PARENTING KEY NOTES

Question 1

PARENTING

Answer 1

The process of raising and caring for children, encompassing all aspects of their development from intimacy to adulthood

Question 2

THEORIES OF PARENTING

Answer 2

Baumrinds parenting styles (1966)
Authoritative - Warm and demanding
Authoritarian - Cold and demanding
Permissive - Warm and understanding
Neglectful - cold and undemanding

Attachment Theory (Bowlby, 1969)
-Secure attachment forms through sensitive, responsive caregiving
-Insecure attachments linked to later social/emotional difficulties

Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1963)
-Children model behaviour from parents through observation and imitation

Question 3

KEY STUDIES

Answer 3

BAUMRIND (1991)
-Authoritative parenting = linked to higher competence and self esteem
Criticism: Western-centric, may not generalise cross-culturally

AINSWORTHS Strange Situation (1978)
-classified attachment types: secure, avoidant, resistant
-criticism: ethnocentric; different cultures interpret attachment behaviours

Banduras Bobo Doll Experiment (1961)
-Parental aggression modelled by children
Criticism: Demand characteristics in lab setting

Question 4

CRITICISMS

Answer 4

• Parenting styles may vary within the same household

-Cultural bias: concepts of good parenting differ globally

-reductionist: underestimates the child active role

-most research based on middle-class, Western families