Motivational Antecedents and Consequences of the Mother–Adolescent Communication

Communication between parents and their children represents an important factor of family socialization. Nevertheless, little is known about why parents communicate in different ways and how these qualitative differences in parent–child communication may affect the child. Building on self-determination theory, the present study focuses on motivational antecedents of need-supportive communication as a function of parental child-related beliefs (i.e., long-term goals that parents have set for their children’s future, and parental child-related behavior expectations in terms of parental dissatisfaction or satisfaction with child behavior). Moreover, the effect of perceived need-supportive communication on children’s prosocial behavior and (externalizing and internalizing) behavioral difficulties will be addressed. Three waves of data from 1125 mothers and adolescents aged between 10 and 17 years were analyzed using growth-curve modeling. We found linearly increasing trajectories in extrinsic parental goals for children and dissatisfaction with child behavior, and decreasing trajectories of need-supportive communication. Individual differences do not vary significantly over time. In addition, holding extrinsic parental goals for children positively predicts parents’ dissatisfaction with their child’s behavior and negatively predicts need-supportive communication. Parents’ dissatisfaction with their child’s behavior also contributes to decreasing need-supportive communication. As expected, need-supportive communication predicts prosocial behavior and externalizing behavioral difficulties. When need-supportive communication decreases over time, both externalizing and internalizing behavioral difficulties increase. Furthermore, the effect of mothers beliefs on adolescents socioemotional development was mediated through perceived mother’s communication quality. These results suggest that parental child-related beliefs are important motivational antecedents of parent–child communication that may prevent behavioral difficulties.     

Family Context and Five-Year-Old Children’s Attitudes Toward Literacy When They are Learning to Read

This study explored associations in the family context, conceptualized as comprising parent–child practices and parental expectations, and five-year-old children's attitudes toward literacy. A total of 94 children from four primary schools and their parents participated in the study. Each child completed an individually administered Literacy Attitude Scale that assessed her enjoyment in reading-related activities. Parents completed a questionnaire about aspects of their family context. The results revealed a high level of positive attitudes toward literacy by beginning readers, with no gender difference. Frequency of parent–child everyday interactions and parental expectations had significant relationships with children's attitude toward literacy. This study highlights the importance of looking beyond parent–child literacy activities when examining children's attitudes toward literacy.     

Maternal and Paternal Perceptions of Social Competence in Children and Adolescents

We examined maternal and paternal perceptions of social competence in children and adolescents. One hundred forty-seven parents rated scenarios depicting children who varied in age, gender, and social competence. Parents also completed questionnaires assessing the amount of time they spend with their own children, their gender identity, their psychological symptoms, and their affectivity. Results indicated that the amount of time parents spend with their own children was related to maternal and paternal ratings, whereas affectivity was related to paternal ratings. In contrast, parents’ gender identity and psychological symptoms were unrelated to their ratings of social competence. Finally, there was an interaction between parent gender and the level of social competence depicted in the scenarios they rated, suggesting that there were differences in maternal and paternal ratings. These findings emphasize the importance of examining the perceptions of both mothers and fathers when assessing social competence in children and adolescents.     

Parental responsibility of African-American unwed adolescent fathers

This study investigated factors related to adolescent fathers' willingness to take parental responsibility for their children. Data were collected on a convenience sample of 43 African-American unwed adolescent fathers. Demographic information was gathered, and self-image was measured using the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire. An author-developed questionnaire measured father's parental responsibility, his own role expectations, and the perceived role expectations of his partner and parents. The findings indicated that father's parental responsibility was influenced by his own role expectations and self-image. The perceived role expectations of his partner and parents were not related to his willingness to take parental responsibility. This study helps adolescent care providers in various settings to become familiar with some of the issues related to teenage fathers, and assists them in determining appropriate interventions.     

The effect of parental modeling of anxious behaviors and cognitions in school-aged children: An experimental pilot study

The current study tested: (1) the impact of parental modeling of anxious behaviors and cognitions on child anxiety level, anxious cognitions, desired avoidance, and objective performance using an experimental paradigm; and (2) whether the impact of parental modeling of anxious behaviors and cognitions differed by parent gender. Twenty-five parents (a random selection of 12 male and 13 female parents) participated with one of their children (ages 8-12 years; 56.0% male; 76.0% Caucasian). All children experienced two test conditions: an anxious condition in which their parent was trained to act anxiously before a planned spelling test and a non-anxious condition in which their parent was trained to act in a relaxed and confident manner before a planned spelling test. Results showed that, regardless of parent gender, children endorsed higher anxiety levels, anxious cognitions, and desired avoidance of the spelling test in the anxious relative to the non-anxious condition. Parental modeling of anxiety did not affect child spelling performance. Significant interaction effects indicated that fathers had a stronger impact on child anxiety level and cognitions than did mothers. Results highlight the importance of parental modeling and the potential role of both mothers and fathers in prevention and treatment for child anxiety.     

Parents’ Judgments about the Desirability of Toys for Their Children: Associations with Gender Role Attitudes,Gender-typing of Toys,and Demographics

Parental toy selection and responses to toy play are important factors in children’s gender socialization. Reinforcing play with same-gender-typed toys guides children’s activities and limits their action repertoires in accordance with gender stereotypes. A survey of 324 Austrian parents of three- to six-year-old children was conducted to investigate parents’ judgments about the desirability of different types of toys for their children and how these judgements relate to parents’ gender-typing of toys, gender role attitudes, and demographics (age, education, gender). Results show that parents rated same-gender-typed and gender-neutral toys as more desirable for their children than cross-gender-typed toys. The traditionalism of parents’ gender role attitudes was not associated with their desirability judgments of same-gender-typed toys, but was negatively related to their desirability judgments of cross-gender-typed toys. This indicates that egalitarian parents permit a greater range of interests and behaviors in their children than traditional parents do. Younger parents, parents with lower educational levels, and fathers reported more traditional gender role attitudes than did older parents, parents with higher educational levels, and mothers. However, no differences based on age, educational level or gender were found in parents’ judgments of toy desirability. The present study demonstrates that parents’ judgments about the desirability of toys for their children do not accurately reflect their gender role attitudes. This finding highlights the importance of simultaneously investigating different aspects of parents’ gender-related attitudes in order to gain a better understanding of parental transmission of gender stereotypes.     

Beyond “Lots of Hugs and Kisses”: Expressions of Parental Love From Parents and Their Young Children in Two‐Parent,Financially Stable Families

Given that parental love is essential for children's optimal development, the current study gathered examples of how parental love was demonstrated within parent–child relationships. Fifty‐eight two‐parent, financially stable families consisting of a mother, father, and young child (3–7 years old) from the Midwest were interviewed regarding how they demonstrated or perceived parental love. Results from an inductive thematic analysis revealed considerable variability in how parental love was demonstrated, with five themes emerging that overlapped between parents and their children: playing or doing activities together, demonstrating affection, creating structure, helping or supporting, and giving gifts or treats. Some gendered patterns among these themes were found with mothers emphasizing physical and verbal affection and fathers highlighting their more prominent role as playmates. The lay examples provided by parents and children in this exploratory study extend previous conceptualizations of parental love and underscore the importance of parents being attuned and responsive to the specific needs of their children.     

Mindful Parenting and Care Involvement of Fathers of Children with Intellectual Disabilities

There are few data addressing psychological variables that may explain some variation in parenting by fathers of children with intellectual disabilities. In the present study, we hypothesized that fathers who were more mindful in their parenting role (specifically, fathers who reported more present-centered attention in their relationship with their child) would use less avoidance in relation to their child with intellectual disability and that this would be reflected in increased father involvement in childcare. In a questionnaire survey 105 fathers completed a mindful parenting measure and a measure of parental involvement. Regression analyses revealed that fathers who reported being more mindful as a parent also reported more involvement in child-related parenting tasks and roles related to child socialization. These data suggest that mindfulness in the parenting role may be an important predictor of parenting in families of children with intellectual disabilities. Therefore, interventions designed to increased mindfulness should improve parent–child relationships and ultimately child outcomes.     

The Relation Between Parental Mental Illness and Adolescent Mental Health: The Role of Family Factors

Children of parents with a mental illness are often found to be at high risk of developing psychological problems themselves. Little is known about the role of family factors in the relation between parental and adolescent mental health. The current study focused on parent–child interaction and family environment. This cross-sectional questionnaire study included 124 families with a mentally ill parent and 127 families without a mentally ill parent who at the time of the study had children aged 11–16 years old. Parents completed questionnaires about their mental health, parent–child interaction (i.e., parental monitoring and parental support), and family environment (i.e., cohesion, expressiveness, and conflict). Adolescents reported their internalizing and externalizing problems. Path analyses were used to examine the direct associations between parental mental illness and adolescent problems as well as the indirect relations via parent–child interaction and family environment. The results showed that interaction between parents with a mental illness and their child was significantly worse compared to parents without a mental illness. The family environment of parents with mental illness was also more negative. Mentally ill parents monitored their adolescents less, which in turn related to more externalizing problems of the adolescents. No factors mediated the relation between parental mental health and adolescent internalizing problems. Moreover, no direct effects of parental support, family cohesion, and family expressiveness with externalizing problems were found. These findings imply that parental monitoring should get a specific focus of attention in existing interventions designed to prevent adolescents with a mentally ill parent from developing problems.     

Constructions and Reconstructions: Latino Parents' Values for Children

There is a fair amount of support for the premise that parents construct their child-related values from the ethnic cultural models that are available to them. There are also indications that personal experiences play a role in the construction of values. However, this latter influence has not been well-researched. We reconstructed the child-related values of a sample of Mexican American and Puerto Rican parents of young children with disability to describe parent-held values and to examine the extent to which having a child with a disability impacted on these values. Analysis of parental ratings and of their narratives indicated substantial consistency across gender, civil status, and country of origin. Disability appeared to have a small and diffused impact on the values. Ratings differed significantly on the basis of the language of interview, and the definitions that parents offered also showed an effect of interaction with the Anglo American culture. However, an in-depth examination of these differences indicated that they were mostly restricted to labeling. The basic values of parents remained fairly consistent. This finding has substantial implications for research and practice. Equivalence of meaning should not be assumed across populations.     

Parental self-esteem and behavior problems in children: Similarities between mothers and fathers

The relationship between parental self-esteem and behavior problems in children was investigated using 1624 married couple's responses from the National Survey of Families and Households. The sample was weighted to be nationally representative in terms of race and ethnicity. It was hypothesized that the existence of behavior problems among children would be associated with low self-esteem among parents and that the parent's gender, child's gender, parents' gender role attitudes, and parental employment would moderate this relationship. The results indicated that parental self-esteem is negatively associated with behavior problems in children. However, none of the moderating variables had a significant impact. This suggests that the relationship between parental self-esteem and behavior problems among children is robust and does not vary appreciably with the gender of the parent, the gender of the child, the attitudes of the parent, or the employment of the parent.     

Boys' and girls' perceptions of parental discipline in transgression situations

Children's perceptions of parental discipline methods and their perceptions of child gender differences in their parents' choices of discipline methods were assessed. One hundred and seventy 8‐year‐old children (78 boys, 92 girls) in two‐parent families were asked about disciplinary behaviour in five transgression situations. The results pointed to gender differences when the children were talking about themselves. Boys believed that they would receive more physical punishment, milder requests and less induction than girls. Children also indicated that their parents would choose a different response if they (themselves) were of the other sex. Both boys and girls reported that their parents would treat boys more severely than they would girls. The results showed that the responses of those children with a sibling of the other sex did not reveal any gender‐differentiated experience of their parents' discipline strategies. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effectiveness of a Multiple Family Group Intervention for Juvenile First Offenders in Reducing Parent Stress

Parenting practices are major influences on incidents of juvenile delinquency. Stress experienced by parents of children with behavioral problems is a leading contributor to parenting practices. We investigated the extent to which parental stress was reduced by participation in an established multiple group family intervention, the Family Solutions Program, developed to reduce recidivism among juvenile offenders. We also examined parent stress by gender, ethnicity, dropout rates, intervention benefits at 3-month follow-up, single- versus two-parent households, and across dimensions of family functioning and parent-adolescent communication. Parents reported greater levels of parent stress than non-clinical parents prior to intervention. Parental stress did diminish in response to intervention, but not until follow-up to intervention completion. No differences were found on initial parent stress level between completers and non-completers of the intervention or between parent stress and gender or ethnicity of the parent; however, single-parent household was associated with significantly higher levels of parent stress. Family functioning was significantly negatively correlated with parental stress. Finally, open communication between juvenile first offenders and their parents improved significantly in response to the intervention both at post-intervention and at follow-up.     

The Relation of Parent and Child Gender to Parental Tolerance of Child Disruptive Behaviors

Parental tolerance has been defined as the degree to which a parent tends to be annoyed by his or her child’s disruptive behavior. The purpose of the current study is to examine the relation of both parent and child gender to parental tolerance of child disruptive behaviors. Participants were 150 parents with 3–6 year-old at-risk children (47.5 % girls) who sought help with parenting of their child’s oppositional defiant behaviors. Tolerance was measured by the difference between parent ratings of intensity on 36 disruptive behaviors and whether each behavior was identified as a problem (resulting in a score of either high, expected, or low tolerance). A 2 (child gender) by 2 (parent gender) analysis of variance was conducted on the tolerance score. A significant interaction between child and parent gender emerged: Mothers were equally tolerant of boys’ and girls’ oppositional defiant behavior but fathers were more tolerant of boys’ than girls’ oppositional behavior. Exploratory analyses suggested that this interaction may be qualified by clinical status of the child. Implications and future directions are discussed.     

The effect of family variables on child weight change

Previous research has shown that family size, the number of obese persons living at home, and parental weight influence the development of childhood obesity. Our study reports the relevance of these factors to child weight loss during a 1-year treatment period. Multiple linear regression procedures showed that the amount of relative weight change was related to initial treatment success, the number of children in the family, and the gender of the child. Children who were more successful lost more weight initially, had fewer siblings, and were female. These results suggest that family size may interact with treatment to determine weight change. The effects of family size on outcome may be operating simply by reducing the amount of time that a parent has to spend with the child in promoting behavior change. Likewise, increased family size may be operating as a stressor, reducing the effectiveness of parents in effectively managing their children.     

Individual Differences in Gender Development: Associations with Parental Sexual Orientation, Attitudes, and Division of Labor

Research on children of lesbian parents has suggested that such children are developing well, but questions have been raised about their gender development. In this study, we explored associations among parental sexual orientation, parental gender-related attitudes, parental division of labor, and children’s gender development. Participants were 66 preschool children and their 132 parents from the East Coast of the United States. Thirty-three families were headed by lesbian and 33 by heterosexual couples. Parents who divided paid and unpaid labor more unequally had children whose occupational aspirations were also more traditional. Measures of children’s gender development were generally unrelated to parental sexual orientation. Parents’ attitudes and behaviors were more strongly associated with children’s gender development than was parental sexual orientation.     

Gender Stereotypes in the Family Context: Mothers, Fathers, and Siblings

Gender stereotypes of children and their parents were examined. Participants included 355 three-year-old children, their one-year-old siblings, and their mothers and fathers. Families were selected from the Western region of the Netherlands. Implicit gender stereotypes were assessed with computerized versions of the Action Inference Paradigm (AIP; both child and parents) and the Implicit Association Test (parent only). Parental explicit gender stereotypes were measured with the Child Rearing Sex-Role Attitude Scale. Findings revealed that mothers had stronger implicit gender stereotypes than fathers, whereas fathers had stronger explicit stereotypes than mothers. Fathers with same-gender children had stronger implicit gender stereotypes about adults than parents with mixed-gender children. For the children, girls’ implicit gender stereotypes were significantly predicted by their mother’s implicit gender stereotypes about children. This association could only be observed when the AIP was used to assess the stereotypes of both parent and child. A family systems model is applicable to the study of gender stereotypes.     

Relationship of parental education,race, and gender to sex role stereotyping in five-year-old kindergartners

This study examined the relationship of parental education, race, and gender to sex-role stereotyping in five-year-old kindergartners. A significant effect for race and parental education level was noted. White children gave more stereotyped responses than did black children, and children whose parents were in the middle- and high-educational levels gave more stereotyped responses than did children whose parents were in the low-educational level. A significant interaction was also found between educational level of parents and race. White children tended to give more stereotyped responses as the educational level of their parents increased; this trend was not evident for black children. No significant differences in stereotyping were noted between the sexes.To whom requests for reprints or information concerning the Bardwell-Sietsema Sex Stereotype Scale should be addressed at Department of Elementary Education, East Texas State University, Commerce, Texas 75428.