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The Impact of Marital and Social Network Support on Quality of Parenting

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Handbook of Social Support and the Family

Part of the book series: The Springer Series on Stress and Coping ((SSSO))

Abstract

Several decades of research have demonstrated a link between quality of parenting and child development (Baumrind, 1993; Maccoby, 1992; Maccoby & Martin, 1983). These studies suggest that a parenting style characterized by warmth, inductive reasoning, appropriate monitoring, and clear communication fosters a child’s cognitive functioning, social skills, moral development, and psychological adjustment. In contrast, parenting practices involving hostility, rejection, and coercion have been shown to increase the probability of negative developmental outcomes such as delinquency, psychopathology, academic failure, and substance abuse. These findings point to the importance of studies concerned with identifying the determinants of parental behavior. This chapter presents our model for integrating theory and research on this topic. The model identifies social support as an important cause of variations in quality of parenting.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and the Center for Family Research in Rural Mental Health, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, 50011, USA

    Ronald L. Simons & Christine Johnson

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  1. Ronald L. Simons
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  1. Hamilton College, Clinton, New York, USA

    Gregory R. Pierce

  2. University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

    Barbara R. Sarason  & Irwin G. Sarason  & 

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Simons, R.L., Johnson, C. (1996). The Impact of Marital and Social Network Support on Quality of Parenting. In: Pierce, G.R., Sarason, B.R., Sarason, I.G. (eds) Handbook of Social Support and the Family. The Springer Series on Stress and Coping. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1388-3_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1388-3_12

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