Atypical Development

This chapter considers deviations from the normal developmental path of two sorts. The first section of the chapter addresses childhood clinical syndromes that impact both children’s development and parents’ beliefs. Three syndromes are discussed: intellectual disabilities, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The second section of the chapter addresses deviations in the parent component of the parent–child dyad, considering both clinical conditions (in particular, depression and schizophrenia) and maladaptive parental practices (in particular, abuse or neglect). It also discusses the concept of resilience; that is, the ability of some children to overcome adverse early experiences.

Why Study Parents’ Beliefs?

As its title indicates, this introductory chapter provides the rationale for the study of parents’ beliefs. Eight reasons are presented, some tied to the theoretical issues to which such study speaks and some tied to the pragmatic issues for which parents’ beliefs are important. Several emphases that recur throughout the book are introduced, including the need for the multicultural study of beliefs and the need for a multidisciplinary approach to such study. The chapter concludes with an overview of the specific topics and chapters that make up the rest of the book.

General Processes of Development

Parents hold beliefs not only about specific aspects of their children’s development (the focus of most of the remaining chapters) but also about the general processes through which such developments come about. So, too, do developmental psychologists. This chapter addresses the fit between what parents believe and what psychologists have concluded, concentrating especially on two issues. The nature–nurture issue concerns the interplay of biological and environmental factors in the determination of development, including beliefs about the relative importance of the two forces and about particular environmental contributors, including parents. The continuity–discontinuity issue concerns the extent to which psychological functioning is characterized by consistency or change. As applied to development, the question is whether developmental change is a matter of incremental, quantitative change or whether qualitative change also occurs. As applied to children’s competencies and characteristics, the question is whether children’s behavior and the rules that govern it are consistent or variable across different tasks and different contexts.

Adolescence

This chapter completes the developmental span with a discussion of parents’ beliefs about adolescence. Parents’ knowledge of adolescence is the first topic addressed, with a special focus on parents’ knowledge of their adolescent’s activities. Parental knowledge is also a theme in the second section of the chapter, which discusses risky behaviors of various sorts (substance abuse, unprotected sex, delinquency). The third section of the chapter considers parent–child conflict, and the fourth discusses parents’ beliefs and practices with regard to the Internet. The chapter concludes with a discussion of three positive achievements of adolescence: romantic relationships, civic engagement, and ethnic identity.

Childhood: Social Development

This chapter provides a complement to the previous chapter through a consideration of parents’ beliefs about children’s social development. Five topics are considered: emotional development (including emotion recognition and emotion regulation), aggression (including bullying), moral development, peer relations, and gender-role development. These topics are not neatly compartmentalized; rather, aspects of two or more often flow together as children deal with their social worlds. Controlling one’s emotions, for example, may be necessary to avoid an aggressive act, which in turn may help to maintain good social relations with others. The author explores these interrelations throughout the chapter.

Childhood: Cognitive Development

This chapter and the next focus on developments during the ages of roughly 2 to 12 years. The present chapter discusses parents’ beliefs and behaviors with respect to aspects of their children’s cognitive development. Seven developments are considered: academic performance, intelligence, Piagetian concepts, theory of mind, memory, executive function, and language. As in Chapter 5, beliefs about general milestones of development are also discussed. And, as in most chapters, parents are of interest both as informants with regard to their children’s development and as contributors to development. Also discussed are the cultural differences that emerge in parents’ expectations, which reflect values and related socialization practices. Culture is both a source of parents’ beliefs and a context for attempting to turn them into reality.

Infancy

This chapter is the first of four to address beliefs about particular parts of the developmental span. It begins with work on parents’ knowledge of infancy, both infancy in general (e.g., milestones of development) and their own infant in particular. The middle section of the chapter considers parental beliefs and related behaviors with respect to three infant behaviors that often pose challenges for parents: crying, sleeping, and eating. The chapter concludes with a discussion of two major outcomes of development that have their origins in infancy: attachment and temperament. Here, and in general, parents play two roles in the research literature: as informants of their children’s characteristics (i.e., parent-report measures) and as contributors, via their beliefs and behaviors, to these characteristics.

Parenting and Family

The parental beliefs that affect children’s development are not limited to beliefs about children; they also include what parents believe about themselves as parents and what they believe about the family as a unit. The first half of this chapter addresses beliefs about parenting of several sorts: knowledge of parenting processes, feelings of self-efficacy as a parent, and attributions for parenting outcomes. Also discussed are effects of the transition to parenthood on how parents think. The second half of the chapter is directed to beliefs about the family. It begins with two topics that are often the source of parent–child conflicts: household responsibilities and decision-making and autonomy. The chapter concludes with beliefs about the value of children, including the beliefs of older parents whose children have grown.

Theories and Methods

This chapter provides a necessary prelude to the chapters to come through its discussion of the theories that guide research and the methods used to examine the questions of interest. Eight theories are presented, each of which is returned to at various places throughout the book. Two emphases emerge in the discussion of theories: the complementary nature of the eight theoretical positions and the reciprocal relation between theories and research. Just as theories guide and illuminate research, so the study of parents’ beliefs enriches each of the general theories that have directed such study. The overview of methods considers not only ways to study beliefs but also methods appropriate for the three other issues that recur throughout the book: origins of parents’ beliefs, relations between beliefs and parenting behavior, and relations between beliefs and children’s development. A special emphasis is on ways to establish causality in the interplay of parental beliefs and behaviors and child outcomes.