Class
Article
College
Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Abstract
Parents' attitudes and experiences likely influence parents' interactions with their young children. Parents' attitudes may be based on traditional or progressive parenting ideals, with traditional attitudes emphasizing obedience and control of children but progressive attitudes associated with more maternal sensitivity, cognitive talk, supportive behavior, positive regard, and decreased intrusiveness. Parents' experiences of parenting as stressful may also influence the quality of interactions with their children, with high parental stress associated reducing positive parent interactions cognitive stimulation. The present study examined whether parental stress at 24 months is a mediating variable for the relationship between parental attitudes at 24 months and parent-toddler interaction quality at 36 months. More specifically, do more traditional parenting values create more stress about parenting, which in turn, limits positive parenting? Extant longitudinal data from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project included 2156 toddlers (51% male) and their parents (all female). Traditional and progressive parental attitudes were measured at 24 months using the Parent Modernity Scale. Parental stress was measured at 24 months using two subscales of the Parental Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF): dysfunctional interaction and parental distress, with higher scores indicating more stress. The Parenting Interactions with Children: Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes (PICCOLO) was used to measure parent-toddler interaction quality at 36 months, with higher scores indicating more developmentally supportive interactions. At 24 months, more traditional attitudes predicted poorer interaction quality at 36 months, and more progressive attitudes predicted better interaction quality at 36 months. Parental distress and dysfunctional interactions at 36months mediated the association between more traditional parental attitudes at 24 months and less developmentally supportive interactions at 36 months. These results suggest that programs focusing on improving developmentally supportive parent-child interactions should include efforts to reduce parental stress and dysfunctional interactions, especially focusing on parents with more traditional attitudes.
Start Date
4-9-2020 2:00 PM
End Date
4-9-2020 3:00 PM
Do Traditional Values Create Stress that Interferes with Positive Parenting?
Parents' attitudes and experiences likely influence parents' interactions with their young children. Parents' attitudes may be based on traditional or progressive parenting ideals, with traditional attitudes emphasizing obedience and control of children but progressive attitudes associated with more maternal sensitivity, cognitive talk, supportive behavior, positive regard, and decreased intrusiveness. Parents' experiences of parenting as stressful may also influence the quality of interactions with their children, with high parental stress associated reducing positive parent interactions cognitive stimulation. The present study examined whether parental stress at 24 months is a mediating variable for the relationship between parental attitudes at 24 months and parent-toddler interaction quality at 36 months. More specifically, do more traditional parenting values create more stress about parenting, which in turn, limits positive parenting? Extant longitudinal data from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project included 2156 toddlers (51% male) and their parents (all female). Traditional and progressive parental attitudes were measured at 24 months using the Parent Modernity Scale. Parental stress was measured at 24 months using two subscales of the Parental Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF): dysfunctional interaction and parental distress, with higher scores indicating more stress. The Parenting Interactions with Children: Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes (PICCOLO) was used to measure parent-toddler interaction quality at 36 months, with higher scores indicating more developmentally supportive interactions. At 24 months, more traditional attitudes predicted poorer interaction quality at 36 months, and more progressive attitudes predicted better interaction quality at 36 months. Parental distress and dysfunctional interactions at 36months mediated the association between more traditional parental attitudes at 24 months and less developmentally supportive interactions at 36 months. These results suggest that programs focusing on improving developmentally supportive parent-child interactions should include efforts to reduce parental stress and dysfunctional interactions, especially focusing on parents with more traditional attitudes.