also exhibited significantly (ρ < 0.05) higher yield and biological efficiency than either of the parental strains. These new strains can be exploited for commercial production of improved mushrooms in Nigeria.
 Key words: Cross Compatibility, Pleurotus, Dual Culture, Yield, Biology efficiency

Mothers' and Fathers' Perspectives on the Causes of Their Child's Disorder.

Parental beliefs about the cause of their child's illness are thought to affect parents' help-seeking behaviors, treatment decisions, and the child's health outcomes. Yet, research on parental beliefs about disease causation is still scarce. While a small number of studies assesses parental cause attributions for singular disorders (e.g., neurodevelopmental disorders), no study has compared disorders with differing physical versus mental conditions or with mixed comorbidities in children and adolescents or their caregivers. Furthermore, most pediatric research suffers from a lack of data on fathers. Hence, the objective of the current study was to test for possible differences in mothers' and fathers' perceptions about the etiology of their child's illness. Forty-two parent couples (overall N = 84) whose child had been diagnosed either with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity-Disorder (ADHD) or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) (category "neurodevelopmental disorder") or with a primary physical illness and a comorbid mental disorder, e.g. depression (category "psychosomatic disorder") were asked to rate possible causes of their child's illness using a modified version of the revised Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ) Cause scale. A two-way ANOVA showed that psychosomatic disorders were significantly more strongly attributed to be caused by medical and environmental stressors than neurodevelopmental disorders. A significant parent × illness category interaction revealed that this effect was more pronounced in fathers. By providing first insights into parental beliefs about the etiology of their children's neurodevelopmental versus psychosomatic disorders, this study paves ground for future research and tailored counseling of affected families.

Adolescents and Body Uneasiness: the Contribution of Supportive Parenting and Trait Emotional Intelligence

This study aims to understand the mechanisms that link trait Emotional Intelligence (trait EI) and parenting in contributing to the development of body uneasiness in adolescents. Participants were 405 adolescents (152 males, 253 females), from 14 to 19 years old, who completed the Perceptions of Parents Scales, the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire–Adolescent Form, and the Body Uneasiness Test. Results confirmed that higher adolescents’ body uneasiness was predicted by lower perceived parental support and lower adolescent trait EI. Furthermore, our findings showed that trait EI had a mediational effect on the relation between the parenting dimension of autonomy-support and body uneasiness. These results shed light on the relationship between positive parenting practices and higher adolescents’ trait EI, which act together as protective factors of adolescents’ body uneasiness.

Parenting Profiles, Intolerance of Uncertainty, and Worry among Chinese Primary School Children

This study identified the profiles of Chinese children’s perceived parenting style and examined profile differences in worry and intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and whether differences on worry were mediated by IU. A sample of 591 primary school children (aged 9–12 years) in China completed self-report questionnaires assessing perceived parenting style, IU and worry. Latent profile analysis on six parenting dimensions (emotional warmth, rejection and overprotection for fathers and mothers) identified four parenting profiles: supportive, disengaged, harsh, and highly harsh. The supportive and disengaged parenting profiles showed lower levels of worry than the harsh and highly harsh parenting profiles, and the supportive parenting profile had the lowest level of IU. The results of multicategorical mediation analysis showed that difference in child worry between the supportive and harsh parenting profile was fully mediated by IU. The findings of this study revealed the internal mechanisms of child worry using a person-centered approach within the Chinese cultural background and provided initial evidence for parenting interventions to alleviate children’s worry.

Changes in self-reported and observed parenting following a randomized control trial of parent-child interaction therapy for the treatment of preschool depression.

Parenting in early childhood exerts substantial influence over children's emotional health and development. Using data from a randomized controlled trial of a novel treatment for early childhood depression, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy Emotion Development (PCIT-ED), we explored two broad dimensions of parenting (behavior and affect) to determine whether any changes could be detected following treatment when compared to those in a waitlist control condition. 229 caregiver-child dyads, 114 randomly assigned to PCIT-ED for preschool-onset depression, and 115 assigned to a waitlist completed two structured interaction tasks at baseline and post-treatment. Interactions were later coded by observer's blind to diagnostic and treatment status. Greater reductions were found in self-reported negative parenting behaviors and observed negative affect and greater increases in self-reported positive parenting behaviors and observed positive affect among the caregivers in the treatment group. Increases in the overall positivity of the observed interactional style of caregivers, but no observed parenting behavior change was found following treatment. Discrepancies between self-reported and observed parenting were greater among caregivers on the waitlist. Following PCIT-ED treatment, caregivers self-reported improvements in parenting practices and declines in punitive practices along with observed increases in positive affect and decreases in negative affect when interacting with their child. Moreover, coherence between self-reported and observed parenting was higher in the treatment group. These findings highlight the efficacy of PCIT-ED in improving parenting behaviors and the need to use multiple methods to assess parenting in treatment studies.

Parental Competence Beliefs and Attributions for Achievement in Kindergarten: Effects on Parent Expectations

The aim of this study was to examine (a) parental attributions for children’s performance in language, mathematics and globally school in kindergarten, (b) whether parents’ perceptions concerning their children’s academic ability predict the children’s school performance in kindergarten, the subsequent parental attributions, and the impact of school performance and parental attributions on parental expectations concerning their children’s later school performance in the first primary school year, and (c) the role of the three sets of concepts (perceived academic ability, performance in kindergarten, and subsequent parent attributions) in the formulation of parent expectations. The participants were parents of 150 kindergarten children (80 girls, 70 boys), who were randomly recruited from 45 state kindergartens of various towns of Greece. The results revealed: (a) parents attributed their children’s good performance to stable and, mainly, internal and personal controllable to the children’s factors, (b) the higher parents estimated their children’s ability, the better the children performed in the respective school subject, and the higher the parental attributions to internal, stable, personal controllable and external uncontrollable to the children’s factors were, (c) variability in the effect of parents’ perceptions of their children’s ability on attributions and performance between and within school subjects, in favoring language, and least favoring general school performance and (d) although parental perceived children’s academic ability was the most powerful predictor of parents’ expectations regarding their children’s performance in grade one, both the children’s past performance and the subsequent parental attributions accounted for a positive significant portion of the variance of it.

Parenting for Success: The Value of Children and Intensive Parenting in Post-Reform China

Existing parenting research in sociology is dominated by a class analysis approach, which assumes a strong relationship between family resources and parenting behaviours. This relationship, however, is found to be weak in contexts such as China. In this study, I propose a theoretical model that takes account of parental valuation of children and explore its implications for parenting practices. Using this theoretical model, I analyse data from the 2014 survey of the China Family Panel Study and report the following findings. First, Chinese parents predominantly value a child figure who is “emotionally priceless and educationally achieving”. Second, parents who report higher emotional value and achievement value of their children are also significantly more likely to adopt intensive parenting practices. Last, family socioeconomic resources and parents’ valuation of children are complementary in affecting different dimensions of parenting: whereas family SES is positively correlated with parents’ investment in children’s education, parents’ perceived values of children (particularly the emotional value) exert strong effects on parental involvement in various ways to boost children’s academic performance. I conclude the article by ruminating on the theoretical and policy implications of this study.

Parental Responsibility, Blameworthiness, and Bullying: Parenting Style and Adolescents’ Experiences With Traditional Bullying and Cyberbullying

Parents are deemed morally—and, increasingly, legally—responsible for their children’s misbehavior, and their parental aptitude is questioned if their children are victimized. Parental responsibility laws and blameworthiness extend to common occurrences like bullying. Literature broadly supports these principles for some offenses through findings that effective parenting styles are associated with improved adolescent outcomes, but evidence about the relationship between parenting styles and bullying is underdeveloped and inconclusive. To study the relationship between parenting styles and traditional bullying and cyberbullying offending and victimization, data were collected from a sample of 435 Canadian middle and high school students. The results suggest that parenting styles are not associated with traditional bullying offending or victimization; however, neglectful parenting was associated with cyberbullying offending and indulgent parenting was associated with cyberbullying victimization. These findings suggest that the demandingness dimension of parenting, which is characterized by rule setting and monitoring, is important for cyberbullying prevention.

Measuring parental dimensions: A psychometric evaluation of the parents as social context questionnaire, Swedish version

The relationship between a parent and an adolescent is dynamic. A parent may do better in certain areas or during certain phases of the adolescent’s life, and the adolescent’s needs or demands on t...

Parenting Together: Understanding the Shared Context of Positive Parenting Among Low-Income Black Families

This study examined the relations between family demographics and positive parenting dimensions among urban-residing, low-income, Black caregiving dyads. Participants were 100 co-caregivers affiliated with a Head Start program and reporting on 50 preschool-aged children. Given that the parenting context for the caregiver pairs was not independent, multilevel dyadic analysis was employed to determine demographic predictors of positive parenting dimensions as measured by the emically derived Black Parenting Strengths in Context scale. Findings illuminated associations between combinations of adult/child characteristics (e.g., nativity, parental employment status, child gender) and the five dimensions of positive parenting measured (i.e., Fostering Connectedness; Racial and Cultural Pride; Involvement at School; Religious and Spiritual Practices; Behavioral Responsiveness and Guidance). Findings suggest implications for future research and theory involving Black family life—specifically the need to examine parenting by considering the combined effects of individual and shared family characteristics—and for designing parent support efforts that recognize family roles and heritages, and that leverage the strengths of and heterogeneity among the multiple caregivers in the lives of young children.

Development and Validation of the Scale of Parental Attribution Style on their Children’s Academic Achievement

본 연구는 부모가 자녀의 학업성취 결과에 대한 원인을 어디에 두고 있는지 알아보기 위한 척도를 개발하고 그 타당성을 검증하기 위한 목적에서 수행되었다. 지금까지 학업성취에 대한 귀인 성향은 대부분이 학습자를 대상으로 한 연구가 주를 이루었다. 이에 비해 본 연구는 학부모를 대상으로 개방형 질문을 실시한 후, 학업성취와 관련된 문헌 및 선행연구 결과와 Weiner 귀인 이론을 토대로 잠정적인 6요인, 31개 예비 문항을 개발하고 타당도를 검증하였다. 첫째, 탐색적 요인분석 결과, 자녀의 성적에 만족한 경우의 귀인성향은 6요인 구조로, 만족하지 못한 경우 역시 일부 문항(2문항)을 제외하고 6요인 구조로 수렴되었다. 이를 각각 부모 통제 가능 요인, 부모 통제 불가능 요인, 자녀 통제 가능 요인, 자녀 통제 불가능 요인, 학교 요인, 사교육 요인으로 명명하였다. 둘째, 확인적 요인분석 결과, 탐색적 요인분석의 6요인 모델이 적합한 것으로 확인되었다. 셋째, 신뢰도 분석 결과 모든 요인들이 .80~.94로 전반적으로 높게 나타났다. 최종적으로 구성된 자녀의 학업성취에 대한 학부모 귀인 성향 척도는 자녀의 성적에 만족한 경우는 6요인, 30문항이, 자녀의 성적에 만족하지 못한 경우는 6요인, 28문항이 구성되었다. 마지막으로 이 척도의 가치와 적용방안이 논의되었다.

Correlation between Parenting Styles and Peer Attachment with Aggressive Behavior Potentials in Adolescent Boys

Background: Adolescence is a transitional phase that causes biological, cognitive, social-emotional, and behavioral changes. One of the issues of concern is aggressive behavior in adolescents. Parenting styles and peer attachment are one of the factors that have an influence on potential aggressive behavior in adolescent boys. Objectives To analyze the relationship between parenting styles and peer attachment to the potential aggressive behavior of adolescent boys. Method: The subjects were junior high school male students who are cared for by both biological parents and can follow all of the research procedures. The research design was cross-sectional with total sampling technique. Subjects performed anamnesis related data self, parent demographic data, and peers. (PAQ), (IPPA) (BPAQ). The analyzes used were Pearson, Spearman, and Anova. Results: The majority of parenting styles was permissive (34.06%; 48.00%). Parenting styles and peer attachments did not have a significant relationship with potential aggressive behavior (p = 0.798; p = 0.071; p = 0.695). There was a negative correlation of peer attachment with alienation dimension (p = 0.001). Other significant dimensions with potential dimensions of aggressive behavior were trust (p = 0.018; 0.022) and communication (p = 0.029; p = 0.000). Conclusion: Parenting styles and peer attachments did not have a meaningful relationship with potential aggressive behavior in adolescent boys. However, there were some significant correlations between the dimensions of parenting and peer attachment with potential dimensions of aggressive behavior.

Parenting styles and the dietary intake of pre-school children: a systematic review

Objective: The prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity has been increasing globally, with poor diet a key contributor. Parents play an influential role over the food intake of young children. This review explores whether parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive and disengaged) or parenting dimensions (warmth and control) are associated with pre-school children’s dietary intake.Design: Following the PRISMA guidelines, a systematic search of six electronic databases was conducted. Included articles were based on children aged 2-5 years and reported associations between parenting styles or dimensions and children’s food intake. Two independent reviewers extracted the data and assessed the quality of the articles.Main outcome measures: Pre-school children’s dietary intake.Results: Seven articles met the inclusion criteria. Six of the seven articles found evidence of at least one association between parenting styles or parenting dimensions and children’s dietary intake. Several different measurement tools were used to identify parenting styles (n = 3) and dietary intake (n = 6), with reliability and validity reported in varying ways. The quality score of the articles ranged from 33% to 58%.Conclusion: Overall, an authoritative parenting style or higher levels of warmth appear to be associated with healthier dietary intakes among pre-school children.