Encyclopedia of Parenting

Theory and Research

Charles A. Smith

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781579581596
• eBook ISBN: 9781136595653
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Sociology

Parenting receives growing amounts of attention from researchers, and what was once considered chiefly an art is now also recognized for being a science. Our knowledge of parenting has increased significantly in the last few decades; new developments continue to happen daily. The Encyclopedia of Parenting provides, in reference book format, what we now know about parents, parenting, and the parent-child relationship, synthesized in some 250 alphabetically arranged entries. Each entry is written by an expert contributor and provides an authoritative overview of a particular topic.

Subjects covered include: child activity; child outcomes; child states; parent behaviours; parental situations; external and community factors; systematic concerns; the transition to parenthood; available resources; persons who have added to our knowledge of the field. Entries draw on a wide range of disciplines, including psychology, education, and sociology. Each entry closes with a bibliography, and the volume concludes with a selected list of works for further reading.

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Abuse, child. Since the identification of Battered Child Syndrome by C. Henry Kempe in the 1960s, child abuse and neglect reports in the United States have risen steadily. By the mid-1990s reports reached 2.9 million annually, or approximately 45 children per 1,000. These numbers are only estimates of the actual incidence because child abuse is not always reported, and only about half of all reports are substantiated. Over 1,200 children die each year of maltreatment in the United States. Not all states have child fatality review procedures, however, and estimates of the true number of maltreatment deaths annually have been as high as 5,000.

Public relations campaigns have increased awareness of child abuse, which in turn results in increased reports. By 1967 all states in the United States had passed laws requiring certain professionals to report suspicions of abuse.

The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (PL# 93–247, passed in 1974) defines child abuse and neglect as the physical or mental injury, sexual abuse or exploitation, negligent treatment, or maltreatment

• of a child under the age of 18

• by a person who is responsible for the child's welfare

• under circumstances that indicate that the child's health or welfare is harmed or threatened.

The act defines sexual abuse as the use, persuasion, or coercion of any child to engage in any sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing any visual depiction of such conduct, or the rape, molestation, prostitution, or incestuous pursuit of any child.

Abuse is often divided into three types: physical, emotional, and sexual. Neglect is considered a separate phenomenon and can be divided into physical, medical, and educational.

Death is the most extreme outcome of abuse and neglect and is most likely to occur in children under the age of 1. For infants up to 6 months, child abuse is second only to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) as a cause of death. Other child outcomes are depression, impaired social and moral judgments and skills, lowered self-esteem, and increased violent behavior. Abused children lag behind nonabused children in learning new cognitive and social skills and therefore show delayed academic achievement. In adolescence and adulthood, childhood abuse predicts higher rates of criminality and arrests for violent offenses.

Some children do demonstrate an ability to survive abusive situations. Resilient children are those who respond rapidly to danger, show early maturity, separate their emotions from their situation, and seek out needed information.

Parent factors associated with physical and emotional abuse include being nonbiological parents, having been abused as children, being substance abusers (including alcohol), having a low frustration tolerance, experiencing mental health problems, lacking knowledge of positive parenting, having inappropriate expectations of children, seeing parenting as unpleasant and difficult, being socially isolated, and having an unwanted pregnancy. Child factors that put a child at risk for abuse include being an infant, having a difficult temperament, and being disabled or ill. Family risk factors include marital conflict, domestic violence, single parenthood, ethnic minority status, poor social interaction skills, and ineffective and inconsistent discipline. Environmental and societal factors play an important role, too, such as economic pressure, high stress levels, hierarchical and male-dominated family structures, isolation of families, acceptance of physical control, and low social support for parents.

Factors associated with neglect include social disorganization; high demands on resources (such as large families) or low levels of resources (especially economic); high stress, anxiety, or depression; limited family interaction; poor parenting skills; and inability to access support systems. Sexual abuse factors include family disruption, psychopathology, or illness; history of parent-child problems; substance abuse; and intellectual inadequacies.

A shortcoming with the above research is that the actions of some types of families are likely to come to the attention of authorities, while other families are able to conceal their behaviors. Families who are already involved in social services and those with limited financial resources are especially open to scrutiny.

Programs to prevent abuse and neglect in the United States have taken different routes. Some have targeted adults abused as children and have been based on what researchers have learned about adults who broke the intergenerational cycle. Those mothers were more likely to have received emotional support from a nonabusive adult during childhood, to participate in therapy during any period of their lives, and to have a nonabusive and satisfying relationship with a mate.

A large number of programs labeled as sex abuse prevention programs are really abuse identification programs. Some of these attempt to screen and identify whether adults should be allowed to work with children. Others teach children to recognize “good and bad touches” and to report bad touches.

Approaches to child abuse/neglect prevention may be primary (addressing a large segment of the population and occurring before abuse has begun), secondary (directed to families identified as being at risk), or tertiary (stopping further abuse after it has occurred). Promising approaches are health care for at-risk populations, home visiting, self-help groups, child care, workplace policies, and parent education programs.

A major issue with child maltreatment is cultural sensitivity. Almost all abuse research has been conducted by European Americans and assumes United States middle-class-parenting standards. A challenge for the future is to define criteria for abuse and neglect that respect cultural differences while protecting children from maltreatment.

References

Hamner, T. J., & Turner, P. H. (1996). Parenting in contemporary society. Boston: Allyn & Bacon

National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect. (1992). A coordinated response to child abuse and neglect: A basic manual. DHHS Publication No. ACF 92-30362. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

See also: Conflict resolution; Discipline; Physical punishment; Stress.

JUDITH A. MYERS-WALLS

Academic achievement. Academic achievement refers to the child's performance in an educational setting, generally measured by the child's grade-point average and achievement test scores. Major reviews (Hess & Holloway, 1984; Wentzel, 1994) suggest that parent encouragement, parent involvement, and parenting styles are primary determinants of academic success throughout the school years, from elementary school through college.

Parent encouragement. Positive beliefs and attributions about the child's achievement, high academic aspirations for the child, and academic encouragement are strongly related to the child's academic achievement. Children with parents who have high academic aspirations for them tend to fulfill their parents' expectations and succeed. Parents' high aspirations for their children and parents' support of their children's educational endeavors are important throughout the school years, including college.

Parent involvement. Parent involvement includes participation and interest in their child's school activities, help with homework, and parent-enforced rules regarding homework. Helping children with homework and parent involvement in school activities, including helping in the classroom, attending school assemblies, attending parent/teacher conferences, and involvement in the Parent-Teacher Association, are particularly important for elementary school children. Parents who directly participate in their elementary child's education tend to have children who academically excel. Although direct parent involvement in school activities is extremely important in elementary school, parent involvement may have little relation to the middle or high school student's academic success. Students at this age are more autonomous and care little if their parents participate in activities. The strongest predictors of academic achievement for students in middle school, high school, and college are their parents' aspirations for their achievement and support of their educational efforts.

Parent-enforced rules regarding homework (e.g., homework before television) also have a differential impact at different ages. Parent-enforced rules are positively related to academic success in the elementary years, yet rules regarding homework may have a negative effect on academic achievement for students in middle school and beyond. By this age, children have a developmental need for autonomy and may rebel against rules. It is important, therefore, to establish study habits, with rules enforced by parents, at an early age.

Parenting styles. An authoritative parenting style, characterized by clear expectations, firm rules, responsiveness, and emotional support, is associated with academic achievement (Steinberg et al., 1992). This parenting style is related to the social and emotional adjustment of the child, including self-restraint (compliant, cooperative), a sense of autonomy or self-reliance, and a healthy orientation toward work. These factors may mediate or explain the relation between parenting style and the child's or adolescent's subsequent academic performance (Steinberg et al., 1992; Wentzel, 1994). Children and adolescents who describe their parents as treating them warmly, democratically, and firmly are more likely than their peers to develop a positive attitude toward, and belief about, academic achievement and thus do better in school.

For most children, other parenting styles have a negative relation to grades. These include authoritarian parenting, which is high in demandingness (strict control) but low in responsiveness, and permissive parenting wherein the parents are tolerant and accepting toward the child's impulses and make few demands on the child. Additionally, DeBaryshe and colleagues (DeBaryshe, Patterson, & Capaldi, 1993) found that ineffective discipline, characterized by inconsistent and punitive parenting practices including nagging, scolding, and expressions of anger, was related to low academic engagement and subsequent low academic achievement.

The results of several recent studies (Steinberg, Dornbusch, & Brown, 1992) suggest that the relation between parenting style and academic achievement may vary depending on the ethnicity of the child. These studies suggest that while low-risk children may benefit from being raised by authoritative parents, an autocratic parenting style, where parents set rules and enforce them without discussion with their children, may be more beneficial for children in high-risk settings.

Thus, parents' direct involvement in the child's school, particularly in elementary school, and high expectations for, and encouragement of, academic success throughout the school years are predictive of academic success for their children. However, parent involvement must be considered jointly with parenting style. An authoritative parenting style that promotes self-reliance and autonomy is predictive of academic achievement for most children, with the exception of children in high-risk settings.

References

DeBaryshe, B. D., Patterson, G. R., & Capaldi, D. M. (1993). A performance model for academic achievement in early adolescent boys. Developmental Psychology, 29 (5), 795–804.

Hess, R. D. & Holloway, S. D. (1984). Family and school as educational institutions. In R. D. Parke (Ed.), Review of child development research (Vol. 7, pp. 179–222). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Steinberg, L. Dornbusch, S. M., & Brown, B. B. (1992). Ethnic differences in adolescent achievement: An ecological perspective. American Psychologist, 47, 723–729.

Steinberg, L., Lamborn, S. D., Dornbusch, S. M., Darling, N. (1992). Impact of parenting practices on adolescent achievement: Authoritative parenting, school involvement, and encouragement to succeed. Child Development, 63, 1266–1281.

Wentzel, K. R. (1994). Family functioning and academic achievement in middle school: A social-emotional perspective. Journal of Early Adolescence, 14, 268–291.

See also: Education, parenting; Family-school partnerships; School; Styles, parenting.

JUDY A. ANDREWS

Acceptance, parental. Parental acceptance is defined as the parents' ability to integrate the child's needs with the parents' own needs. Parents are accepting when they act as if their children's needs are in harmony with their own and when they are responsive to their children's needs. By contrast, rejecting parents act as if their own and their children's needs are in opposition to one another and as if responsiveness to the child's needs implies a thwarting of their own needs.

This definition of acceptance encompasses the interrelated dimensions of sensitivity, responsiveness, and reciprocity (e.g., Ainsworth et al., 1978; Maccoby, 1992; Sroufe, Matas, & Rosenberg, 1981). Parental acceptance integrates and extends beyond previous descriptions by focusing specifically on four aspects of parental behavior critical to children developing control over themselves and their environment:

• approval (responsiveness to children's need to feel competent)

• synchrony (responsiveness to children's need to be understood)

• guidance (responsiveness to children's need to understand their environment)

• noncoercion (responsiveness to children's need for choice)

Acceptance does not mean indiscriminate meeting of desires but rather responding to needs in a manner that enables parents to integrate their child's c...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Full Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• The Encyclopedia
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Contributors