Individual differences in parenting : the five-factor model of personality as an explanatory framework

Abstract

Riitta-Leena Metsäpellon väitöstutkimus osoittaa, että lastenkasvatusta voidaan tutkia erilaisilla menetelmillä, mutta menetelmät eivät anna yhtenäistä kuvaa vanhemmista kasvattajina. Ulospäinsuuntautunut ja avoin äiti voi koetilanteessa näyttää havainnoitsijan mielestä lapsilähtöiseltä ja hän voi itsekin arvioida kasvatuksensa sellaiseksi, johon sisältyy kiintymystä, kuuntelemista ja lapsen huomioon ottamista. Lapsi voi kuitenkin arvioida hoivaavammaksi sellaisen äidin, joka ei ole yhtä ulospäin suuntautunut ja jolla riittää ehkä enemmän huomiota lapselle. Vanhemman vähäinen ulospäinsuuntautuneisuus voi siten lapsen näkökulmasta merkitä myönteisiä kasvatuskokemuksia ja suotuisaa perheilmapiiriä. Väitöstutkimus haastaa tutkijat ja perheiden kanssa työtä tekevät kiinnittämään huomiota menetelmiin, joilla he arvioivat vanhemmuutta ja lastenkasvatusta. Lapsesta aikuiseksi -pitkittäistutkimuksessa on aikaisemmin havaittu, että lasten raportoimat kasvatuskokemukset ennustivat voimakkaammin heidän kehitystään kuin vanhempien omat arviot kasvatuksesta. Vanhemmille suunnatut kyselylomakkeet ovat olleet tavanomainen menetelmä kasvatuksen tutkimuksessa, mutta myös lasten näkökulman ja kokemusten huomioon ottaminen tulisi nostaa esille vanhemmuutta ja perheilmapiiriä arvioitaessa.

This study used variable- and person-oriented approaches to conceptualize parenting: examined the stability of parental behavior over multiple situations (two dyadic problem-solving situations with a child and a family discussion); investigated parenting across measures obtained from different informants (the parents themselves; an independent observer; and the child); and studied gender differences in parenting. Moreover, personality traits were defined in terms of a five-factor model of personality, and their linkages with parenting were examined. The study was based on the ongoing Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, in which the originally 8-year-old children (N = 369) have been followed up to age 42. Data collected at ages 33, 36, 38 - 40, and 42 were used in the present study. The data about parenting were gathered from mothers, fathers, and children (aged 8 - 14 years) through self-reports, behavioral observations, and questionnaires. The results showed that parental nurturance, together with the degree of restrictive control parents exercised over their children, and the extent of their knowledge of their children’s interests, friends, and whereabouts, extracted from self-reports, yielded six gender-related parenting types with distinguishable personality profiles. Authoritative (mainly mothers) and emotionally involved (mainly fathers) parents, who were high in nurturance, were high in Extraversion (E) and high to moderate in Openness to Experience (O). Authoritarian (mostly fathers) and emotionally detached (mostly mothers) parents, who were low in nurturance, were low in O and E. In addition, two other parenting groups were extracted: permissive parents who were high in nurturance; and engaged parents who were high in all parenting dimensions. Although self-reported nurturance was relatively stable across time (from age 36 to 42), it was not directly related to child-centered behavior, as observed in the dyadic problem-solving situations. The observed child-centeredness was similarly stable over multiple interactive situations. The parents' E moderated the association between self-reported nurturance and observed child-centeredness, but in different ways in the mothers and fathers who had rated themselves to be highly nurturant: the mothers who were observed to be child-centered were high in E, but the fathers who were observed to be child-centered were low in E. When the children's views about parenting and family atmosphere were considered, the parents' low E was related to a more favorable family environment. The results suggest that the data collection method and the informant should be critically considered when the quality of parenting is determined