Parenting Together: Understanding the Shared Context of Positive Parenting Among Low-Income Black Families

Abstract

This study examined the relations between family demographics and positive parenting dimensions among urban-residing, low-income, Black caregiving dyads. Participants were 100 co-caregivers affiliated with a Head Start program and reporting on 50 preschool-aged children. Given that the parenting context for the caregiver pairs was not independent, multilevel dyadic analysis was employed to determine demographic predictors of positive parenting dimensions as measured by the emically derived Black Parenting Strengths in Context scale. Findings illuminated associations between combinations of adult/child characteristics (e.g., nativity, parental employment status, child gender) and the five dimensions of positive parenting measured (i.e., Fostering Connectedness; Racial and Cultural Pride; Involvement at School; Religious and Spiritual Practices; Behavioral Responsiveness and Guidance). Findings suggest implications for future research and theory involving Black family life—specifically the need to examine parenting by considering the combined effects of individual and shared family characteristics—and for designing parent support efforts that recognize family roles and heritages, and that leverage the strengths of and heterogeneity among the multiple caregivers in the lives of young children.

“Free Black Children…That Means Everything”: Black Mother’s Visions of Freedom Within a Radical Healing Framework

“…This aligns with substantial evidence that Black parents' use proactive racial socialization strategies to protect their children from the deleterious influence of racial discrimination (Doyle et al, 2015;Wang et al, 2020;White-Johnson et al, 2010). Consistent with a growing number of studies (Elmore & Gaylord-Harden, 2013;Lozada et al, 2022;McWayne et al, 2020), we found that Black mothers valued parenting practices that focused on building their children's emotional and social well-being. The mothers considered emotional well-being a necessary component of supporting their children's freedom because it would better enable them to reject the types of dehumanizing ideologies (i.e., white supremacy, patriarchy, and homophobia) that might limit their sense of respect and self-worth.…”

“…First, we underscored the importance of examining Black mothers' beliefs and practices as a joint function of multiple individual and contextual characteristics (i.e., ages of their children, their personal experiences as a child, and the availability of caregiving networks). We must continue to consider the complex relations between Black parents' social identities (i.e., ethnicity, gender, and social class location), and their caregiving contexts as we theorize and empirically study parenting (McWayne et al, 2020). Second, we highlighted the importance of attending to concepts such as hope, love, and joy, as an overlooked area of research within empirical research on Black family processes.…”

“…The white supremacist capitalist patriarchal context (hooks, 1997) of the USA has long shaped Black family systems (Collins, 1994; McWayne et al, 2020), in that the country’s endemic history of racialized oppression is associated with biological, cultural, environmental, psychological, and social markers of traumatic stress among Black mothers and Black children (Anderson & Stevenson, 2019; Henderson & Wells, 2021; Jackson et al, 2018; Miller & Vittrup, 2020; Murry et al, 2018). However, the ability to survive historical and contemporary racialized trauma intimates that Black people possess corresponding markers of resilience, which Black mothers also pass down and transmit to their children (Brown & Tylka, 2011; Chapman-Hilliard & Adams-Bass, 2016; Everet alt et al, 2016).…”

“…This will offer a more complex understanding of how Black parents can build their children’s capacity to see themselves as social justice change agents through small, day-to-day interactions, as well as within the broader milieu of instilling family and community values. Third, we build upon existing strengths-based studies of resilience processes in Black families (Anderson & Stevenson, 2019; Doyle et al, 2015; McWayne et al, 2020; Murry et al, 2018) by exploring Black mother’s beliefs about raising free, Black children amidst the sociohistorical realities of oppression in the USA. Theorizing about freedom and liberation is fraught with challenges and contradictions, particularly around whether scholarship on these topics will contribute to meaningful and measurable change in society within our lifetimes.…”

The Parenting Gold Standard: Maternal Master Narratives of Parenting Black Emerging Adult Children

“…One additional task of Black families is preparing their children for discrimination and racism. While there is a large focus in the research on negative parenting practices in Black families, the extant scholarship on positive parenting indicates that these practices influence children in the domains of socioemotional (i.e., maternal warmth, empathy, and communication), spiritual, academic well-being, and ethnic identity (McWayne et al, 2020). Other aspects of family relationships that appear to be important in Black families include having close and flexible family relationships, family cohesion, and support (Pollock et al, 2015).…”