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The role of parental involvement in their child’s education and academic success has been widely acknowledged in recent educational theories, policies, and practices. Parental beliefs and expectations concerning their child’s learning and success have been shown to be reflected in the parents’ involvement in their child’s education and their practices with their offspring, thereby shaping the child’s motivational development in school. In addition, parental trust in their child’s teacher is a key factor in enhancing the home–school partnership and in supporting a child’s academic motivation and successful schooling. However, political, economical, and technological changes in society and uncertainty about the future may present several challenges for raising children in the twenty-first century. The aim of this chapter is to present recent theories and empirical research focusing on the role of parental beliefs, expectations, and trust in their child’s teacher in supporting children’s interest in learning, self-concept of ability, and achievement behaviors in the challenging and unpredictable future. We will also reflect on how the changing world and uncertainty in society may influence parental beliefs and expectations in their child’s success.

Parental beliefs about underage drinking are known to influence the drinking behaviours of their children. The purpose of this paper is to explore parental beliefs about their own child drinking alcohol and young people in general, in order to ascertain whether there is a need to target such beliefs in the design of public health interventions.

Parents of 11–18 year olds attending one of nine schools in the Midlands of England, UK were invited to take part. Participants completed a newly designed 40-item questionnaire measuring parental beliefs about the impact and causes of underage drinking; talking to their child about alcohol; and how much and how often they thought their child consumed alcohol.

In total, 185 parents took part in the study, reporting on their eldest child aged 18 or under. The majority of parents agreed that underage drinking is detrimental to child health and wellbeing. However, over 60 per cent believed that alcohol consumption is a “natural part of growing up”, and stronger agreement with this belief was associated with higher parental reports of alcohol consumption in their children.

The majority of parents recognised the risks and negative effects of alcohol; however, many also believe it is a natural part of growing up. Parents may hold conflicting beliefs about underage drinking, which could impact on the drinking beliefs and behaviours of their children.

Public health interventions may need to counter the common parental belief that underage drinking is a normal part of growing up and therefore to be expected. Clear messages about the impact parent beliefs and behaviour have on young people drinking, to ensure parents recognise that messages are aimed at themselves, and not just “other parents” are imperative.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to fill the knowledge gap and to investigate relationships between cultural background and various demographic factors influencing parental involvement behaviors that prompt them to engage in their children's academic activities.

A quantitative research method was used to collect data to answer research questions and explore relationships between variables (Fraenkel et al., 2015). The researchers created the survey on Qualtrics and conducted a pilot study to improve the survey based on the recommendations of the pilot study's participants. Some items were reworded suggested by an expert committee to finalize the instrument. This survey mainly consisted of two sections to collect data on participants' demographics and cultural background. The participants used multiple-choice options to answer items pertaining to family demographics. They were asked to use a 5-point Likert scale: very often = 5, often = 4, sometimes = 3, rarely = 2 and never = 1 to respond to survey items regarding cultural background and parental involvement behaviors.

The correlation coefficient showed a statistically significant relationship between parents' expectations, educational level and their involvement behaviors in children's academic achievement. However, parents' income and cultural background had no statistically significant relationships with parental involvement in their children's academic achievement.

The results of this study have potentially broad implications for educational leaders, policymakers, educators and parents to develop policies for diverse students to enhance their educational achievements.

The researchers reviewed extensive literature and found the gap in regional studies particularly related to one of the fastest-growing, financially stable and highly educated ethnic groups in the country. The researchers developed a brand new instrument on Qualtrics and distributed a survey via online and direct administration to collect primary data from 200 participants.

Research suggests that children in Hong Kong are at an elevated risk of emotional problems. Authoritarian parenting, a common parenting style in Hong Kong, is a critical factor associated with childhood mental health problems. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of the 6As Positive Parenting Program (6As) in modifying parenting attitudes, reduction of parenting stress and increasing self-efficacy in positive parenting, among a sample of 82 Hong Kong parents. 6As focuses on prevention by instilling positive parenting beliefs and principles, thereby reducing reliance on authoritarian and related parenting styles.

The program was evaluated using a controlled pre-post-treatment design. Outcome measures were the Chinese Child-rearing Beliefs Questionnaire, Parental Stress Scale, Parenting Self-efficacy Scale and participant feedback. ANOVA and correlation were utilized to detect treatment effects and relationships between the degree of change among measures and subscales.

Relative to the control group, the 6As Positive Parenting Program significantly changed parents’ parenting attitudes, reduced parenting stress and increased self-efficacy in positive parenting. In sum, 97.6 percent of the participants agreed that the program is a good fit for the Hong Kong culture.

A larger sample would have been desirable for this study. One factor that limited analyzable data was that some of the participating organizations enrolled participants into the program who did not meet research inclusion criteria. Furthermore, the size of groups varied from 5 to 16 participants, which may have produced different group dynamics that added variability to outcomes. Future 6As parenting program research should attempt to standardize group size or to directly compare the effectiveness of smaller vs larger groups. Furthermore, as noted earlier, the research was conducted during the primary school application period, which may have heightened the parenting stress for parents of younger children.

The results suggest that an enhanced belief in authoritative, autonomy and training strategies could reduce parental stress and shift parents’ attitude toward a more positive approach in child-rearing.

There is considerable need for a holistically designed parenting training that is culturally credible and sensitive.

Findings suggest that positive parenting can enhance the parent–child relationship and reduce parental stress. The results support governmental, non-governmental organizational and community focus on positive practices for parenting training in Hong Kong.

Several hundred German parents completed a questionnaire to assess their attitudes towards pocket money and economic socialisation. In addition trait competitiveness and occupational stress were measured. Demographic variables were less predictive of competitiveness compared to psychological/attitudinal factors. The more competitive oriented parents displayed a distinct monetary attitude profile: they were less liberal, more structured and budget‐oriented. They used money significantly more as a reinforcer for educational purposes, e.g. educational or scholarly success, and as an instrument to teach autonomy. Subjectively perceived occupational stress was determined by diverse socio‐demographic variables, although the stress‐demographic relationship was moderated by gender. Older fathers and men from a poor social‐economic background (as children) tended to show greater job‐related stress. Conversely, mothers from “superior” SES, with more siblings, and fewer children of their own, reported more occupational stress.

This study aims to uncover in-depth examples of how emergent media affects parents’ views and socialization efforts. The study examines these views and efforts in the context of violent commercials.

The authors collected data for this paper using two studies. In Study 1, they collected data from the internet. Comments related to “violent ads” or “violent commercials” were collated and analyzed. For Study 2, they conducted in-depth interviews with mothers on their views on parental mediation and impact of media on their children.

The internet data helped develop a parental definition of violent ads and identify that parents lie on a continuum regarding their concerns about violent commercials. Further in-depth questioning of parents on the above finding led to the identification of four clusters of parents. “Media managers” attempt to control and restrict their child’s media environment while educating their child about the effects of violent commercials. “Enablers” spend abundant time co-viewing primetime TV while engaging their child in conversations on violence, but not on violent ads. To maintain harmony in the household, “Harmonizers” merely restrict viewing of violent commercials without educating their child about its effects. Finally, “Agent evaluators” are likely to co-view violent commercials, without discussing them with their child.

First, several of the parental segments (media managers, enablers and harmonizers) tend to note some concerns with violence in advertising. Importantly, this concern for violence appears to be limited to gore and use of physical weapon. Second, while parents do not have homogenous views on violent ads, those who are concerned also have differing roots of concern. This influences their mediation efforts. Third, socialization is bi-directional at times.

Many parents do not approve are the use of physical violence, use of weapons and depiction of blood/gore even in ads for movies or videogames. Advertisers might be wise to avoid such content in ads directed to children. Second, if media and marketing managers could plan to sponsor TV shows (vs placing violent ads) that offer ad-free program time, parents might respond positively. Third, as socialization is bi-directional, advertisers could consider using ad scenarios where parents and children engage with the pros and cons of a certain product or content, thus enabling parent-child conversations to make an informed decision.

Many parents notice violence in ads; policymakers could consider developing ratings for ads that consider the amount and type of violence while rating an ad. Second, a focus on increasing parental awareness on the harms of constantly exposing children to violent commercials might change the views of some parents who currently believe that a few or no violent commercials are being aired during children’s programs. Finally, parents envisage a greater role for media in their lives, and policymakers will have to suggest ways to effectively integrate media content in one’s lives rather than just suggest bans or restrictions.

The contributions of this paper include viewers’ (vs researchers’) definition of violent commercials, showcasing that parents are likely to manage media using new media options such as Netflix, and some parents are likely to co-create rules with their children.

Partnerships with parents are an essential strategy for promoting children's healthy development. Partnerships, themselves, also comprise a context for promoting and sustaining mental health among adults and communities at large. We must foster parents' own development in order to support their role as fully participating partners in mental health promotion; such development guides their abilities and propensity to create and sustain growth‐enhancing environments. The Listening Partners Program is an example of a program that pursued such a goal.

Culture significantly influences individuals' lives and shapes their behaviour in an ecological framework. In this chapter, we examine the issue of children's participation in research about child abuse and neglect (CAN) in the context of Turkey – a country that bridges the Asian and European continents. This study was based on a review examining studies on CAN in Turkey. Thus, the main goal was to find cultural explanations for the scarcity of participatory research with children in the field of child maltreatment. A review examining studies on CAN in Turkey found that no study included children victims of CAN or explored why children victims of CAN have not been participating in research. Therefore, we analysed ecological factors influencing the participation of children in CAN studies and interpreted the findings based on our observations as experts in this field. The analysis indicated that causes are not only due the characteristics of the caregivers and children but also result from the interaction of various environmental and systemic factors. Recommendations for politicians and researchers to increase children's participation in research are discussed.

This study aimed to look at parents' perceptions of a number of different toy prototypes that represented physical impairments and predictors of these perceptions.

A correlational survey design was used. Parents of children aged 4–10 years who identified their child as having a disability (n = 160) and not as having a disability (n = 166) took part. They rated a number of prototypes for likelihood that their child would enjoy playing with them and completed measures of their responses toward children with disabilities and of their own and their child's direct contact with people with disabilities.

It was found that, among parents of children who did not declare that their child had a disability, the more open the parents were toward disability, the more contact the children had with other children with disabilities and the more likely they were to consider that their child would like to play with a toy prototype representing a physical impairment. This pattern of results was not found among parents who identified their child as having a disability, where instead positive friendship intentions of parents mediated this association.

These findings have implications for theories informing the positive benefits of disability representation.

These findings indicate different paths through which parents might be moved to purchase toys that represent physical impairments for their children.

These findings suggest that representative toys might be associated with an open dialogue around the topic of disability.

This is the first study of the responses of parents to toys that represent physical impairments known to the authors.