Republic Central Colleges Plaridel Street, Angeles City

Journal Critique Early Parenting Practices and Outcomes for Adolescents

Presented by:
Nacu, Jemer Ruiz L. Santiago, Maicy Marie S. Valentin, Krissele April S. Yalung, Lamuel M.

Presented to:
Mr. Jed V. Madlambayan

July 2013

Article Title: Early Parenting Practices and Outcomes for Adolescents Authors: Marcus Dunham, Amy Washington Journal Title: Educational Research Quarterly Date of Publication: December 2011 Volume, No. of Pages: Volume 35.2, pages 43 - 75 Summary: The study entitled Early Parenting Practices and Outcomes for Adolescents by Murray State University researchers Dunham and Washington aimed to compare early parenting practices and adolescent behavior to determine whether parental attachmentpromoting behaviors in the first year of life were associated with psychosocial adjustment in teenagers. The study design employs correlation, utilizes surveys for data-collection, and periods cross-sectionally. Mothers of 22 adolescents completed a behavioral assessment of their teenager and an inventory of their recollected parenting practices during the first year of that child's life. Male parents were not included in the study to ensure uniformity and eliminate extraneous factors that might influence the results. The adolescent participants, ranging in age from 12 to18 years (9 males and 13 females), also completed a self report measure of psychosocial adjustment. The aforementioned

participants were from a variety of backgrounds to help ensure diversity and generalizability. The participants received three surveys- the Parenting Practices Inventory (PPI), the Behavior Assessment System for Children-2 Parent Report (BASC-2 PRS), and the Behavior Assessment System for Children-2 Self-Report (BASC-2SRP). The former two, the Parenting Practices Inventory (PPI), the Behavior Assessment System for Children-2 Parent Report (BASC-2 PRS), were accomplished by the adult participants, while the Behavior Assessment System for Children-2 Self-Report (BASC-2SRP) was answered by the teenagers. The PPI was created for the study as an instrument for assessing the recalled parenting practices engaged in by mothers with their child(ren) during the first year of life. The instruments content and face validity, conceptualization, accuracy of wording, length, understandability, and general formatting which are all critical to the results were reviewed, revised, and test-completed by prominent authorities in the field and by sample-population parents. The PPI items entailed 33, 5-scale Likert-type questions, which half were reverse scored. The questions adhered to eight principles of Attachment Parenting as described by the Attachment Parenting International (2008) and initially proposed by Sears. The other two surveys, PRS and SRP, are existing, already established, and widely utilized instruments; and were used to measure behavioral functioning in adolescent participants. Significant correlations between several early parenting practices and the PPI total score, and between specific parenting practices and measures on both the BASC-2 PRS and BASC 2-SRP were found. The results indicated that early attachmentpromoting parenting practices were directly associated with the progenies psychosocial and behavioral outcomes. It was inferred that Attachment Parenting is a practical framework for understanding and implementing best practices in early childrearing for parents.

Insights: The reviewers were initially oriented with four parenting styles, and these parenting styles were not particular in the significance of the employment of such styles for the first 12 months of an individuals life. In reading the study, the reviewers were made aware of another recently established parenting approach as distinct from the Parenting Styles established by Baumrind (1971), Maccoby and Martin (1983), which is known as Attachment Parenting, or simply, AP. The findings of the study will allow the reviewers to understand the importance of Attachment Parenting and as such offers valuable explanations as to why a certain peer behaves such way and how such peer came about with such kind of behavior. A wider horizon of thoughts will enable the reviewers to fully comprehend their peers actions. As future professionals, the findings of the study will permit the reviewers to share the significance of the parenting approach to a childs behavior to others, most especially to would-be parents, and thus ultimately producing an effect practically on the populace by creating a better society. Study is recommended to extend to fathers.