ROLE OF THE FAMILY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN

Role Of the Family in the Development of Children

Role Of the Family in the Development of Children

Introduction

For several decades, developmental psychologists have explored the issue of how to characterise good or adaptive parenting, hoping to identify those parenting behaviours that promote healthy child development. Developmental researchers have investigated distinct parenting styles, or general patterns of caregiving, that have been linked either positively or negatively with children's overall functioning. These different styles of parenting were first explored in laboratory and naturalistic observations of parent-child interactions during the 1960s (Cassidy, 2004). Since that time, clinical researchers have homed in on specific parenting practices reflective of these broad parenting styles in an effort to learn how and why maladaptive parenting might lead to particular childhood disorders. In recent years, research into effective parenting has focused largely on two global constructs that appear to positively influence child development: responsiveness and demandingness.

Responsiveness

Responsiveness typically refers to the interactive synchrony between a caregiver and child. Responsive parents are able to read and respond to their children's needs with sensitivity and warmth. They are emotionally engaged with their child and consistently meet their child's needs. Responsive parents also value reciprocity and consider the child's wishes and needs. In this way, responsive parents make room for genuine exchange with their child. Being a responsive parent requires the ability to think flexibly, to problem-solve, and to adjust expectations in light of children's evolving needs and emerging personalities (Allen, 2006).

Although parental responsiveness is important across the span of childhood and adolescence, much of the research into parental responsiveness has focused on the relationships between mothers and their infants and toddlers.

Over time, sensitive care contributes to a child's development of secure attachment. For this reason, responsiveness toward children is essential, even in interactions with very young infants. In research into parenting of infants, responsiveness is operationalised by measuring features such as a mother's affection and skill when handling her baby; her sensitivity to the baby's crying and nonverbal signals; and her accessibility to, and consistency with, the baby. Additional measures of responsiveness investigate the degree to which a mother accepts the individuality of her child and how adaptable she appears in interactions with her child. As children mature and their needs change, parents need to learn to respond in new ways (Baumrind, 2005). Thus, researchers who study the relationship between parents and older children will operationalise responsive behaviours differently. Evidence suggests that mothers who are consistently responsive tend to experience greater harmony and cooperation in their interactions with young children, and these children tend to score high on measures of warmth and self-regulation.

Parents who are unable or unwilling to tune in to their child's needs may exhibit disengaged, inconsistent, neglectful, or even abusive parenting behaviours that are detrimental to the child's emotional, social, moral, and intellectual development. Jude Cassidy and colleagues have shown that children of rejecting, unavailable, or unresponsive parents are at increased risk for developing insecure attachment (Baumrind, ...