Authoritarian parenting and low parental investment have been associated
with adverse child outcomes in several child adjustment domains.
However, for the field of parenting and child outcomes to develop
theoretically the issues of both specificity and effect moderation need
to be properly addressed. In this talk I will be presenting the results
from two studies which tried to do this. Both used longitudinal data
from the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) to explore the long term
links between mothers’ parenting (authoritarian child rearing attitudes,
and low expectations) and children’s social outcomes (earnings
attainment, educational attainment, and self-efficacy) in adult life.
Study 1 tested if social class moderates the association between
maternal authoritarian parenting (measured at age 5) and low educational
attainment (measured at age 26). The results showed that, as expected,
although on the whole mother’s authoritarian parenting was negatively
related to educational attainment, it was not related to educational
attainment in children raised in low social class environments. Study 2
explored if gender moderates the association between mothers’
expectations for their children’s educational attainment and children’s
earnings attainment and sense of control later in life. Mothers’
expectations at age 10 were positively related to daughters’ sense of
control at age 30 even after controlling for ethnicity, educational
attainment, and concurrent partner, parent, and labour market
participation status, as well as the following confounding variables
(measured at ages 0-10): general ability, locus of control, emotional
and behaviour problems, social disadvantage, parental social class,
parental family structure, and mother’s education, authoritarian
parenting and mental health. Mothers’ expectations had both a direct
effect in daughters’ sense of control and an indirect effect via
educational attainment. In addition, they completely mediated the effect
of parental social class at birth in daughters’ earnings attainment at
age 26. Mothers’ expectations had no such effects in sons’ adult
outcomes.
Presented by:
Eirini Flouri (University of London)
Date & time:
December 11, 2006 4:00 pm - December 11, 2006 12:00 am
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