Publication year
2002
Citation Title
Parenting practices, child adjustment, and family diversity
Journal Name
Journal of Marriage and Family
Journal Volume
64
Issue Number
3
Page Numbers
703-716
DOI
10.1111/j.1741-3737.2002.00703.x
Summary
The associations between parenting practices and child outcomes are well documented, however, the generalizability of the association across different race/ethnicity, family structure, education, gender, and family income is still unknown. The study examined the issue in two age groups: 5-11 years (wave one) and 12-18 years (wave two), and results supported the notion that optimal parenting did not vary across family contexts.
Key Findings
Parents’ report of support and avoidance of harsh parenting in wave one were associated with children’s better adjustment, higher school grades, higher self-esteem, and fewer problem behaviors in waves one and two.
Parental monitoring at wave one predicted less adolescent deviance in wave two.
Effective parenting practices can be generalized across a range of social context such as race/ethnicity, family structure, and family income.
Implications for Military Professionals
Educate military parents about best practices in parenting
Reach out to military families that are struggling with parenting issues, and offer assistance with their parenting problems
Implications for Program Leaders
Design workshops and curricula for military parents to improve their parenting practice
Host peer support groups for military parents to provide each other support regarding difficult parent experiences
Implications for Policy Makers
Raise awareness of the importance of good parenting (e.g., sufficient support, monitoring, avoidance of harsh punishment) on military youth’s well-being
Continue to support parent education programs for military families
Methods
The data used in the study were part of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH).
Families were assessed at two time points: wave one (1987-88) and wave two (1992-94); about 22% of families dropped out of the analysis between each data collection.
Parents were interviewed in wave one regarding their parenting practices, child behaviors, and children’s school success; youth between 10 and 17 years old were interviewed in wave two about their school grades, self-esteem, and deviant behaviors.
Participants
The sample included 3,400 families with children between 5 and 18 years old.
The average ages of the children at wave one and wave two were 7.83 years (SD = 1.97, 49% male) and 15.14 years (SD = 1.99), respectively.
The majority of the participants were White (N = 2,329), followed by Black (N = 680), Latino (N = 221), and other (N = 170).
Limitations
Other dimensions of parenting, such as support for autonomy, were omitted from the study, so the scope of the study may be limited.
The interviews used in the study were not designed to measure parenting practices comprehensively, which limits the strength of the measurements.
Other race/ethnicity groups, such as Asian-Americans, were not included in the study, which limits the ability to generalize the results.
Avenues for Future Research
Examine the relationship between other dimensions of parenting (e.g., democratic control) with children’s outcomes
Recruit families from additional racial backgrounds to increase the generalizability of the study
Use a comprehensive battery of parenting inventory to have a strong measurement of parenting
Focus
Civilian
Target Population
Population Focus
Abstract
The authors used data from Waves 1 and 2 of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) to test the generality of the links between parenting practices and child outcomes for children in two age groups: 5-11 and 12-18. Parents' reports of support, monitoring, and harsh punsihment were associated in the expected direction with parents' reports of children's adjustment, school grades, and behavior problems in Wave 1 and with children's reports of self-esteem, grades, and deviance in Wave 2. With a few expeptions, parenting practices did not interact with parents' race, ethnicity, family strucutre, education, income, or gender in predicting child outcomes. A core of common parenting practices appears to be linked with positive outcomes for children across diverse family contexts.
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