2011 The Palm Beach County Family Study (Full Report)

SummaryWhen surveyed in the fifth year, mothers were asked to report on three general kinds of parentingpractices that they and their husbands/partners used during the previous 3 months: positive activities withtheir children in their home and neighborhood; negative parenting practices, usually for disciplinarypurposes; and activities that involved them with their children’s school or childcare. More than threequartersof the mothers reported that they engaged in a variety of positive parenting activities. Theseincluded praising their children; taking children on errands and outside to play; reading books andencouraging their children to read; singing songs with children and telling stories; doing household choreswith children; playing with a game, puzzle, or building toy with children; and talking to their childrenabout television programs. For families in which husbands/partners had contact with their children,mothers reported that at least half of husbands/partners engaged in most positive parenting activities.Smaller percentages of mothers reported that they or their husbands/partners used negative parentingpractices. A little over half (60%) of the mothers reported that they had lost their temper with theirchildren; a quarter (25%) said they had found hitting or spanking was a good way to get their children tolisten; and a quarter (26%) said they got angrier with their children than they had intended during theprevious 3 months. No more than 18 percent said that in the past 3 months they had blamed their childrenfor something that was not their fault or punished their children for not finishing the food on their plate.Mothers whose husbands/partners had had contact with their children reported somewhat lowerpercentages of negative parenting practices for their husbands/partners than they reported for themselves.Over time, positive parenting activities increased for both mothers and husbands/partners, but most of thechanges occurred between the first and second years. The only noteworthy differences between years 4and 5 was an increase in the percentage of mothers who reported telling stories to their children andtaking their children to the library, which is consistent with the increasing age of their children. Similarly,there was an increase from year 1 to year 5 in the percentage of husbands/partners engaging in most of thepositive parenting practices. Also, between years 4 and 5, there was an increase in the percentage ofhusbands/partners who told stories to their children, took the children to the library, encouraged thechildren to read a book, did household chores with children, and talked to their children about televisionprograms.In terms of negative parenting practices, there was a significant increase in mean negative parentingscores for mothers, but not husbands/partners between years 4 and 5; the former was due to an increase inthe percentage of mothers who said they had become angrier than intended with their children or hadblamed their children for something that was not their fault.Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago 56