Parenting of Spanish mothers and fathers playing with their children at home

Abstract

The aims of this study were to compare the parenting behaviors of mothers and fathers when evaluated in a free play situation at home and to study how these behaviors were related to the sociodemographic variables of the family. The study included 155 mothers and 155 fathers from the same families in Spain. The children (90 boys and 65 girls) were typically developing and were aged between 10 and 47 months old. The parents completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, and parenting behaviors in four domains (Affection, Responsiveness, Encouragement, and Teaching) were assessed from self-recorded videotapes, in accordance with the Spanish version of the PICCOLO. Our results showed both commonalities and differences between the mothers and fathers. The mean scores for the four parenting domains followed a similar pattern in both mothers and fathers: the highest mean score was in the Responsiveness domain, followed by the Affection, Encouragement, and the Teaching domains. Regarding the second aim, no differences were observed in parenting according to the child’s gender and the only domain related to the child’s age was mother’s Teaching. Mothers with a higher educational level scored higher on all parenting domains, except for Responsiveness. Family income was positively related to maternal Affection, Encouragement, and the total PICCOLO score, and to the father’s score in the Teaching domain. This study provides evidence that Spanish mothers and fathers show very similar strengths for promoting children’s development during interactions. These results are relevant to inform social public policies and family programs.

Parental competences in fathers and mothers of very‐low‐birth‐weight preterm infants

“…Higher scores were observed in fathers in Parental Self‐Care and Satisfaction. These results are consistent with previous research in a Spanish non‐premature sample using the same research methodology (Rivero et al, 2022). Our study provides an innovative approach to parents of preterm infants, as we considered the two parents separately, adjusting for the family unit when comparing their parental characteristics and differentiating their gender in subsequent analyses.…”

“…Although around half of the studies cited in this paper refer to a Spanish sample (e.g., Borràs et al, 2021;Dominguez-Folgueras et al, 2018;García-de-Diego & García-Faroldi, 2022;Rivero et al, 2022) or European sample (e.g., Perricone et al, 2014;Polizzi et al, 2021), other studies cited have been carried out with non-European population. Akkus et al (2020) emphasized the importance of their study carried out in Turkey, in contrast to studies carried out in Western countries where family-centered care is a standard of care that is rarely implemented in developing countries.…”

“…Other studies not focused on preterm population show that fathers' involvement has increased in recent years (Dominguez-Folgueras et al, 2018), although the Spanish population still continues to perceive differentiated social images of motherhood and fatherhood (García- de-Diego & García-Faroldi, 2022). Although some recent research shows similarities in the parenting behaviors of mothers and fathers (Rivero et al, 2022), differences are also found. Mothers dedicate more time to childcare, perform more routine parental tasks (Borràs et al, 2021), and are more sensitive (Hallers-Haalboom et al, 2014), whereas fathers perform more rewarding and socially valued activities (García-de-Diego & García-Faroldi, 2022).…”

Relations between Positive Parenting Behavior during Play and Child Language Development at Early Ages

“…With respect to positive parental behavior linked to child development, previous studies with PICCOLO in Spain have not shown differences according to a child’s gender [ 55 ], as was the case in this study. With respect to parents, mothers scored higher than fathers in all parenting domains but showed very similar patterns and strengths.…”

“…The Spanish version of PICCOLO has shown to be useful to assess mothers’ and fathers’ parental behavior when they interact with children with disabilities [ 54 ] and with typically developing children [ 55 ]. Spanish mothers and fathers show very similar strengths to support child development when they interact with their children during play, when children are typically developing [ 55 ] and when they have intellectual disabilities [ 54 ]. Research using PICCOLO has shown that caregiver responsiveness predicts higher child communication levels [ 56 ].…”