Chapter 10
Things to think about before reading this Chapter
- In their introduction, Lamb and Lewis make the point that psychoanalytic theorizing still influences contemporary thinking about parent–child relationships. As you read this chapter, note specific examples of this influence.
- In what ways does this chapter support the notion that parenting is a dynamic construct?
- How do parents relate differently to infants, to children, and to adolescents?
- What evidence exists to support the conclusion that parent–child attachments cannot be treated in isolation from other systems-level factors?
- In general, what is currently known about the effects of fathering on adolescent development?
- Summarize what is known about the effects of divorce and single-parenting on child and adolescent development.
Chapter Outline
THE ROLE OF PARENT–CHILD RELATIONSHIPS IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Introduction
Attachment Theory: A Framework for Understanding Parent–Infant Relationships
Phase 1: Indiscriminate Social Responsiveness of Newborns (Birth through One or Two Months)
Phase 2: Discriminating Sociability (One or Two Months through Six or Seven Months)
Phase 3: Attachments—Specific, Enduring, Affective Bonds (Seven to Twenty-Four Months)
Phase 4: Goal-Correlated Partnerships (Twenty-Four to Thirty Months Onward)
Measuring Attachment Relationships
To Whom Do Attachments Form?
Level of Contact, Sensitivity and Attachments
Predictive Validity of Attachment Styles in Infancy
Attachment within the Family System: Infants, Mothers and Fathers
A Gradual Entrance into the Social World: The Preschool and School Years
The Preschool Child’s Understanding of Social Relationships
Do Mothers and Fathers Differentially Socialize Boys and Girls?
The School-Age Child
Styles of Parenting in Middle Childhood
Baumrind’s Model of Parental Styles
Mothers, Fathers, and Cultural Influences on Parenting Styles
The Individual’s Construction of Relationships: Internal Working Models
ADOLESCENCE
Mothers, Fathers, and Adolescents
Tensions in the Parent–Adolescent Relationship
Summary
THE LONGER VIEW: PARENTS’ INFLUENCES ON TEENAGERS AND YOUNG ADULTS
DIVERSITY IN FAMILY PATTERNS AND RELATIONSHIPS
Cultural and Subcultural Variation
Divorce and Single Parenthood
Family Violence
CONCLUSIONS
Suggested Readings
Belsky, J., & Pluess, M. (2009). The nature (and nurture?) of plasticity in early human development. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4, 345–351.
Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment. New York: Basic Books.
Carpendale, J. I. M., & Lewis, C. (2006). How children develop social understanding. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
Collins, W. A., Maccoby, E. E., Steinberg, L., Hetherington, E. M., & Bornstein, M. H. (2000). Contemporary research on parenting: The case for nature and nurture. American Psychologist, 55, 218–232.
Cummings, E. M., Merrilees, C. E., & Ward George, M. (2010). Fathers, marriages and families: Revisiting and updating the framework for fathering in family context. In M. E. Lamb (Ed.), The role of the father in child development (5th ed., pp. 154–176). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Hrdy, S. B. (2009). Mothers and others. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Lamb, M. E., & Kelly, J. B. (2009). Improving the quality of parent–child contact in separating families with infants and young children: Empirical research foundations. In R. M. Galatzer-Levy, L. Kraus, & J. Galatzer-Levy (Eds.), The scientific basis of child custody decisions (2nd ed., pp. 187–214). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Lamb, M. E., & Lewis, C. (2010). The development and significance of father–child relationships in two-parent families. In M. E. Lamb (Ed.), The role of the father in child development (5th ed.). Chichester, UK: Wiley.
Moffitt, T. E. (2005). The new look of behavioral genetics in developmental psychopathology: Gene–environment interplay in antisocial behaviors. Psychological Bulletin, 131, 533–554.
Glossary
Attachment theory: Conceptual framework for describing and explaining normative and individual differences in caregiver–child interactions first developed by Bowlby, stressing the foundational influence of the social and emotional qualities of this dyadic relationship (typically mother–infant) in the healthy development of later interpersonal relationships.
Authoritarian parenting: Parenting style, described by Baumrind, characterized by valuing obedience and the forceful imposition of the parents’ will; this parenting style has been found more commonly among fathers than mothers, when the child under discussion was a son, and within some cultural contexts to be associated with increased levels of behavior problems.
Authoritative parenting: Parenting style, described by Baumrind, characterized by the encouragement of independence and the influencing of children’s behavior using rational explanation that is sensitive to, and facilitates, children’s changing sense of self; this parenting style is associated with social competence and conformity to cultural and societal norms.
Behavior genetics: The quantitative study of the degree to which genotypic variability is associated with phenotypic variability in a population; historically behavior genetic studies have focused on estimating the heritability of an observed behavioral trait (e.g., intelligence, personality, psychopathology) by comparing samples of monozygotic (identical) and dizygotic (fraternal) twins.
Conduct disorder: Repetitive and persistent pattern of behaviors in which social norms or the basic rights of others are violated. These can include aggressive conduct towards other people or animals, behavior that causes property loss or damage, deceitfulness, theft, and serious violations of rules.
Internal working models: Mental representations of the self, other people, and relationships that young children construct from their interactions with attachment figures.
Observational learning: Socialization processes that do not involve the intentional and direct action of parents but occur through children’s observations of the parents’ social behaviors.
Parental sensitivity: Individual differences in mothers’ or fathers’ perception of, and responsiveness to, the affective needs of children that can influence attachment security.
Parenting: The dynamic construct of how parents relate to their children across the lifespan that includes similarities and differences in parenting styles of both mothers and fathers within the context of larger family, social, and cultural contexts.
Predictive validity: The degree to which experiences in early childhood are associated with aspects of social and emotional development later in the lifespan.
Reciprocity: Behaviors in which partners take turns acting and reacting to another’s behavior.
Security of attachment: According to attachment theory, the degree to which infants use attachment figures as secure bases from which to explore the novel environment.
Social cognition: Reasoning about the mental states and processes of others – including goals, intentions, and beliefs – based on their verbal and non-verbal behaviors.
Socialization: The developmental process of acquiring interpersonal skills, abilities, and understanding that influence social behavior and interactions across the lifespan.
Theory of mind: A type of social cognition in which individuals construe others in terms of their mental states and traits, often investigated through the use of “false-belief” tasks.