Paste youImplications of contemporary issues in Parenting: as a psychosocial factor in mental health
Parenting is undoubtedly one of the most important factors in determining the mental health of the children. Right from childhood the impact of parenting is strong enough to shape how a child will grow into an adult. The importance of early childhood experiences is emphasized by many psychological theories and how it goes a long way in developing the child’s personality and his overall outlook towards life. There is a large body of research that suggests that parenting impacts a range of domains in childhood including academic, psychological, behavioural, and social.
Currently, there are many challenges faced by parents in bringing up their children. Several factors such as family dynamics, culture, and ever growing technology, social and political institutions have influenced parenting beliefs and practices over time.
In addition, there are several specific social trends that have occurred in recent decades that have had a significant influence on contemporary parenting behaviour. Since the 1970s, the number of women in the workforce has increased without a corresponding decrease in the number of men working, general material prosperity has increased, divorce rates have increased, and there have been significant changes in the structure and composition of the average family (Cockett & Tripp, 1994).
In addition, it appears that contemporary parents are spending more time working to provide material necessities for their children and less time interacting with children and addressing their emotional needs as compared to parents of previous generations (Le Fanu, 1998).
Moreover, various parenting dimensions such as psychological control, lack of parental warmth and autonomy support, and ineffective behavioural management have been found to be strongly associated with internalising, externalising, and social problems in children in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies (Smith & Nicholson, 1992).
Following are the several factors or contemporary issues which affect parenting; as a psychosocial predictor of mental health:
Stress and parental mental health and its effect on parenting:
Stress experienced by parents and their mental health may strongly influence their parenting. High level of stress and poor mental health may have an adverse effect in their capability to bring up their child.
For example, a depressed mother may be preoccupied and withdrawn, and thus uncommunicative with, and unavailable to her child. Similarly, other serious mental health diorders like schizophrenia, substance abuse, bipolar disorder, antisocial personality disorder may seriously impair the parent’s ability to rear ones child.
The level of disruption for a child resulting from the mental illness of their parent may at an extreme level involve separation from the parent, if the parent is hospitalized. If it is the parent who has been the child’s sole or primary caretaker, this may also mean a separation from home with the child going into care, or a complete change of caretaker. At a less extreme level, there are likely to be changes in caretaking, even if the main caretaker does not change.
Changes in caretaking are likely to be much smaller and less significant for the child if it is the father, rather than the mother as primary caretaker, who is ill. This is consistent with observations that, as far as is known, impacts on the child associated with paternal, rather than maternal, mental health problems tend to be much smaller, or, in some cases, absent (Smith, 2004).
Duncan & Reder (2000) identified a number of aspects of parental behaviour (or parenting) that are likely to be disrupted by parental health problems, and listed the potential impact of the disruption on the child. For example, parental self preoccupation and emotional unavailability may lead to neglected, depressed and anxious children. Parents with distorted expectations of reality with strange behaviour and beliefs may cause feelings of anxiety, confusion and shame in children.
Single child families, one child by choice and how it affects parenting:
These days, more and more couples are opting to have a single child by choice. This can have several implications. One of the foremost implications is that since more and more women are in the workforce these days, it is convenient to have a single child; it not only reduces the parenting load but also makes it possible to continue with their career after a single break. Moreover, the age at which they have their first child is also significant. Since majority of the girls are getting married at a later age, they bear their first child also at a higher age, reducing the chances of having another or second child after that. Rightly, social psychologist and author Susan Newman, in her book, ‘The Case for the Only Child’ writes that many women are having children later in life, and that more and more families are concerned about the cost of raising children.
Apart from this, having a single child means that the parents can concentrate all their resources (monetary, emotional and physical) fully on that one single child. They do not have to think about dividing or saving it up for the second one. So, the economic climate can definitely influence ones decision to stop at one. Although how it affects the child’s growth has to be modulated by the parents. As experts and parents note, the undivided attention an only child receives from his parents can be either a positive or negative force. During early childhood, an only child's expressions of need are responded to quickly. In contrast, children with siblings need to wait in line to have their needs met. And learning how to wait is a vital lesson. So to prevent only children from developing an attitude that of ‘what I want, I get’, parents should set limits, delay gratification and instil discipline through mutually accepted guidelines and expectations.
A home with siblings is where children develop empathy, compassion, and learn how and when to stand up for themselves. So, it is important to note that only children can gain a deeper sense of identity and valuable social skills through interactions with extended family members of all ages since there is absence of siblings at their home. Moreover, the way in which conflict is resolved between siblings can be a valuable teaching mechanism since it may help kids develop critical skills such as social understanding, emotional regulation and problem solving (Kluger, 2012).
Parenting and economic hardship:
Economic hardship can have adverse effects on the overall parenting of the child. It can be one of the most difficult challenges faced by parents these days. With the increasing cost of living, the rigours of bringing up a child can create strong economic pressure on the parents.
Socioeconomic factors appear to have a direct effect on parenting behaviour. An increase in economic hardship has been linked with a decrease in parental nurturance and an increase in inconsistent discipline by both parents.
Economic hardship can create economic pressures for both parents. For fathers, it is associated with symptoms of anxiety and social dysfunction, whereas for mothers, economic pressures may affect their mental health by increasing depressed mood and anxiety symptoms. Paternal anxiety is then associated with hostile marital interaction, perceived by the wife and maternal anxiety with low marital support, perceived by the husband. The negative marital interaction is finally associated with poor parenting, especially among the fathers. Fathers’ anxiety is directly related to their punitive and non-involved fathering while depressive symptoms in mothers can be negatively reflected in authoritative mothering (Leinonin, Solantaus & Punamaki, 2002).
So, economic hardships may result in reduced parental nurturance which may affect the child’s growth in the important initial years.
Divorce, Separation and Parenting:
One of the most serious factors affecting parenting is the marital relationship between the parents of the child. The whole atmosphere of the home is determined by the quality of the relationship between spouses and this in turn can have a direct effect on the child living within the same premises. It is a well known fact, how a bitter divorce or separation of parents can have long lasting negative effects on the psychological well being of the child.
Conflict between parents before and during the separation period is a severe stressor for children. Inter parental hostility creates an aversive home environment in which children experience stress, unhappiness, and insecurity (Maccoby & Martin, 1983). Such conflict strongly affects the parental ability to effectively deal with their children. Moreover, children tend to be unnecessarily drawn into conflict between their parents, resulting in further deteriorations in parent-child relationships.
Needless to say, researchers find that children tend to fare better growing up in a home with two parents instead of one parent, if both parents are in a loving relationship, are emotionally and financially stable and able to provide nurturance and appropriate limit-setting for the children. In their book, ‘Children of Divorce,’ John H. Harvey and Mark A. Fine note that children of parental divorce are at greater risk for academic problems, depression and aggressive behaviour during both childhood and adolescence, and of drug and alcohol abuse beginning in adolescence.
Moreover, economic hardships may affect the standard of living of single mothers. They may find it difficult to singlehandedly provide for their children adequately. They may not even get enough time to spend with their child, leading to neglect and poor supervision.
Contemporary parenting: is there a shift from coercive, punitive, strict parenting towards a more positive style of parenting?
There seems to be a shift from a more authoritarian, strict form of parenting towards a more inclusive, accepting form parenting during the recent decades. Although the amount of parental control has increased, so children view their parents as monitoring them more closely now in view of many contemporary concerns like internet, the kind of company the child has and so on.
So, parents are more and more realizing the futility of engaging in strict, physically punitive form of parenting with a rigid structure of rules upon their children. It leaves very little room for autonomy, which children need in order to develop into responsible adults. It can also sometimes lead to rebellion because under a strict rule system, children don’t get the opportunity to learn right from wrong themselves. They do not internalize self-discipline because they’ve been taught simply to follow rules and do not learn to self-regulate.
So, it seems that parents are becoming aware of the importance of engaging in a dialogue with their child rather than resorting to physical means of punishment. It is an indication of a shift towards a more positive form of parenting. Although this area needs further research, particularly in the Indian context.
Technology and its influence on parenting:
In today’s busy life with ever growing dependence on technology, it has become more and more of a norm rather than an exception to use mobile phones, tablets, laptops and other devices of latest technology. Children from the very early years are exposed to such devices and gradually a lot of them start spending substantial amounts of time with media including television, computers, and mobile devices. They stop finding other age appropriate activities less stimulating. Later, it becomes very difficult to change this habit leading to significant cut down in other more productive activities (cooking and eating meals together, playing with toys, games or art, reading, playing or attending sports) and rewarding interactions with other children of their age.
Moreover, these days, working parents do not have enough time to spend with their child. It also becomes difficult since one has to manage other responsibilities of home and hence one easy way to manage child is to ‘hand him the phone’ or ‘switch on the television’ so that s/he is engaged with it and is quiet and one can peacefully carry on with other household chores. Similarly, a lot of children managed by nannies or with other help prefer using technology to silent the child so as to make their own work easy, wherein they don’t have to devote much time with them or engage in stimulating them with other activities.
Jim Taylor, author of “Raising Generation Tech: Preparing Your Children for a Media-Fueled World,” published in 2012, encourages parents to assess both the frequency and content of technology exposure. Taylor also challenges parents to gauge the limitations and guidelines they set on technology usage while looking for ways to balance that exposure with other beneficial life experiences and influences. Time spent immersed in technology should not outweigh time spent pursuing physical activities, family togetherness and social activities with peers. Many families choose to craft a media policy that clearly outlines acceptable uses of technology and the consequences of any violations.
Moreover, modeling the responsible use of technology is a powerful way parents teach their children to establish healthy relationships with tools of technology. If parents themselves fail to unplug and connect in meaningful face to face interaction, then blaming the child for spending too much time texting will not be effective.
Grandparents and extended social support and parenting:
The contemporary family structure these days is more of nuclear than joint family system. So, more and more there are couples living separately from their families. Children of such couples are therefore largely exposed to their own parents at home unlike children in a joint family set up wherein the grandparents are also a part of their upbringing. Such a child was exposed to multiple caregivers, with much stimulation from many sources.
However, there is another aspect, wherein there are working parents who don’t have enough time to devote to their child, so they may leave their kids with their parents such that a child may be exclusively brought up by grandparents. Overall, grandparents in the best of their intentions may take care of the child by making sure that s/he is fed well and sleeping well, however, they may not be able to stimulate the child adequately. So, a home with only the grandparents alone upbringing the child with minimum interaction with ones own parents is also not a healthy environment.
Effect of training on contemporary parenting:
Contemporary parents and children are increasingly exposed to advertising, media, and new technology, and parents may seek child rearing advice or information from a number of available sources. More and more parents these days undergo training to bring up their child. It can be in the form of short term training courses, using online parental training strategies and so on.
Some parents can undergo training or practice different styles of parenting: positive parenting, mindful parenting, attachment parenting, and unconditional parenting and so on. Most of these parenting styles are based on different schools of thought and training in any of them would require one to have an in depth knowledge regarding its principles and goals on which it is based.
For example, a model of “mindful parenting” as a framework would be wherein parents intentionally bring moment-to-moment awareness to the parent–child relationship. This is done by developing the qualities of listening with full attention when interacting with their children, cultivating emotional awareness and self-regulation in parenting, and bringing compassion and nonjudgmental acceptance to their parenting interactions (Duncan, Coatsworth & Greenberg, 2009).