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This study examined the impact of different parenting styles on the academic achievement of Nigerian students, filling a notable void in current research that primarily concentrates on Western settings. Data was obtained from secondary school students across various Nigerian states, representing diverse cultural, economic, and geographical origins, using a cross-sectional survey design. The results indicated that authoritative parenting, which is characterized by both warmth and structure, is highly correlated with improved academic achievements. Conversely, authoritarian and permissive parenting styles have fewer positive effects, whereas negligent parenting is more harmful. Furthermore, the study emphasized the crucial significance of parental participation in education, demonstrating that active involvement in school activities and assistance with homework is positively associated with student achievement. The research highlights the significance of socioeconomic determinants, emphasizing that greater levels of parental education and better economic position have a substantial impact on enhancing academic attainment. These observations highlight the necessity of implementing culturally customized parental education programs and policies in Nigeria to improve academic achievement. The paper recommends conducting additional longitudinal research to investigate these dynamics, with the goal of developing evidence-based measures to enhance education in Nigeria.

• Judith Rich Harris' Nurture Assumption has had a profound impact on the understanding of human development. • I detail how JRH's scholarship has altered my approach to the study of crime and criminals. • I discuss how the field of criminology has remained steadfast in their resistance to JRH's work. The Nurture Assumption by Judith Rich Harris was a revolutionary book that called into question the family socialization literature and the conventional ways in which parenting is typically studied by social scientists. In the 25 years since it was first published, the key arguments set forth in The Nurture Assumption still remain on the margins of most fields of study and not fully integrated into individual research agendas. In this paper, I focus on how Judith Rich Harris has impacted my scholarly thinking and my academic career as a criminologist. In doing so, I discuss the ways in which Judith Rich Harris' views can guide criminological thinking and the reasons why the field of criminology has been and continues to be resistant to her and The Nurture Assumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article documents the experiences of parenting of an urban Indian Hindu middle-class couple at the intersection of virtual and physical spaces and ideas. The experiences and ideas documented in this paper have co-evolved as the authors are parenting their four-year-old daughter and realised how their participation in a Facebook parenting group is influencing them as parents. The relational perspective in autoethnography is used to examine the mutual influences between the authors as partners, parents, and participants in the Facebook parenting group. This is done to understand how our participation in the Facebook parenting group mutually influenced our understanding of ideas of empowered mothering and self-care. The paper draws from Audre Lorde’s idea of radical self-care to analyse the interactions on the online group on empowered mothering and self-care.

The phenomenon of secondary parenting, in some contexts, presents both a pernicious and a perfidious experience to older persons who should be enjoying their sunset years with some level of relief and respite. The study aimed to explore the adversities experienced by the older persons linked to Lavela Old Age Centre, in Alice South Africa. The study took the form of community engagement sessions. Data was collected from 12 older persons linked to the Centre. Findings established that secondary parenting was burdensome, exacerbated their states of poverty, and was riddled with various health deficits among the grandparents, pockets of conflicts, and care deficits of their grandchildren. The study recommended that the older persons need to be assisted to facilitate stress-free secondary parenting so that they can enjoy old age respite; the younger generation should not leave the burden of caring for their children to the older persons; and all and sundry need to recognise that the task was stressing the health and wellbeing of the older persons. Social workers are called upon to strengthen their advocacy skills imploring the societies, NGOs, and the government to increase assistance to the older persons to carry a stress-free secondary parenting and enjoy successful ageing. The study advises the younger generation not to leave their responsibilities of taking care of their children to the older persons. The study also adds literature to the domain of gerontology as well as rings the bell for policymakers to understand and address the plight of secondary parenting as an exploitative endeavour for older persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper comprises a collection of illustrations, along with background information, analysis, and commentary, from “baby books”—advice books published in the United States for a parent audience from the 1890s to the 1980s. These publications, and especially their drawings and photos, provide a window on past child rearing practices and beliefs. The paper provides historical background on parenting behaviors such as toilet training and infant feeding, then traces changes over time through drawings and photos that appeared in parenting advice publications. These publications grew in popularity as changing work and family structures removed traditional sources of information for parents, and scientific information and expert guidance took their place. Publications from a variety of sources, but especially the U.S. Children’s Bureau, are explored. A finding of note is that images of babies and their families, which in earlier publications were entirely white and middle class, became more diverse over time. The author concludes that published parental advice from professionals made for a fascinating study, was ideologically driven, and often lacked a basis in empirical scientific knowledge of child development, and therefore asserts that parents may regard such advice conditionally.

Abstract Even if families in migration contexts have been the subject of an increasing amount of attention in migration research in the recent years, there is a noticeable knowledge deficit with regard to current parenting practices and socialization goals of immigrant families living in Germany. This is particularly striking since child-rearing is of central importance for children’s development and their educational pathways. This paper seeks to fill this gap, drawing on the survey “Growing up in Germany: Everyday Life” (AID:A) provided by the German Youth Institute (DJI). Similarities and differences in attitudes towards parenting among immigrant mothers compared to mothers without migration backgrounds were analyzed with regard to parenting practices (emotional warmth, punishment and child’s active participation) and socialization goals (performance/self-control and positive social behavior). In a sample of 5870 mothers reporting on a child under the age of nine, mothers in families where both they and the father had Turkey, Russia or Poland as their country of origin were included and compared to autochthonic families. The results revealed significant differences in parenting practices and socialization goals between mothers with and without migration backgrounds. Concerning parenting practices, Turkish and Russian mothers differed significantly from German mothers with regard to emotional warmth and punishment. In terms of socialization goals, all immigrant mothers placed more emphasis on both performance/self-control, as well as positive social behavior for their children than mothers without migration backgrounds in Germany.

This paper presents an essay that uses an epigenetic approach to attain an inclusive and in-depth understanding of the influence of family context and quality of parenting on children’s psychological development. Based on the identification of a key developmental process in which interactions are continuously internalised, the approach draws attention to the bidirectional and systemic nature of intrafamily and parenting interactions and highlights the multiple factors that influence them, which are linked to the developmental history of the species, the individual characteristics of both the child and their parents, and contextual variables. In response to these internalised interactions, the body activates epigenetic mechanisms, such as DNA methylation, which may affect the phenotypic expression of the genome. Theoretical and methodological implications are discussed in light of the current process of identifying the biological profiles underlying negative and positive parenting practices. Some insights are offered regarding the challenges and opportunities that parents and policymakers should address in the 21st century in connection with the promotion of positive parenting, taking into account the epigenetic processes triggered by adverse environments for children and their families.

Drawing on the international discourse on the intensification of parenting and new data from Germany, this paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the unique challenges that parents face in the 21st century. We used data from the survey “Parenthood Today”, which was conducted in 2019 to examine parents’ views on parenting in Germany. The data comprised standardized interviews with 1652 mothers and fathers. We focused on three dimensions of parental pressures: namely, time pressure, financial pressure, and pressure that emanates from the educational system. Time pressure referred to the pressure currently felt, whereas financial pressure and pressure from the educational system referred to changes across time. In each of these domains, more than 60% of the parents experienced high (time) or increasing (education and financial) pressure. Binary logistic regressions showed that while parental education was a strong predictor of experiencing an increase in financial pressure, parental education did not matter for other realms of parenting. However, employment and family form were strongly related to parental time pressure. Full-time employed lone mothers, but also non-resident fathers, reported experiencing heavy pressure when trying to balance their roles as a worker and as a carer. Our results draw attention to the importance of better integrating the needs of post-separation families, including of non-resident fathers, in the debate on the “intensification of parenting”.

Popular media attention and scientific research in both mindful parenting and technology use in the context of parenting has expanded in the 21st century; however, these two streams of research have largely evolved separately from one another. Thus, in this conceptual paper, we integrate the research on mindful parenting with that on parents’ technology use and parenting to examine how parent technology use may impact or be linked with aspects of mindful parenting. Mindful parenting theory outlines five key components: listening with full attention, self-regulation in the parent–child relationship, emotional awareness of self and child, nonjudgmental acceptance of self and child, and compassion for self and child. Parent technology use, in particular the use of mobile devices, has the potential to impact all five elements of mindful parenting. However, the relationship between mindful parenting and technology is complex, and there can be both positive and negative implications of parent technology use on mindful parenting. On the positive side, technology use might help parents regulate their emotions; access support; and develop more empathy, acceptance, and compassion for themselves and their children. Yet, parent technology use also has the potential to create distractions and disrupt parent–child interactions, which may make it more difficult for parents to listen with full attention, maintain awareness of their own and their child’s emotions, and calmly respond to child behaviors with intentionality. Technology use may also create more opportunities for social comparisons and judgement, making it more difficult for parents to accept their children nonjudgmentally and have compassion for their children as they are. Future research is needed to understand the conditions under which technology use can hinder or promote mindful parenting and how interventions can promote mindful parenting skills and a positive uses of technology.