Susanne Frost Olsen

Authoritative, Authoritarian, and Permissive Parenting Practices: Development of a New Measure

A 133-item parenting questionnaire was completed by 1251 parents of preschool and school-age children. Items in this measure were reduced using principal axes factor analyses followed by varimax rotation. Three global parenting dimensions emerged consistent with Baumrinds authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive typologies. Internal consistency reliability was assessed with Cronbach alpha and additional items were deleted. A 62-item instrument was retained, and the global parenting dimensions were subsequently analyzed to assess their internal structures using principal axes factor analyses followed by oblique rotation. For each of the three global dimensions a number of specific factors were identified.

Overt and Relational Aggression in Russian Nursery-School-Age Children: Parenting Style and Marital Linkages.

Maternal and paternal parenting styles and marital interactions linked to childhood aggressive behavior as described in Western psychological literature were measured in an ethnic Russian sample of 207 families of nursery-school-age children. Results corroborated and extended findings from Western samples. Maternal and paternal coercion, lack of responsiveness, and psychological control (for mothers only) were significantly correlated with childrens overt aggression with peers. Less responsiveness (for mothers and fathers) and maternal coercion positively correlated with relational aggression. Some of these associations differed for boys versus girls. Marital conflict was also linked to more overt and relational aggression for boys. When entered into the same statistical model, more marital conflict (for boys only), more maternal coercion, and less paternal responsiveness were found to be the most important contributors to overt and relational aggression in younger Russian children.

Similarities and differences in mothers' parenting of preschoolers in China and the United States*

This investigation was designed to extend the work of Chao (1994) by examining parenting constructs emphasised in the Chinese culture in conjunction with parenting constructs derived and emphasised in North America. Mothers of preschool-age children from mainland China (N = 284) and the United States (N = 237) completed two self-report parenting questionnaires. One assessed dimensions of parenting practices emphasised in China (encouragement of modesty, protection, directiveness, shaming/love withdrawal, and maternal involvement). The second measured specific stylistic dimensions within Baumrind’s global conceptualisations of authoritative (warmth/acceptance, reasoning/induction, democratic participation) and authoritarian (physical coercion, verbal hostility, nonreasoning/punitive) parenting. Mostly invariant factor structures were obtained across cultures for both measures. Results showed that the five parenting constructs emphasised in China were mostly nonoverlapping and independent in both cultures. In addition, the parenting constructs emphasised in China were relatively independent from the constructs emphasised in North America. As anticipated, Chinese mothers scored higher than US mothers on all parenting constructs emphasised in China except maternal involvement. For parenting constructs emphasised in North America, Chinese mothers scored lower than US mothers on warmth/acceptance and democratic participation, but scored higher on physical coercion.

Overt and Relational Aggression on the Playground: Correspondence Among Different Informants

Abstract Recent research has focused on subtypes of childrens aggressive behavior (e.g., instrumental, bullying, relational). However, little work with preschool children has explored intermethod agreement involving teacher ratings, peer behavior nominations, and playground behavior observations for these three different forms of aggression. This study attempted to fill this gap in the literature by using all three methods to examine aggressive subtypes of playground behavior in preschool as related to SES and gender. Data involving aggressive behavior of 241 4- to 5-year-old children in Head Start and university preschool programs were collected from peers, teachers, and observers. Results indicated that peers, teachers, and observers differentiated between general categories of relational aggression and overt aggression. However, peers did not distinguish between overt instrumental and bullying aggression. Peers viewed relational aggression, but not overt aggression, as being associated with anger and ...

Peer acceptance in early childhood and subtypes of socially withdrawn behaviour in China, Russia, and the United States

To assess whether subtypes of withdrawal could be similarly identified by teachers and linked to peer group adjustment in mainland China, Russia, and the United States, 642 4- to 6-year-old children in these diverse cultural contexts were rated on items reflecting reticent, solitary-passive, solitary-active, and sociable behaviour (cf. Coplan & Rubin, 1998). Linkages of childhood withdrawal to peer group adjustment were also investigated using peer sociometric ratings. Findings, based on multisample confirmatory factor analysis, indicated that separate factors were required to represent the three withdrawn subtypes in each cultural setting. However, US and Russian teachers made finer discriminations between subtypes than did Chinese teachers. Controlling for other withdrawn subtypes, reticent behaviour was uniquely related to lower sociometric ratings in all three cultures. Sociability was associated with higher sociometric ratings in these diverse settings. Findings are interpreted in the light of cultural considerations.

A comparative study of child temperament and parenting in Beijing, China and the western United States

The purpose of this investigation was to examine comparable dimensions and linkages between child temperament and parenting styles with samples from Beijing, China and the western United States. Participants included 404 mothers and fathers from Beijing, China and 325 mothers and fathers from the western United States. Both mothers and fathers completed Buss and Plomins (1984) EAS Temperament Scale as well as a spousal-report measure of parenting styles. Structural equation modelling was used to identify invariant (statistically comparable) factors for child temperament and parenting styles. Within-culture gender comparisons showed that Chinese fathers (relative to mothers) viewed their sons as being more active and sociable than daughters while US mothers (relative to fathers) rated their sons as being more active. Across-culture differences revealed that US parents (relative to Chinese parents) viewed children as more emotional while Chinese fathers (relative to US fathers) rated their children as more active. Similar and differential cultural patterns of linkages were also found between parenting styles and child temperament. Child emotionality was positively associated with authoritarian parenting in both cultures while child activity level was linked to more authoritative and less authoritarian parenting styles, but only in the Chinese sample. Finally, child sociability was found to be negatively linked to cross-gender patterns of authoritarian parenting in the US while mothers’ and fathers’ authoritarian parenting in China was linked to lower sociability in daughters only.

The Development of Social and Communicative Competence in Childhood: Review and a Model of Personal, Familial, and Extrafamilial Processes

The purpose of this chapter is to explicate a conceptual model that illustrates how extrafamilial (e.g., sources of stress and support), personal (e.g., inherent psychological child and parent resources), and familial (e.g., parenting, family interactions) processes work together to affect social/communicative peer group outcomes in young children. It is traditionally assumed that proximal factors (e.g., parenting, sibling/family interactions) have the greatest influence on child outcomes. In this review the authors discuss how these proximal factors work in combination with a host of personal and extrafamilial variables in ways that are linked to child social/communicative competence with peers. In addition to explaining possible mechanisms responsible for linkages within and between model components, the authors recommend directions for future research in areas of the framework that have weak empirical support.

“This Is a Spiritual Experience”: Perspectives of Latter-Day Saint Families Living With a Child With Disabilities

The presence of a child with disabilities elicits a variety of stress demands on the family. Religion is recognized as a powerful personal, family, and cultural variable. However, little is known about the influence of religion in dealing with disability among families within particular religious groups. This descriptive study explored themes of spiritual belief and religious support among families of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS, or Mormon) with a child with developmental disabilities. Parents shared perspectives of meaning that emerged from experiences with religion and family beliefs perceived to be unique. The core theme, “This is a Spiritual Experience,” provides the foundation for a descriptive model that depicts aspects of finding meaning and perceived transcendence.

Support, Communication, and Hardiness in Families With Children With Disabilities

The purpose of this study was to examine how support and communication are related to hardiness in families who have young children with disabilities. A sample of 108 parents (54 couples) of preschool-age children with disabilities completed the measures. Among demographic variables, family income was positively correlated with family hardiness. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed perceived family support as a predictor of family hardiness for both parents. Incendiary communication was negatively related to family hardiness for mothers, whereas income was positively associated with fathers’ assessments of hardiness. Results provide family nurses with a foundation for exploring constructs important to help families with children with disabilities.

Personality, Marital Relationships, and Parenting in Two Generations of Mothers

It has been suggested that early experiences in families may be related to one’s parenting as an adult. Conceptual models were tested that investigated how personality and marital relationships are linked to parenting within and between generations. Eighty mother-grandmother pairs completed questionnaires concerning personality, marital relationships, and parenting. Restrictive and nurturant parenting of grandmothers was positively correlated with restrictive and nurturant parenting of mothers, but these relationships were attenuated in the presence of marital relationship and personality variables when structural equation models were tested. Personality characteristics and marital relationships were linked to parenting within and across generations.