How International Research on Parenting Advances Understanding of Child Development

Abstract

International research on parenting and child development can advance our understanding of similarities and differences in how parenting is related to children's development across countries. Challenges to conducting international research include operationalizing culture, disentangling effects within and between countries, and balancing emic and etic perspectives. Benefits of international research include testing whether findings regarding parenting and child development replicate across diverse samples, incorporating cultural and contextual diversity to foster more inclusive and representative research samples and investigators than has typically occurred, and understanding how children develop in proximal parenting and family and distal international contexts.

The Quality of Father–child Rough‐and‐tumble Play and Toddlers’ Aggressive Behavior in China

“…The play was characteristic of what has been described as fragmentary, gentle tumble play (Konner, ), with many fathers embedding teaching of cognitive concepts within the play (e.g., counting). This may reflect father perspectives on aggressive behaviors and meaning of RTP (Creighton, Brussoni, Oliffe, & Olsen, ), socialization goals that emphasize cooperation (Roopnarine & Davidson, ) and education, or culture differences in the form of parenting behaviors (Lansford et al., ). A final consideration is that mild or gentle RTP also may be due to fathers adapting their behaviors to be developmentally appropriate for the emerging competencies of their young children.…”

“…Future studies with larger samples might examine how dominance during RTP varies between mothers and father and may be associated with greater psychosocial adjustment and dominance in other play and parent–child relationship contexts. Cross‐cultural, mixed‐methods studies that include observational descriptions capable of capturing subtle differences in the nuances and variations of father–child RTP behaviors, particularly regarding the physical energy level, vigorous or rough and gentle or mild RTP, would further inform development of theory regarding cultural variations (Lansford et al., ).…”

Commentary on Fathers’ Play: Measurement, Conceptualization, Culture, and Connections With Child Development

“…The high scores on masculinity in Austria, reflecting a competitive society, might explain why Austrian fathers’ mean scores on activation intensity were relatively high (i.e., >3 on a 5‐point scale). Thus, it is important to continue investigating the relations between parenting, including play, and child development in different countries, preferably via cross‐cultural comparisons, while taking into consideration the challenges of such efforts (Lansford et al., ).…”

“…Care should be taken to separate fathers’ influence from the child's own contribution to the play measure and child outcome. Last, universality versus relativity of fathers’ and mothers’ play frequency, quality, and effects should be addressed in cross‐cultural studies (Roopnarine & Davidson, ), paying attention to the operationalization of culture (e.g., using the cultural dimensions of Hofstede et al., ), measurement invariance and biases, disentangling effects within and between countries, and balancing emic and etic perspectives (Lansford et al., ).…”

Integrating Early Child Development and Violence Prevention Programs: A Systematic Review

“…A qualitative study using key informant interviews illuminated priorities for an integrated ECD+VP agenda in LMICs, proposing a need to systematically and comprehensively examine how these integrated interventions may enhance the lives of children in these settings (Efevbera, McCoy, Wuermli, & Betancourt, 2017). Additionally, there have been calls to advance research on child development and the promotion of peace, as well as its relationship to parenting and families, in international settings (Early Childhood Peace Consortium, ; Lansford et al., ; Leckman et al., ; Sunar, et al, ). This knowledge gap inhibits LMICs from leveraging limited resources to comprehensively and simultaneously improve multiple early childhood outcomes.…”