NOTES – Family beyond attachment:

Overview and Objectives

1.    Parenting Styles: Examines the different styles and their associations with child/adolescent adjustment.

2.    Bidirectionality: Focuses on how parents and children influence each other.

3.    Family as a System: Considers how family dynamics affect child outcomes.

Key Dimensions of Parenting

• Affection, Involvement, Conflict, Control, Monitoring, Teaching, Security: These dimensions are the foundations of parent-child interactions and influence child development.

Attachment Theory (Bowlby) and Baumrind’s Parenting Styles

1.    Baumrind’s Parenting Dimensions:

o   Control, Nurturance, Communication Clarity, Maturity Demands: These dimensions combine to form distinct parenting styles.

2.    Parenting Styles:

o   Authoritative: High warmth and control, leading to well-adjusted children.

o   Authoritarian: High control, low warmth, associated with less independence and social responsibility in children.

o   Permissive: High affection but low control, often leading to aimlessness and impulsivity in children.

o   Rejecting-Neglecting: Low in both responsiveness and demand, leading to poor cognitive and social outcomes.

Influence of Parenting Style on Adolescents (Dornbusch et al., 1987)

• Authoritative Parenting: Associated with higher adolescent competence and better school performance.

• Authoritarian and Permissive Parenting: Show varying effects based on cultural and contextual factors.

Cross-Cultural Variations in Parenting

• Western Emphasis on Authoritative Parenting: Linked to positive outcomes like self-esteem, well-being, and low substance use.

• Cultural Differences: While Baumrind’s categories are broadly applicable, specific parenting practices vary by culture (e.g., a shift toward authoritative parenting in India).

Evolving Perspectives on Parenting

1.    Dimensional Approach: Focus on specific parenting behaviours (e.g., behavioural vs. psychological control) rather than global styles.

2.    Domain-Specific Models: Parenting as contextually flexible, influenced by factors like parental mood and situational demands.

3.    Child-Driven Processes: Recognizes that children’s characteristics (e.g., temperament, behaviours) influence parenting approaches.

Bidirectionality in Parent-Child Relationships

• Child Effects on Parents: Children's behaviours and temperaments can influence how parents respond and adapt their parenting styles over time.

Family Systems Theory (Minuchin, 1985)

1.    Core Concepts:

o   Wholeness: The family is an interconnected system.

o   Subsystem Integrity: Subsystems (e.g., marital, parent-child) function independently yet influence each other.

o   Circularity of Influence: Changes in one part affect the entire system.

o   Stability and Change: Families evolve in response to external influences.

2.    Spillover Effects in Family Dynamics:

o   Marital Functioning to Child Adjustment: Studies show that marital harmony impacts child behaviour through family interactions (e.g., warmth in triadic interactions leads to fewer behavioural issues).

Conclusion

1.    Beyond Attachment: Parenting styles impact children beyond attachment alone, encompassing varied dimensions and cultural contexts.

2.    Current Research: Emphasis on bidirectional influences and family systems, which underscore the complexity of parent-child dynamics.

3.    Spillover Effects: Highlights the influence of marital and family functioning on children’s adjustment.