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We examine the cumulative effects of mothers’ and grandparents’ institutionalized cultural capital (educational credentials) on parenting approaches and children’s educational outcomes to determine if degree attainment in one generation equalizes educational advantages for children. Using data on kindergarteners, first-graders, and their mothers from the 1998 to 1999 Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, we find minor differences in parenting approaches: When grandparents and mothers all have college degrees (Continuing-Generation), children are involved in more activities and have more books at home; however, school involvement is similar whether mothers have more education than their parents (First-Generation) or are Continuing-Generation. There are no differences between children of First- or Continuing-Generation mothers in how they are rated for effort by teachers. Differences in first-grade math achievement scores between children of First- and Continuing-Generation mothers disappear once controlling for parenting approaches. However, significant differences remain between the groups in how teachers rate the children’s language and literacy skills, even after controlling for parenting approaches. These findings imply that attaining a college degree may not benefit the children of First-Generation mothers to the same extent that it does the children of Continuing-Generation mothers for some academic outcomes. Moreover, children whose mothers and grandparents have only high school diplomas are at a disadvantage compared to children of First-Generation mothers for first grade math achievement and language and literacy ratings, as well as for growth in these outcomes between kindergarten and first grade.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how the content and approach of parent-adolescent communication about sexuality were associated with three adolescent sexuality variables (sexual attitudes, combination of all behaviors and advanced behaviors).

Survey research with adolescents was conducted in classrooms at school. Participants were 473 adolescents (196 males, 253 females and 24 unreported) in grades 9–12 from two high schools (one urban and one suburban) in a large midwestern city.

Adolescents who described their parents’ communication approach as open, or who did not engage in conversations about sexuality with their parents reported lower rates of sexual behavior, when compared to adolescents whose parents dictated such conversations. Females were found to have more conservative sexual attitudes than males, and both mothers and fathers were found to have a direct role in talking to their children about sexuality.

Findings from the study may offer guidance to parents and help adults aiming to empower youth to make healthy sexual decisions.

The developmental, individual-difference and relationship (DIR)/Floortime^® approach is a commonly used parent-implemented intervention with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Currently, no evidence is available about the intervention’s implementation and utility in Malaysia. The aim of this paper is to investigate the applicability and impact of implementing the parent-implemented home-based DIR/Floortime^® intervention program for children with ASD and their parents in a Malaysian context from parents’ perspectives.

A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with eight mothers and four fathers of children with ASD was conducted. The interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis.

Five themes were developed. Theme 1 described the implementation of DIR/Floortime^® intervention; Theme 2 reported challenges parents faced when implementing the intervention; Theme 3 explored parents’ perspective on play; Theme 4 explained the improvements and changes in children with ASD and parents’ abilities and skills; and Theme 5 reported parents’ comments and suggestions about the intervention program.

Involvement of a limited number of participants and an absence of baseline data limits the interpretation of the impacts of the DIR/Floortime^® program’s implementation by parents with their children with ASD.

Utilization of DIR/Floortime^® intervention is practical and appropriate in the Malaysian context. From the parents’ perspective, the DIR/Floortime^® approach was beneficial for children with ASD and parents’ skill development and well-being. Further refinement to the program and involvement of participants from various cultural backgrounds are recommended. A greater emphasis for parents on child-led interaction style and play with children are also recommended.

Purpose – We seek to understand how gender shapes the practice of concerted cultivation in connection to other key social locations of race and class.Design/methodology/approach – This quantitative research paper uses multi-level modeling to provide an intersectional analysis of parenting practices across diverse social and institutional settings.Findings – We find gender matters: across three aspects of “concerted cultivation” (involvement in schooling, extracurricular activities, and cultural outings), parents invest more time and resources in girls compared to boys. More importantly, using an intersectional approach, we find distinct racial/ethnic differences in engendering concerted cultivation. Gender differences occur among Black and Hispanic but not white parents’ involvement in their child's schooling. Additionally, parents cultivate girls’ participation in certain kinds of extracurricular activities more so than for boys, but this difference is greatest at the highest socioeconomic levels.Social and practical implications – The ways in which parents’ shape young children's activities and experiences in daily life vary greatly across gender, race, and class statuses.Originality/value – Gender shapes access and exclusion to various social settings across the life course; this paper adds to literature on socialization, incorporating other social statuses into understandings of processes of the social reproduction of inequality. These results are of value to parents, schools, and social scientists.

Purpose: Death is a universal inevitability of life, though parents and adults often report difficulty or concerns about discussing the topic with children. This investigation reports on how parents of very young children (ages 3–6) have or would discuss death with their child, and what parents consider in navigating such discussions.

Methodology: In-depth interviews were conducted with parents (N = 24) of very young children (ages 3–6) to develop a grounded theory of parents actual and anticipated approaches to discussing death with children.

Findings: Parents generally described either seeking to protect children’s “innocence” by avoiding or limiting conversations of death, or, seeking to promote children’s socioemotional competence in confronting the complexities of death through more extensive discussions. We identified four factors we hypothesize may influence parents intended strategies for navigating these approaches: (1) parents’ past and current experiences related to death, (2) children’s exposure to deaths, (3) cultural and personal beliefs about death, and (4) parents’ knowledge and awareness of their child’s cognitive competences. While protection of children’s “innocence” and cultivation of children’s socioemotional competences are not opposing goals, these concepts appeared to be situated on a continuum.

Originality/Value: Given the prevalence of death in contemporary media, and an ongoing global pandemic, young children’s exposure to death will remain heightened for the foreseeable future. Family scholars and practitioners would be wise to prepare to assist families and children thoughtfully and compassionately. We further explore tools, resources, and strategies parents and professionals have found helpful in navigating these discussions.

The purpose of this paper is to share St John Fisher College Library's marketing approach to recruiting and retention of parents within the higher education community.

The objectives of this paper are achieved by connecting local experiences with other parent initiatives on university campuses throughout the country. The paper takes the approach of addressing marketing strategies for recruitment and retention of parents, while also including opportunities for these strategies to be applied.

The findings display the library's ability to contribute to their campus recruitment and retention goals while assisting parents in connecting to the library in an informational and emotional capacity.

This paper presents the academic library's perspective on a higher education initiative focused on targeting parents during the recruitment and retention processes. Academic librarians will find the most value in this paper by finding step‐by‐step guidelines for implementing the experiences shared by St John Fisher College's library.

This paper explores theoretical and practical aspects (i.e. resources allocated, activities undertaken, actors/decisions involved) of corporate “parenting” in the development of a retail lending network. A review of the relevant corporate strategy, supply‐chain, networks and services management literature underpins a preliminary content (capability; market orientation) and process (top‐down; bottom‐up) typology of network parenting. This provides the structure for discussion of findings from extended analysis of a UK retail banking sector case study. Analysis of the case data suggests that a richer conceptualisation of different forms of “network parenting” is needed to provide both practical guidance and support further theoretical developments. A preliminary typology (with contingent management mechanisms) is developed and used to represent the parenting trajectory described in the case study. The paper concludes with a discussion of possible directions for future work.

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.

Despite general recognition of the benefits of talking openly about sexuality with children, parents encounter and/or create barriers to such communication. One of the key barriers is a desire to protect childhood innocence. The purpose of this paper is to explore parental interpretations of childhood innocence and the influence this has on their reported practices relating to sexuality-relevant communication with young children.

In all, 110 UK parents and carers of children aged between four and seven years were involved in focus group discussions. The discussions were transcribed and thematic network analysis was subsequently applied to the data. Following the reading and re-reading of the transcripts for meaning, context and content, individual comments and statements were identified within the data set and grouped to generate themes.

Childhood innocence was commonly equated with non-sexuality in children and sexual ignorance. Parents displayed ambiguity around the conceptualisation of non-innocence in children. Parents desire to prolong the state of childhood innocence led them to withhold certain sexual knowledge from their children; however, the majority also desired an open relationship whereby their child could approach them for information.

UK parents have a strong desire to maintain the social construction of their children as inherently innocent. This discourse is affecting the way in which they communicate about sexually relevant information with their children.

Case formulation has gained increasing prominence as a guide to intervention across a range of clinical problems. It offers a contrasting orientation to diagnosis and its value is considered in the context of clinical work with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD). The purpose of this paper is to argue that case formulation integrating attachment, systemic and narrative perspectives offers a valuable way forward in assisting people with the diagnosis and their families.

The literature on ASD and related conditions is reviewed to examine levels of co-morbidity, consider the role of parental mental health difficulties and explore the issues inherent with current approaches to diagnosis.

ASD is found to have a high level of co-morbidity with other difficulties, such as anxiety and insecure attachment. Research findings, alongside the authors own clinical experience, are developed to suggest that formulation can allow the possibility of early intervention based on a holistic appraisal of the array of difficulties present prior to a diagnosis.

It is argued that the use of this systemic-attachment formulation approach could offset the exacerbation in ASD and related conditions, and deterioration in families’ mental health, whilst they face long waiting times for a diagnosis.