Children's descriptions of parents

Mapping Intimacies ◽

10.31234/osf.io/yzg7x ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Heidi Martelin ◽

Xuan Li ◽

Jan Antfolk

Keyword(s):

Family Type ◽

Lesbian Mothers ◽

Parent Gender ◽

Children's Perceptions ◽

Children’S Perceptions ◽

Parenting Dimensions

Comparisons of children’s perceptions of lesbian mothers to children’s perceptions of heterosexual parents are limited. To investigate whether children’s descriptions of their parents vary by family type (lesbian versus heterosexual) and biological relatedness, we interviewed 29 Finnish children raised by lesbian mothers or heterosexual parents. Parents also completed surveys about division of childcare responsibilities and on six parenting dimensions. We found no systematic differences between the parent types. A clustering of parents based on the descriptions indicated neither family type, parent gender, or biological relatedness systematically explained the variation in children’s descriptions of parents. Implications of our findings are discussed.

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Young children’s perceptions of their relationships with family members: Links with family setting, friendships, and adjustment

International Journal of Behavioral Development ◽

10.1080/01650250042000500 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 25 (6) ◽

pp. 521-529 ◽

Cited By ~ 49

Author(s):

Wendy Sturgess ◽

Judy Dunn ◽

Lisa Davies

Keyword(s):

Family Relationships ◽

Family Members ◽

Family Type ◽

Children's Perceptions ◽

Children’S Perceptions ◽

Externalising Problems ◽

Mother And Child ◽

Family Setting ◽

The Relationship

A total of 258 children aged 4-7 years, from 192 families of diverse structure (stepfather, single parent, stepmother/complex stepfamilies, and nonstep families), participated in this study of young children’s perceptions of their family relationships. Children completed a Four Field Map, in which they placed their family members and friends in a series of concentric circles representing the closeness of the relationship. Biological relatedness and family type affected the placement of fathers, but not mothers or siblings; children in stepfather families were more likely to place their stepfathers as “not close”. Links were found between the quality of child-mother and child-sibling relationships and the closeness of children’s friendships. Children’s externalising problems were related to their perceptions of their relationships with fathers and their prosocial behaviour to their closeness with both fathers and mothers.

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“It Is Like Compulsory to Go, but It Is still pretty Nice”: Young Children’s Views on Physical Activity Parenting and the Associated Motivational Regulation

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17072315 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (7) ◽

pp. 2315

Author(s):

Arto Laukkanen ◽

Arja Sääkslahti ◽

Kaisa Aunola

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Autonomy Support ◽

Children's Perceptions ◽

Children’S Perceptions ◽

High Responsiveness ◽

Motivational Regulation ◽

Parenting Dimensions ◽

Group Interviews ◽

Children’S Views ◽

The Relationship

Physical activity parenting (PAP) is consistently correlated with children’s physical activity (PA). Children’s perception of PAP has garnered little attention given that it mediates the relationship between PAP and child PA outcomes. This study aimed to examine 7–10-year-old children’s perspectives on PAP practices and how they relate to their motivational regulation of PA. A total of 79 children 7–10 years of age participated in 19 semi-structured focus group interviews. Through qualitative theory-guided content analysis, using frameworks of parenting dimensions and self-determination theory (SDT), we found that children’s perceptions of high responsiveness and low demandingness in PAP—according to SDT, autonomy support, involvement, and structure—were associated with satisfaction of all three psychological basic needs—autonomy, competence, and relatedness. In contrast, perceptions of high demandingness and low responsiveness in PAP, i.e., coercive control, were associated with dissatisfaction of autonomy need. However, perceptions of high demandingness and high responsiveness in PAP, specifically parental expectations and facilitation of PA, were associated with satisfaction of competence need. It seems possible to identify different types of PAP practices associated with children’s motivation for PA. Different forms of parental demandingness with differing motivational outcomes were uniquely identified from the children’s perceptions of PAP.

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