How to Support Toddlers’ Autonomy: Socialization Practices Reported by Parents

Abstract

Autonomy-supportive parenting is found to foster children's adjustment but relatively few studies have been conducted with toddlers. In the present exploratory study, parents (N = 182) reported what practices they use when asking their toddlers (M age = 26.9 months) to engage in important yet uninteresting activities. Parents rated twenty-six potentially autonomysupportive practices, along with a well-known scale measuring the extent to which they have a positive attitude towards autonomy support. Using correlational and factorial analyses, eight practices were identified: various ways to communicate empathy, providing developmentally appropriate rationales, describing the problem in an informational and neutral way, and modeling the requested behavior. This subset of autonomy-supportive practices for toddlers was positively related with toddlers' rule internalization, providing them with further validity. These preliminary findings may be useful in guiding future conceptual, empirical, and applied work on the support of toddlers' autonomy and its assessment in an emotionally-charged and challenging context.

Basic psychological need theory: Advancements, critical themes, and future directions

“…Observation tools thus need to capture these sometimes subtle differences to be ecologically valid and to maximize the probability of establishing predictive validity. This idea applies not only to observational tools, but also to questionnaires, an increasing number of which are now tailored to context and sample (e.g., Andreasdakis et al 2019).…”

Measurement of Parental Autonomy Support: A Review of Theoretical Concerns and Developmental Considerations

“…Specific to toddlerhood, it has been suggested that autonomy support manifests in the following ways: communication of empathy, provision of developmentally appropriate rationales, description of problems in an informational and neutral way, and modeling behaviors (Andreadakis, Joussemet, & Mageau, 2019). Young children whose parents display more autonomy support have more opportunities to engage with the environment at their own pace and are more likely to have the appropriate amount of needed support.…”

“…Young children whose parents display more autonomy support have more opportunities to engage with the environment at their own pace and are more likely to have the appropriate amount of needed support. As a result, parental autonomy support has been linked to a range of positive behaviors including greater rule internalization (Andreadakis et al, 2019) and better socioemotional and cognitive outcomes among toddlers and preschoolers (Distefano, Galinsky, McClelland, Zelazo, & Carlson, 2018; Jourssemet et al, 2008).…”

Early Parenting in China: Associations and Interactions with Socialization Context, Child Self-Control, and Social Adjustment

“…Third, although the CECPAQ is aimed at including fundamental dimensions of parenting, the developmental relevance and importance of some parenting behaviors (such as autonomy support; Andreadakis, Joussemet, & Mageau, 2019) has not been demonstrated in early childhood and across cultures until more recently. Future research should consider investigating associations between autonomy support and parenting behaviors in the CECPAQ to advance the understanding of parenting in early childhood.…”

“…In dit proefschrift richtte ik me op de interactie tussen autonomie-gerelateerd opvoedingsgedrag van de moeder en zelfcontrole van het kind, om verschillen in sociale aanpassing van kinderen te voorspellen. Kinderen beginnen om autonomie te vragen in hun relatie met moeders vanaf de peutertijd en de kleuterjaren (Andreadakis, Joussemet, & Mageau, 2019). In deze fase zijn moederlijke gedragingen die de autonomie van een kind ondersteunen (respect voor autonomie) of belemmeren (negatieve controle) van belang voor de ontwikkeling van sociale aanpassing.…”