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Childhood Parenting: Main approaches and aspects analyzed from psychology

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In: Research on Hispanic Psychology ISBN: 978-1-53614-005-7
Editor: Cirilo H. Garcia Cadena © 2018 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Chapter 10

CHILDHOOD PARENTING:
MAIN APPROACHES AND ASPECTS
ANALYZED FROM PSYCHOLOGY

Jael Vargas Rubilar* and Maria Cristina Richaud

ABSTRACT

Parenting has been defined as the knowledge, attitudes, competences,

beliefs and behaviors that parents assume in relation to their children’s
socialization. Research on this issue has largely increased during the last
decades, highly focusing on the study of attachment and parenting styles
and their impact on the psychological development of infants, children and
adolescents. Within this framework, this work aims to analyze the main
parenting approaches and features that have been studied in psychology.
Likewise, some studies carried out with the Argentine population are
included, in which we can confirm the important influence that parenting
exerts on children’s emotional, social and cognitive development. Finally,
based on the studies reviewed, future lines of research in this area are
suggested.

*
Address Correspondence to: Prof. Jael Vargas Rubilar, Ph.D. E-mail: psicojael@gmail.com.

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242 Jael Vargas Rubilar and Maria Cristina Richaud

Keywords: parenting, approaches, psychological development, childhood

INTRODUCTION

Research on parenting has gained significant importance, as it is

precisely within the family group and parental relationship that children
grow up, develop emotionally, acquire their first cognitive and motor skills
and incorporate cultural patterns and social values.
The concept of parenting, as the word implies, refers to kinship or
parentage, i.e., to the partnership and/or consanguinity that exists between
parents and children within families. However, the term entails far more than
biological reproduction, for it involves a psychological and social process
that begins in human beings and makes them parents (Solís-Pontón, Lartigue
Becerra, & Maldonado Durán, 2006). According to Barudy (2005).
Parenting refers to the activities performed by both parents (i.e., mother and
father) in the process of looking after, socializing, caring for and educating
their children. Thus, it is a biological and psychosocial process. From a more
cognitive perspective, Eraso, Bravo and Delgado (2006) define parenting as
the knowledge, attitudes and beliefs that parents assume in relation to health,
nutrition, the physical and social environment and their children’s learning
opportunities.
Kinship organization and transmission has already been extensively
studied by anthropologists such as Levi-Strauss (1967, cited in Solis-Ponton,
Lartigue Becerra, & Maldonado Durán, 2006). However, parenting differs
from kinship since it may or may not include blood ties, as in the case of the
adoption or nurturing of non-biological children (Solis-Ponton, Lartigue
Becerra, & Maldonado Durán, 2006). In this sense, Barudy and Dantagnan
(2005, 2010) note two types of parenting: (a) biological parenting, which
refers to a child’s procreation and gestation, and (b) social parenting, which
suggests the specific abilities of caring for, protecting, educating and
socializing children. Unlike biological parenting, defined in organismic
terms, social ability is primarily learned in the family of origin through
relationships with family members, especially with parents or caregivers.

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 Childhood Parenting 243

Most parents assume social parenting as the continuation of biological

parenting. However, the possibility of procreation does not always ensure
the acquisition of the necessary parental skills to create an environment of
children’s acceptance, protection, respect and stimulation (Barudy &
Marquebreucq, 2005). In this light, the parental role becomes fundamental
in the preservation of the human race, to the extent that it ensures the
descendants’ caring, protection and socialization. However, in order to
properly fulfill this function, it is necessary, on the one hand, to have the
appropriate competences, and on the other hand, that the social context or
human environment can provide the necessary resources (Barudy and
Marquebreucq, 2005).
Nurturing is transmitted through socialization, which is a process
initiated by adults and whereby children can acquire their culture, habits and
values through education, training and imitation or modeling (Baumrind,
1978). Therefore, parents or caregivers cannot prevent having a relevant
effect on their children’s personality, character and competence. In this
sense, an extensive set of rules has been developed to regulate nurturing
responsibilities, the children’s protection from any sort of abuse or harm,
their participation in cultural and social life and their access to education
(Child’s Rights Convention, article 18, 1989).

PARENTAL STRUCTURE

From previous studies to the most recent ones, it has been argued that
parental construction is an extremely complex process.
According to Bowlby (1969), nurturing behavior is not the result of an
invariable nurturing instinct or just a product of learning. The author asserts
that this process has powerful biologic origins that explain the strong
emotions associated with it; however, the style that this behavior adopts
largely depends on the lived experiences during childhood and adolescence
by both parents and children individually.
In turn, Bornstein (2007) also considers that the direct parental influence
on children consists of two basic factors: genetics and experience. The

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influence of biological inheritance is strong and implies consequences for

the development of emotional, cognitive and behavioral tendencies.
However, beyond genetics, parents model most of their children’s
experiences and competences.
Similarly, Barudy and Dantagnan (2010) assert that parents’ ability to
be close to their children depends on their biological potential or innate
abilities and on children’s experiences with their own parents, their life
history and environmental factors.
The cognitive approach postulates that the relationship between parents
and children also depends on the perceptual processes of the parents towards
their children and vice versa (Kagan, 1978, Schaefer, 1965, Richaud, Lemos
& Vargas Rubilar, 2013). Parents and children do not necessarily perceive
parental love, demands or punishment in the same way, and parents often
draw incorrect inferences about the way their children notice their behavior
(Kagan, 1978).
In psychology, interest in the study of different aspects of parenting
emerged many decades ago, and there have been different approaches of
analysis at both the theoretical and applied levels. Some of the main
approaches in this field are described below.

DIFFERENT APPROACHES IN PARENTAL ANALYSIS

Attachment Theory Approach

From its beginnings until now, the theory of attachment has become one
of the most important theoretical approaches in the study of the bond
between parents and children.
From Sigmund Freud (1925) to many other renowned exponents of
psychoanalysis, such as Melanie Klein (1929), René Spitz (1945), James
Robertson (1952), and Donald Winnicott (1957), there have been many
important contributions regarding the relationship between the quality of
attachment and child development.

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The origins of this line of research date back to the thirties and forties,
with the work of clinicians who observed the negative effects on children’s
personality development after prolonged institutional care or frequent
changes of the mother figure during children’s early years of life. Later,
many outstanding publications confirmed these results (e.g., Bender, 1947,
Bender & Yarnell, 1941, Levy, 1937, among others, cited in Bowlby, 1988).
A pioneer in the study of attachment was John Bowlby (1969), whose
ethological approach to parenting laid the foundations for many later studies
on child care. Bowlby (1969, 1973) proposed that the bond between mother
and child was the result of a partly pre-programmed set of behavioral
patterns that developed during the first few months of life and enabled the
child-caretaker attachment. For Bowlby (1988), this relationship can be
understood as a biological and relational need for the child to look for
security and comfort in a significant adult under conditions of stress.
However, in his work, he concluded that attachment behavior was not
limited only to childhood, as it may arise in the event of stress, anguish or
anxiety in adolescence and adulthood, albeit less frequently. If the previous
attachment relationship is reliable, then positive emotions, such as security,
would prevail. In turn, the type of attachment behavior that children will
develop would largely depend on their lived experiences with their family
of origin.
John Bowlby (1976, 1988) stated that the mother-child bond is based on
attachment, understood as an innate motivational system that increases the
child’s chances of survival by maintaining proximity with his main
caregiver. From this perspective, attachment would play a crucial role
throughout the life cycle by means of a progressive internalization of this
relationship as an internal working model. Thus, different experiences with
the primary bond would be reflected in different expectations about the
caregiver’s availability, the self and the view of social relationships and the
world (Bowlby, 1988).
Research that has focused on the mother-child bond emphasizes the
ability of the healthy neonate to interact socially with the mother and her
ability to be aware of the neonate’s attempt at social interaction and to
respond to the child’s needs accordingly. In this line of research, the study

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of Mary Ainsworth (1969) on the Strange Situation and the studies of other
important researchers (Sander, 1977, Schaeffer, 1979, Spitz, 1969, Stern,
1977, Winiccott, 1974, cited in Bowlby, 1988) can be highlighted.
Subsequently, Main and Weston (1981) expanded Ainsworth’s work by
observing children in their relationship first with the mother and a few
months later with the father. These authors found that the patterns of
attachment to mothers and fathers were very similar. However, individual
analysis showed that each child can have a safe relationship with the mother
but not with the father and vice versa. In turn, those who had a reliable
relationship with both parents were more confident. Those who did not have
a reliable relationship with any of them were insecure, and those who had
developed attachment to one of them showed intermediate scores.
Current studies have concluded that attachment would begin to develop
during pregnancy in utero and that unborn babies would begin to store
sensory information in their implicit memories, receiving both positive and
negative stimuli from the mother (Siegel, 2007; Cyrulnik, 1988). Thus,
attachment is the result of a relational process whereby the children’s
characteristics and behavior influence their parents’ reactions and behavior
and vice versa.
Recently, authors such as Barudy & Dantagnan (2010) and Schore
(2001) continue to support the idea that the quality of attachment is the result
of a psycho-biological predisposition further influenced by genetic encoding
and experienced care. In addition, the authors suggest that these attachment
mechanisms express themselves throughout life. The development of
attachment enables children not only to distinguish their parents and
relatives from strangers but also to have the ability to recall their internal
representations of these significant figures in all circumstances as a source
of security (Barudy & Dantagnan, 2010).
The approach developed by Kerns and Richardson (2005) has analyzed
attachment to mothers during intermediate childhood (from approximately
8 to 12 years of age). These authors claim that in order to define the basis
for the assessment of attachment in childhood, it becomes necessary to
delineate more specifically how attachment is developed during this stage.
The present study suggests that measurement should focus on the assessment

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of child-parent attachment (Kerns & Richardson, 2005), since despite being

important, relationships with peers are not yet well defined at this stage.
Richaud conducted studies concerning middle and late childhood,
adapting the Kerns scale for Argentine children (2006). Later, the author
carried out one of the few studies in which mother/father attachment was
analyzed separately, laying out a clear distinction between attachment and
parenting style (Richaud, 2006, 2010). Together with her collaborators, the
author also analyzed the relationship between the attachment developed to
both parents separately and loneliness, depression and academic and social
self-competence (Richaud, 2006, 2010, Richaud, Sacchi, & Moreno, 2009).
Later, research showed that children with a secure attachment established a
better bond with their peers and that friendship quality eased a more
functional coping in children living in adverse contexts and situations (Oros,
Vargas Rubilar, & Richaud, 2017; Richaud, 2013). In this context, there was
a need to create a test that accurately distinguished the different types of
attachment (i.e., safe, insecure-avoidant, insecure-ambivalent and
disorganized) that was appealing to children as well. A digital attachment
test was developed in the form of an electronic game that is currently under
psychometric study (Richaud, Lemos, Vargas Rubilar, Maier, & Bei, 2017).
It should be noted that in recent years, the theory of attachment has
evolved into one of the central theoretical models of child development. As
stated by Hughes (2004, p.264), “Studies of secure attachment showed that
it serves as a foundation for subsequent affective, social, cognitive and
behavioral development throughout the life cycle”. The development of a
secure attachment relationship requires caring and protective behaviors from
parents, enabling the child to satisfy their affection and primary security
requirements in order to respond appropriately to the socio-affective signals
of their caregivers. In this line, the emerging dyadic interactions (mother-
infant) and then the triads (including the father) become central to the child’s
neuropsychological functioning (Hughes, 2004).

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Approach to Parenting Styles

The study of parenting styles has been another major area of analysis
within the parenting scope. This perspective has served to describe
caregivers’ behaviors and attitudes and how they relate to children’s
psychosocial development.
Parenting style is understood as the combination of attitudes, practices,
values and verbal and non-verbal expressions that characterize the nature of
the interactions between parents and children in a variety of daily situations
(Darling & Steinberg, 1993).
Parenting styles depend on variations in the areas of parental dimensions
of sensitivity (warmth, affection and acceptance), parental demand (parental
control) and autonomy granting. These all relate to children’s development
and well-being (Richaud, Lemos, & Vargas, 2013).
Within the study of these parental dimensions, two theoretical
perspectives can be distinguished: (a) categorical approach and (b)
dimensional approach.

Categorical Approach
Influenced by previous studies, particularly those of Lewin (1931) and
Baldwin (1955), Diana Baumrind (1966) laid the foundations for
fundamental changes in both research and practice in the field of child
nurturing. The author, who became a pioneer in this field, proposed a basic
parental typology that could synthetically describe a broad set of parenting
behaviors and goals.
Similar to Lewin, Baumrind recognized the deficits of authoritarian
control. However, the author argued that the democratic style, as
conceptualized in the Lewinian group dynamics organization, closely
resembled permissiveness. Thus, she considered an alternative style that was
able to combine the positive aspects of strong leadership with those of a
democratic atmosphere (Gracia Fuster & Musitu Ochoa, 2000).
At first, the author proposed three primary parenting styles:
authoritarian, permissive and authoritative. The results obtained when
comparing the different parenting styles confirmed the author’s hypothesis;

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children with authoritative parents were more mature and competent in

comparison to those with authoritarian and permissive parents.
Nearly two decades later, Maccoby and Martin (1983) added a fourth
parenting style (i.e., negligent) at the theoretical level, for which Lamborn,
Mounths, Steinberg and Dornbusch (1991) offered empirical support.
These categories of parenting styles (authoritarian, permissive,
negligent and authoritative) have guided research and psychological practice
and have been described as a set of parental behaviors and goals that imply
different combinations and variations in the levels of the dimensions warmth
(affection), parental requirement (control) and autonomy granting.
Primarily, the first two dimensions have been empirically analyzed
(Domenech Rodriguez, Donovik, & Crowley, 2009).
From this theoretical approach (Baumrind, 1971, Karavasilis, Doyle, &
Markiewicz, 2003), each style would be defined as follows:

1. Authoritarian parenting style: characterized by low sensitivity, high

parental demand and low levels of autonomy granting.
2. Authoritative parental style: defined by high sensitivity, high
parental demand and high autonomy granting.
3. Permissive parental style: defined by high levels of sensitivity and
autonomy granting and low levels of parental demand.
4. Negligent parental style: characterized by little commitment and
low levels of parental warmth and demand and autonomy granting.

Unlike parenting styles, parenting practices refer to the strategies used

by parents to achieve specific objectives in the academic, social, and
affective domains. Bornstein (2007) defines parenting practices in terms of
the parents’ tendency to mobilize their children towards the goals that the
culture considers important.
According to Darling and Steinberg (1993), parenting styles are a group
of general beliefs and attitudes that are transmitted to the child, creating an
emotional climate that provides the context for parental behavior. In turn,
parenting practices include specific behaviors and contents driven toward an
objective through which parents exercise their parental role. In terms of this

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distinction, the practices are situational in nature, and the styles are not
necessarily related to a particular disciplinary result. These authors state that
parents’ values and the goals towards which they intend to socialize their
children are strong determinants of parental behavior. Although these goals
and values have a direct effect on parental behavior, it is only through this
behavior that these goals and values manage to influence the child’s
development. Parenting styles moderate this relationship in at least two
ways: (a) by transforming the nature of parent-child interactions and (b) by
influencing the child’s personality. Other authors, such as Carlo, Mcginley,
Hayes, Batenhorst and Wilkinson (2007), extend this stance, suggesting that
parenting practices can better predict behavioral outcomes, since the large
dimensions of parenting styles may not adequately capture the complexity
of child development.
However, Darling and Steinberg (1993) argue that parenting styles
should not be taken as a simple distal variable mediated by a more proximal
variable of parenting practices. Thus, parenting styles differ from practices
in that they describe interactions between parents and children by means of
a wide range of situations; in turn, practices are specific to the domain or
dimension (e.g., offering verbal praise in order to strengthen children’s self-
esteem). Both the styles and practices result from objectives and parental
values; however, each parent’s attributes influence the child’s development
through different processes. In short, parenting styles can be considered a
contextual variable that moderates the influence on the child’s outcomes by
means of specific practices.
As previously described, socializing behavior, such as discipline and
support, and other interactive behaviors between parents and children vary
according a specific context or situation, and the choice of such behaviors
depends on the personal variables of both parents and children.

Dimensional Approach
Although the study on the influence that parents exert on child
development emerged primarily from the context of parenting styles and that
much of the literature has emphasized the importance of this classification,
there exists some limitations of this model (Carlo et al., 2007). As an

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alternative to the typological approach of parenting styles, some researchers

in this area (Darling & Steinberg, 1993; Richaud de Minzi, 2007a, b; Stewart
& Bond, 2002) have suggested the analysis of the dimensions warmth,
parental demand and autonomy separately, as this method can better indicate
nurturing characteristics than the different types of parenting styles.
In this vein, Darling and Steinberg (1993) propose to explore the
dimensions warmth, parental demand and autonomy granting separately, as
they would be better indicators of parental behavior. They add that the
typological classification would highly depend on the meaning given by
each culture rather than on the parental behavior itself. However, other
referents in this field have claimed that the original classification is very
useful in research and practice, as it allows for the brief description of groups
of observable behaviors (Maccoby & Martin, 1983).
As Steinberg and Silk (2002) state, both forms of study are not opposed;
rather, the first approaches to the study of parenting styles that used a
typological or qualifying approach were complemented by the contributions
of other researchers that followed a dimensional approach. The typological
approach is based on the comparison between children and adolescents
whose parents differ in educational style, and it has been defined according
to dimensions such as affection and control. In contrast, the dimensional
approach is intended to associate some of the most relevant variables or
dimensions of parenting styles with variables related to child adjustment or
competence (Oliva, Parra, Sánchez- Queija, & López, 2007).
The main dimensions of these parenting styles that diverse subject
matter experts have considered include parental acceptance and demand and
their counterpart, autonomy granting.
Parental acceptance concerns the features related to unconditional love,
namely, emotional closeness, support, harmony or cohesion, as well as
physical and verbal demonstration of those feelings (Richaud de Minzi,
2007a).
In contrast to parental affection, some authors, such as Rohner (1986),
state parental rejection as the absence or deprivation of warmth, affection or
love towards children. According to this author, rejection can take three
basic forms: hostility or aggressiveness, indifference or negligence and

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undifferentiated rejection (without hostility or expression of affection).

Rohner believes that parental behavior can be defined as a continuum in
which at one end, there are parents who express love (verbal and physical),
while at the other end, there are parents who show aversion to their children.
Parental control represents socializing strategies that include the setting
of limits, the implementation of sanctions, the demanding of responsibilities
and the monitoring of behavior and activities that children perform. The
control/demand implies parents’ claims regarding the child’s maturity,
responsibility and discipline, while the receptivity is expressed through
actions that reinforce the child’s individuality, self-regulation and self-
affirmation (Broderick & Blewitt, 2003).
Miller (1995) points out four parental disciplinary patterns: induction,
power assertion, withdrawal of affection and parental affection. Inductions
imply the reasoning that parents or caregivers use to show children the
consequences of their behavior for themselves and others. Power assertion
is the threatened or actual use of force, punishment or withdrawal of
privileges to encourage obedience. Withdrawal of affection is the expression
of disapproval of the child’s behavior, showing parents’ conditionality in
terms of affection. Finally, this author emphasizes that parents’ affection
promotes their’ receptivity and influence, so it is considered relevant within
parental discipline.
Pathological or inadequate control is applied through the imposition of
rules and limits, domination, and induction of guilt and anxiety in children
(Mestre et al., 2006). The former control can take two forms: (a)
psychological, through intrusive and manipulative attitudes and behaviors,
or (b) behavioral, related to behaviors that regulate children’s behavior
through excessive supervision (Richaud de Minzi, 2007a).
Autonomy granting is the degree of independence or freedom that
parents allow their children to have. When this autonomy is extreme, it
represents parental indifference in caring for their children and can be
described as lax discipline. This kind of discipline is inconsistent and can be
perceived by children as negligence, rejection and indifference from parents
(Richaud de Minzi, 2002). Parents who provide a context for the balanced
development of autonomy favor their children’s psychological adjustment;

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however, excessive autonomy is related to family experiences of avoidance,

rejection and affective disengagement and usually predicts depression and
loneliness (Richaud de Minzi, 2002).
Educational or parenting styles represent the way adults behave with
respect to their children in everyday situations, such as decision making or
conflict resolution. Therefore, different expectations and models are at stake.
Parenting styles are intended to regulate behaviors and to set parameters that
will become a model for both behaviors and attitudes (Torío-López, Peña-
Calvo, & Inda-Caro, 2008).
In the last fifty years, the theoretical and empirical contributions in this
area have coincided when suggesting that there are some variables that
define parenting styles and that are fundamental in children’s socialization:
(a) the demonstration and communication of affection in the relationship
(acceptance-rejection, warmth-coldness, affection-hostility, proximity-
distancing) and (b) the actions undertaken to control and discipline the
child’s behavior (Baumrind, 1991; Gadeyne, Ghesquiere, & Onghena, 2004;
Molpeceres, Llinares, & Musitu, 2001; Richaud de Minzi, 2005).
In the current Ibero-American literature, there are many studies
analyzing nurturing styles (Muñoz, Silva, 2005, Musitu & García, 2004,
Richaud de Minzi, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007a,b) as well as parenting practices,
though to a lesser degree (Lilac & Gracia, 2005).
In Argentina, there are pioneering works such as those of Richaud
(2002, 2005, 2007a) that have developed and adapted psychometric tests
from the dimensional approach, aiming to analyze how parenting styles can
influence the psychosocial development of children and adolescents. The
dimensions included in studies carried out in Argentina with a child
population are acceptance, control and extreme autonomy (Richaud de
Minzi, 2007a).
Furthermore, many researchers have concluded that an authoritative
parental style predicts generally positive results in the child’s development
and welfare (Steinberg, Lamborn, Darling & Dornbusch, 1992). However, a
series of studies conducted in different cultural contexts would indicate that
an authoritative parenting style is not always related to optimal results in

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terms of children’s and adolescents’ socialization (Bornstein & Bornstein,

2010). Thus, it would seem that the ideal parenting socialization style would
depend on the cultural environment in which it develops.
In this line of research, we carried out a study (Richaud, Lemos &
Vargas Rubilar. 2013) to explain how the most appropriate styles can vary
from one context to another; this fact is based on the assumption that the
parenting styles that guarantee the child’s socioemotional adjustment remain
invariant in different socioeconomic stratum and in different cultures.
However, variations in the characteristics or levels of acceptance and control
and in the way in which parents’ behaviors are perceived by children can
occur.

PARENTAL COMPETENCE APPROACH

Masten and Curtis (2000) define competence as an integrated concept

that refers to the ability to generate and coordinate adaptive responses
(affective, cognitive and behavioral) with the demands that arise during the
development of vital tasks in children’s nurturing.
Barudy and Dantagnan (2010, p.34) allude to parental competences as
“the practical abilities that mothers and fathers have to take care of, protect,
educate their and assure their children a sufficiently healthy development”.
The possibility of attaining this competence would be influenced by
biological-hereditary components; additionally, it would be modulated by
vital experiences and cultural and social contexts in which parents have
evolved in both the past and present (Barudy & Dantagnan, 2005, 2010).
Decades before, Winnicott (1965) described the importance of the real
mother and her influence on the normal development of personality, coining
the term “the good-enough” mother. This mother, far from being perfect, is
the one that manages to satisfy the child’s needs; furthermore, the
frustrations she may provoke with her behavior are not greater than those
that the child would be able to tolerate. White (2005) adapts this concept by
noting that a good-enough parenting ability allows for the questioning of the
notion of optimal parenting (rather than minimal), which seems to snare the

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evaluation in a way such that it is viewed as a situation in which the child

receives physical and emotional care that is sufficiently consistent over time.
Some authors (Barudy & Dantagnan, 2005, 2010) have considered
parental competences as one of the main components of social parenting.
The term parental competence includes the notion of parenting abilities and
skills.
These authors (Barudy & Dantagnan, 2010) distinguish two aspects of
the nurturing function:

1. Fundamental parental abilities: namely, parents’ emotional,

cognitive and behavioral resources that allow them to be
emotionally linked to their children and give an adequate and timely
response to their children needs.
2. Parenting skills: the skills that comprise the nurturing models and
the ability to participate in social networks and use community
resources.

In turn, Rodrigo, Máiquez, Martin and Byrne (2008) define parental

competences as a set of abilities that allow parents to confront in a flexible
and adaptive way the nurturing role according to children’s educational and
evolutionary needs while making use of the opportunities and support
offered by the systems.
Though there are fewer studies that have dealt with the study and
analysis of parental competences (Rodrigo López, Martín Quintana, Cabrera
Casimiro, & Máiquez Chaves, 2009), in recent years, there has been a visible
growth in scientific publications in this area. Fundamentally, these studies
have been carried out in two main areas: (a) in judicial contexts, where the
assessment of parental competences is useful for defining the custody or
separation of children from their parents (Reder, Duncan, & Lucey, 2003);
and (b) in contexts of psychosocial vulnerability, in order to acknowledge
parents’ abilities in the prevention of child abuse and/or to promote the

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development of programs for vulnerable families (Azar & Cote, 2002;

Barudy & Dantagnan, 2010).
From a judicial assessment context, other studies (Reder, Duncan, &
Lucey, 1995) argue that to engage in parenting, there are necessary
competencies in the following areas: (a) personal functioning (e.g.,
resilience, personal agency, reflection about one’s behavior); (b)
competencies associated with the parental role (e.g., care, commitment to
parental exercise, forms of control); and (c) competencies associated with
the relationship with the child (e.g., interest in the child’s experiences and
well-being, empathy, recognition of the child’s needs).
Some experts in the area (Rodrigo López et al., 2009) have proposed a
classification of parental abilities necessary for children’s nurturing,
emphasizing five main categories: educational, parental agency, autonomy
and personal development, personal life and domestic organization.
Lecannelier, Flores, Hoffmann, & Vega (2010) postulate that the use of
parenting skills would be closely associated with the social environment
where parenting processes develop, and it would be sensitive to psychosocial
risk (e.g., extreme poverty, alcohol and drug abuse, criminal environments,
dynamics of intra-family violence and abuse), cultural considerations of
what it means to be “good parents”, and parents’ own experiences of
attachment, temperament and resilience factors.
The analysis of parental competence has been crucial for social services
to evaluate parenting practices in families at social risk and analyze the
permanence of children under their care.
In summary, parental competencies have both intra-personal and social
elements, as they delve into the adjustment between the psychosocial
conditions in which the family lives, such as the educational level, economic
resources, type of neighborhood, and educational scenario that parents or
caregivers have built about their children’s education and future and the
children’s characteristics (White,2005).
In this line of work, we have recently adapted some instruments to assess
this parenting aspect in the Argentine population:

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1. Positive Parenting Scale (PPS) by Gómez and Muñoz (2014), which

analyzes nurturing competencies from parents’ perspective (Molina
Pico & Vargas Rubilar, 2016).
2. Perceived Parental Competence Scale (PPCS) by Bayot Mestre and
Hernández Viadel (2008), both the parent and child versions (Azar
& Vargas Rubilar, 2017).

Both scales have good psychometric properties that can be used with the
Argentine population. These studies will allow us to analyze these parental
qualities and their relation to socio-emotional development from both
perspectives in the Argentine population.

Study on Nurturing Beliefs

Although less studied, other factors that are considered key elements
within parenting are parents’ beliefs about children’s nurturing.
“The term beliefs has been used in nurturing studies as an analog of
parents’ attitudes, ideas and perceptions” (Solíz-Cámara Reséndiz & Diaz
Romero, 2007, p.177). Experts in this area seem to agree that this concept
refers to what parents think about their children’s education (Pons-Salvador,
Cerezo, & Bernabé, 2005, Solíz-Cámara Reséndiz & Diaz Romero, 2007).
Beliefs refer to knowledge and ideas about how a child should be
educated and how the child’s behavior is properly guided (Izzed in Bouquet
and Pachajoa Londoño, 2009. Such beliefs and behaviors are learned from
parents in the family of origin (Barudy & Dantagnan, 2005). It is important
to note that beliefs about nurturing and parenting practices do not always
coincide, for beliefs are pre-established patterns whereas practices describe
the specific attitudes and behaviors that parents have during their children’s
process of socialization. In a more picturesque way, the beliefs would
represent a guide about what is important to teach to children, and the

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258 Jael Vargas Rubilar and Maria Cristina Richaud

practices would be interpreted as the “operationalization” of those beliefs

(Solís-Cámara Reséndiz & Díaz Romero, 2007, p.178).
According to Bornstein et. al. (1998), it is essential to consider parents’
self-assessments and responsibilities, as they transmit the effects of the
events to their parental responses. Ideas about parental education are
influenced by many factors, including parents’ personality, parenting
experiences, social comparison and cultural mandates.
In this line of research, we carried out a study (Vargas Rubilar, 2015) in
which we compared the self-perception of parenting styles in Argentine
fathers and mothers of different social strata. The results showed the
existence of three parenting style dimensions in both groups of parents with
different characteristics. In the lower socioeconomic group, acceptance was
defined by excessive control (intrusion), although for parents it meant care
in dangerous social contexts. This acceptance was accompanied by a low
verbal expression of affection for children. In contrast, in the middle
socioeconomic group acceptance was more focused on the child, with verbal
expression of affection, acceptance of individuation and positive
involvement. In addition, middle-class parents showed autonomy based on
trust. In contrast, parents of low socioeconomic status identified themselves
more closely with negligence.

PARENTING AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

In the study of parenting, infancy has been the most analyzed age group,
followed by childhood and adolescence. In this way, this research has
documented an important number of theoretical and empirical works that
highlight the important role of parenting in psychosocial adjustment in
infancy, childhood and adolescence (e.g., Baumrind, 1971, 1972, Richaud
de Minzi, 2005, Richaud by Minzi & Sacchi, 1997)
Particularly, the authoritative parenting style has been positively
correlated with children’s adequate development and well-being in different
psychosocial areas: academic achievements (Burchinal, Peisner-Feinberg,
Pianta, & Howes, 2002), creativity (Lim & Smith, 2008; Krumm, Vargas

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Rubilar & Gullón, 2013), self-esteem (Gonzalez Arratia & Gil La Cruz,
2006), coping, social adjustment (Richaud de Minzi, 2005, Richaud de
Minzi & Sacchi, 1997), and low scores in child psychopathology (Richaud
de Minzi, 2005). By contrast, authoritarian and permissive styles have been
associated with low positive development and higher levels of child
psychopathology (Richaud de Minzi, 2005).
In Argentina, studies carried out by Richaud should be highlighted, as
they analyze parenting styles from the cognitive perspective based on the
Schaeffer model (1965). For example, in a study with Argentine children
aged 6, 8 and 12 years (Richaud de Minzi, 1991), it was found that the
greatest source of threat during childhood came from the perception of a lack
of support from parents. Subsequent studies demonstrated that when
children feel accepted by their parents, they are best suited to new situations,
whereas when they perceive inappropriate relationships, they experience
feelings of loneliness and depression (Richaud de Minzi & Sacchi, 1997).
Likewise, the influence of the perception of parenting styles on children’s
coping with stress was analyzed. It was found that the authoritative style
favored a coping strategy based on assessment and focused on the problem,
while the authoritarian style inhibited successful coping. In turn, the
negligent style led to a lack of emotional control (Richaud, 2005). We also
studied how parental styles influenced personality development (Mesurado
& Richaud, 2013 a and b), prosocial behavior (Richaud, Lemos and
Mesurado, 2011), optimal experience (flow) (Mesurado, Richaud, 2012),
self-criticism, vulnerability, anxiety and children’s competence (Mesurado
& Richaud, 2011). In addition, through joint analysis of parenting styles,
parenting practices, parental expectations and parental modeling on
prosociality, it has been found that modeling becomes the most influential
variable (Richaud, 2009, Richaud, Mesurado & Lemos, 2013). Finally, we
have studied how culture modifies parental styles according to each one’s
patterns and beliefs (Richaud, Mesurado & Lemos, 2013, Mesurado,
Richaud, et. al., 2014).

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Table 1. Parental influences in emotional, social

and cognitive variables

Parenting Aspects Correlates Studies

Parenting styles Positive Oros, Vargas Rubilar & Krumm (2014)
Approach emotions Oros, Shultz & Vargas Rubilar (2015)
Approach Prosocial Balabanián, Lemos & Vargas Rubilar (2015)
behavior
Parenting styles Prosocial Lemos & Vargas Rubilar (2016)
behavior
Diverse parental Self-esteem Vargas Rubilar & Oros (2011)
variables
Parenting styles Creativity Krumm, Vargas Rubilar& Gullón (2013)
Parenting beliefs Creativity Krumm, Vargas Rubilar, Lemos & Oros (2015)
Diverse parental Cognitive Vargas Rubilar & Arán Filippetti (2014)
variables development

In a more recent study (Vargas Rubilar, Oros & Lemos, 2016), we

reviewed some Argentinean studies that studied the parental impact (i.e.,
attachment and parenting styles) on positive emotions (i.e., joy, serenity,
sympathy, satisfaction and gratitude) and negative ones (e.g., depression and
loneliness) and on positive social behavior (i.e., assertiveness and
prosociality) and negative ones (i.e., aggression, arrogance and social
anxiety). We found that most positive nurturing styles and secure attachment
favored the development of positive social emotions and behaviors and
reduced negative emotions.
In reference to those theoretical statements that indicate that parenting
influences the development of psychological, emotional, social and
cognitive resources, we have conducted several studies over the past five
years. All of them have confirmed a significant parenting effect (i.e., mostly
regarding parenting style and attachment) on positive children’s
development. In all cases, statistically more significant results have been
found in relation to the mother than to the father; this finding is consistent
with those of international research (see Table 1).

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CONCLUSION AND FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

The interest in the study of the function of nurturing has greatly

increased since the sixties, finding its roots in attachment theory. However,
this topic has become the object of scientific research just a few years ago.
The present work concerns the revision of the concept of parenting and
its constitution from a psychological perspective and according to a variety
of well-known studies in this area.
Afterward, the complexity and range of factors are highlighted, namely,
the innate, the acquired, the contextual (i.e., the influence of social and
cultural contexts and perceptual processes), and the personal (i.e., parents’
and children’s characteristics).
Likewise, the main aspects and psychological perspectives informed in
the study regarding the nurturing function are revised, and we explain some
of our own contributions in the Argentine population.
First, we approach the theory of attachment with a focus on the study of
the primary bond between parents and children, which has become one of
the most comprehensively examined issues in pioneering work and currently
appears as one of the most solid theories within the field of psychology.
Then, one of the most well-known elements, namely, parenting styles,
was developed. Research on this theme has focused, on the one hand, on the
categorical approach that analyzes the types of parenting styles (i.e.,
authoritarian, permissive, negligent and authoritative or democratic), and on
the other hand, on the dimensional approach that focuses mainly on
affection, control and autonomy granting.
Furthermore, we developed the parental competences or skills approach,
considered one of the perspectives largely developed in recent years.
In addition, we emphasize the importance of studying the beliefs about
nurturing, since it becomes an aspect that explains parents’ behaviors and is
strongly influenced by the social context in which nurturing takes place.
Last, we stress the importance of parenting influence on infants’
emotional, social and cognitive development; this fact has been corroborated
in many of our studies.

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262 Jael Vargas Rubilar and Maria Cristina Richaud

Although the exploration and study of this issue has shown notable
growth, there exists a major limitation for its study in Latin American
countries due to the limited number of constructed and adapted
psychometric instruments that assess perceived parenthood, both from
children’s and parents’ perspectives.
In Argentina, the instrument we have adapted to operationalize
parenting enables the analysis of parenting styles (Richaud de Minzi, 2002,
2005, 2007a; Vargas Rubilar and Richaud de Minzi, unpublished) and
attachment (Richaud de Minzi, 2006). As previously mentioned, instrument
adaptations have been recently carried out in order to assess parental
competencies by means of good psychometric properties. Likewise, a test to
measure parental expectations about children’s prosocial behavior (Vargas
Rubilar & Lemos, unpublished) and another test to analyze the types of
attachment in children from 9 to 12 years of age (Richaud, Lemos & Vargas
Rubilar, Bei & Maier, 2017) are being validated.
Future research lines could focus on analyzing the influence of less-
studied aspects of parenting (i.e., competencies, modeling, beliefs,
expectations, parents’ empathy) on children’s emotional, social and
cognitive development. Another pending task is to analyze which of these
features are better predictors of children’s positive psychological
development. Although it has been noted that the influence of parents
remains throughout the life cycle, another topic rarely analyzed is the
parental role in subsequent stages to childhood and adolescence (mainly
youths and adults).
Finally, it becomes important to emphasize the impact it might have on
the design, implementation and evaluation of parental strengthening
programs, considering they have already revealed encouraging results in
various application contexts as already highlighted in our latest research
(Vargas Rubilar, Lemos & Richaud, 2017, Vargas Rubilar, Oros & Richaud,
unpublished).

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