Parenting During Toddlerhood: Contributions of Parental, Contextual, and Child Characteristics
Marjolein Verhoeven1,
Marianne Junger2,
Chantal Van Aken2,
Maja Dekovi
2,
and
Marcel A. G. Van Aken2
1 University of Amsterdam
2 Utrecht University, Netherlands
* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
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Abstract |
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The present study examines the contribution of parental, contextual, and child characteristics to parenting behavior during toddlerhood in 111 two-parent families with a 17-month-old son (M = 16.9 months, SD = 0.57). Parenting was conceptualized in terms of five dimensions: support, structure, positive discipline, psychological control, and physical punishment. In general, results indicate that the effects of parental, contextual, and child characteristics on parenting dimensions do not differ for mothers and fathers. The only uncovered difference concerns the effect of children’s inhibitory control, which was significant for maternal but not for paternal support. For both mothers and fathers, support, structure, and the use of psychological control are mainly influenced by parental characteristics, whereas the use of positive discipline and physical punishment are best predicted by contextual characteristics. Overall, the contribution of child characteristics to parenting dimensions was moderate.
