Children's Parents

Abstract

This chapter surveys central issues concerning children's parents. The chapter first addresses the two faces of parenting, parenting as a phase of adult development and parenting as an instrumental activity vis‐à‐vis children. Next, the chapter briefly overviews the origins of parenting studies, theories of parenting, and future directions in parenting research. The following two sections of the chapter address the principal actors in the human drama of caregiving, mothers, fathers, and children's other principal caregivers, and, then, cognitions and practices that principally instantiate parenting. With the actors, attitudes, and actions associated with parenting introduced, arguments for the meaningfulness of parenting effects are then evaluated in correlational designs and various kinds of experiments that demonstrate the value of parenting (challenges to parenting effects from behavior genetics and group socialization theory are also addressed). Parents and parenting vary tremendously, and determinants of parenting are a major issue in the field; the multicausal origins of parenting in characteristics of parents, characteristics of children, and contextual characteristics are explored next. The chapter closes with some practical issues‐;for example neglect, abuse, and parenting interventions‐;before reaching more general conclusions.

Antecedents and consequences of parental psychological control and autonomy support: The role of psychological basic needs

“…Compared to the initial expectations, only adolescents' report of maternal autonomy support and maternal psychological control mediate the relationship between parental and adolescents psychological basic need. This may be due to the fact that adolescents could perceive mothers as being most involved in parenting rearing practices (Bornstein, 2015), while fathers could more increase adolescent need satisfaction through a direct effect of modelling.…”

Drivers of human development: How relationships and context shape learning and development1

“…DST provides a flexible, constructive framework that enables us to both capture the richness and complexity of development in a bioecological context (Bronfenbrenner, 2005;Fischer & Rose, 2001;Overton & Müller, 2012) and to explain its diversity and variability-from the expression of genes at the cellular level and the secretion of chemical hormones to the expression of behaviors and the appraisal and processing of experience. The framework enables us to view children's development as embodied, contextualized, and socially and culturally situated, which is understood in their ecologies and affected by the ecologies of those who interact with them (Bornstein, 2015;Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006;Cairns, 1979;Gibson, 1979). When the framework incorporates a phenomenological component (Spencer, 1995(Spencer, , 2007, it allows us to examine the role of context, culture, intra-subjective experiences, and social and emotional states, appraisal, meaning making, and other factors in explaining human development.…”

“…The processes through which ecologies affect development can be observed in individuals at neurobiological, physiological, phenomenological, behavioral, and social levels. Whether in the home, in schools, or in other child-serving settings, relationships characterized by sensitivity, attunement, consistency, trustworthiness, cognitive stimulation, and scaffolding enable children to develop secure attachments and mature in progressively complex ways (Bornstein, 2015; Center on the Developing Child, 2016; Fischer & Bidell, 2006;Li & Julian, 2012;Thompson 2015). Children's patterns of development remain responsive to relationships, experience, meaning making, and context throughout their life course, offering opportunities to buffer and overcome the effects of risk factors throughout the developmental continuum.…”

“…They hypothesize that these four factors are the active ingredients in effective interventions across settings. Developmental relationships are also characterized by attunement, social synchrony, compassionate communication, co-regulation, support, modeling, consistency, trustworthiness, cognitively stimulation, and a caregiver's capacity to accurately perceive and respond to the child's mental state (e.g., Bergin & Bergin, 2009;Bornstein, 2015;Li & Julian, 2012;Siegel, 2012). Support must also be developmentally constitutive in a manner that aligns with a child's social-historical life space; provides emotional security, information and knowledge; and helps children develop age-appropriate skills (Thompson & Goodvin, 2016).…”

“…Developmental relationships allow caregivers to care for the physical and emotional needs of infants and children and support the integration of social, affective, emotional, and cognitive processes (Center on the Developing Child, 2016; Siegel, 2012). The caregiver's capacity to accurately perceive and respond to the child's mental state are important for building shared experiences and emotions (Bornstein, 2015;Siegel, 2012) and for the development of selfregulation (e.g., Main, 1991). Early and ongoing developmental relationships at home and at school promote balance between self-regulatory systems and contribute to the child's capacity to regulate emotions, behavior, and cognition; to develop a sense of agency; to feel connected to other people; and to establish an autobiographical narrative (Bronfenbrenner, 1979;Murray, Rosanbalm, Christopoulos, & Hamoudi, 2015).…”