Parental Identity and Its Relation to Parenting and Psychological Functioning in Middle Age

Abstract

SYNOPSISObjective. This article focuses on identity as a parent in relation to parenting and psychological functioning in middle age. Design. Drawn from the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, 162 participants (53% females) with children (age 36), represented the Finnish age-cohort born in 1959. Parental identity was assessed at ages 36, 42, and 50. Results. In both women and men, parental identity achievement increased from age 36 to 42 and remained stable to 50. The level of parental identity achievement was higher in women than in men. Achievement was typical for women and foreclosure for men. Participants' education, occupational status, and number of offspring were not related to parental identity status. As expected, parental identity achievement was associated with authoritative (indicated by higher nurturance and parental knowledge about the child's activities) parenting style. No significant associations emerged between parental identity foreclosure and restrictiveness as an indicator of authoritarian parenting style. The diffused men outscored others in parental stress. Achieved parental identity was related to generativity in both genders and to higher psychological and social well-being in men. Conclusions. At present, many parenting programs are targeted to young parents. This study highlighted the importance of a later parenting phase at around age 40, when for many, the children are approaching puberty. Therefore, parenting programs and support should also be designed for middle-aged parents. Specifically men may need additional support for their active consideration and engagement in the fathering role.

Undergraduate Omani Students’ Identity and Perceptions of Parenting Styles

“…In addition, other possible variables may contribute to the development of students' academic identity. These variables include, but are not limited to; students' academic self-efficacy; self-regulated learning; academic adaptation skills; emotional intelligence; teaching styles (Alrajhi & Aldhafri, 2015); teacher-student relationships (Aldhafri & Alhadabi, 2015); parents' school involvement; and moral and religious development, and parental identity (Fadjukoff, Pulkkinen, Lyyra, & Kokko, 2016). Expanding the sample to have an equal number of male and female participants may provide a better picture whether or not the connection between parenting styles and identity dimensions vary based on gender.…”

Does your child's weight influence how you judge yourself as a parent? A cross-sectional study to define and examine parental overvaluation of weight/shape

“…The association of parental overvaluation with BN and BED, and to a lesser extent with sED, points to the pervasiveness of eating disorders into valued roles, including parenting, and future work should examine whether parental overvaluation impairs the parent-child relationship. Previous research suggests that parents for whom the parent role is highly salient are more vulnerable to threats to that aspect of their identity [8] and associated distress and impairment [8, 9]. Future research on parental overvaluation should explore if salience of the parent role is a mediating factor for eating-disorder psychopathology and child eating behaviors and may also examine whether parents’ weight influences their evaluation of themselves as parents.…”

“…This can be true for patients with psychological disorders, and this can also be true during the course of fulfilling normal developmental roles, including parenting [8]. Parents for whom the parent role is particularly central to their identity are vulnerable to feeling distress when this role is strained [8] and those with more mature parental identities tend to have the highest psychosocial functioning [9]. The prominent role of overvaluation in eating-disorder psychopathology (which we refer to as “personal overvaluation”), and the salience of the parent role [8], suggest a related question of clinical importance for parents: does their child’s weight or shape influence how they judge themselves as parents?…”

“…Parents have key roles in the eating attitudes and behaviors of youth [e.g., 10], and parents’ feeding practices and attitudes appear associated with their personal attitudes and psychopathology [11–13]. Research suggests that some parents over-identify by their child’s successes and failures [9]. Work concerning parents with eating disorders indicates that some parents have strong concerns about their child’s weight/shape [14], even to the point of feeling preoccupied by it [12, 13, 15].…”

Ideación suicida en adolescentes del área rural: estilo de crianza y bienestar psicológico

“…Al respecto, un estudio revela que existe una relación importante entre la identidad parental en ambos padres y un buen estilo de crianza y funcionamiento psicológico parental con bajo estrés (65). En cambio, las condiciones laborales y el estrés socioeconómico familiar se relacionan con la crianza negativa (66); el nivel educativo, el estatus ocupacional, el ingreso familiar y la identidad social de ambos padres son predictores de los estilos de crianza autoritario y autoritativo, y de la salud y el bienestar mental de los hijos (67).…”