Bowlby and R. Spitz’s research on the impact of emotional neglect on infants has led to a change in the consideration of infants and, as a result, to a reassessment of parenthood issues throughout the last century. The quality of relationships of infants with their close relatives, especially with their mother, who was then considered as the very first caregiver – Winnicott’s “good enough mother” -, was thought as a developmental factor. Throughout decades, psychological research, whether psychoanalytic- or neuroscience-oriented has been widely popularized. A large amount of knowledge on child development has been made available through various media (TV shows, books, online chats…), and this has influenced parental involvement in educating children from an early age. Naive theories that parents have got through time about child development take part in their representation of what is a “good parent” and what is a “good child”, and in building their feeling of competence. From these different beliefs called “parental cognitions”, parents assess their children’s behaviors and make relevant educational decisions.
Nowadays, two aspects of parenting behaviors are mainly studied: the support aspect, which refers to a positive emotional relationship, and the control aspect, which refers to the parents ability to change their child behaviors. Correlation studies have shown an association between parental support and children positive behaviors on the one hand, and between parental control and more negative behaviors on the other hand. It is currently acknowledged that children personality attributes can also have an effect on these behaviors.
In addition, the feeling of competence is another influencing factor on parenting behaviors. It lies in the thoughts and representations parents have about their own role. As opposed to educational behaviors, the feeling of competence parents have evolves over time and experiences. It grows from the knowledge the parents get on child education, as well as from the confidence they have that they will reach the target level of competence. As it is specific to the parent-child relationship, it largely depends on some child attributes such as temperament.
It is known that the environment impacts parental behaviors that in turn change the way the child temperament will show up. Indeed, temperament is not considered as a determinant factor of development anymore but as a starting point for a variety of evolutions, depending on the degree of parental adjustment. A child with a so-called rough temperament would tend to induce negative educational responses from the parent that in turn would heighten problematic behaviors; this vicious circle probably negatively affects the feeling of competence in parents.
A study has shown that parenting behaviors could be changed by working on parental cognitions, especially on the feeling of competence, which also tended to influence child behaviors. That is why psychologist interventions within the context of children externalized behaviors currently aim at increasing parental confidence and skills.
Key words: child development – parenting behaviors – parental competence feeling – parental adjustment – externalized behaviors – parent-child relationship
Words we have learned:
parenting: éducation parentale
involvement: implication
attributes: caractéristiques
target level: le niveau ciblé
currently: actuellement
By Audrey Bianeis and Véronique Ruiz