Predictors of Maternal and Early Adolescent Attitudes Toward Children’s Nurturance and Self-Determination Rights

Abstract

Children’s rights to nurturance and self-determination have been included in social policy agendas for many years. Children’s and parents’ attitudes concerning children’s rights are likely an important determinant of whether rights on paper actually serve to protect the well-being of children, yet there is little research on factors associated with support for children’s rights. This study examined maternal (parenting style, sociopolitical attitudes) and child (emotional autonomy, role in family decision making) characteristics associated with attitudes toward children’s nurturance and self-determination rights. Maternal responsiveness was related to child support for both nurturance and self-determination rights and maternal endorsement of self-determination, whereas demandingness was negatively related to support for self-determination and children’s involvement in family decision making. Maternal conservatism was negatively related to mothers’ support for nurturance and self-determination rights. Support for self-determination rights, child participation in family decision making, and children’s emotional autonomy were positively related. Implications and limitations of findings are discussed.

Fulfillment of the Child’s Participation Rights in the Family and the Child's Psychosocial Adjustment: Children’s and Parents’ Views

“…These two variables share about 12% of the variance, which is not negligible given the complexity and the multiple determination of the self-esteem construct. The finding that children who report higher participation rights fulfillment also report higher self-esteem corresponds with claims and empirical findings in the literature on the association between participation in family decision-making and self-esteem (Malone & Hartung, 2010;Persson et al, 2007).…”

“…parents' willingness to listen to and consider the views of adolescents. In a separate analysis, the adjustment of youth from families characterized by high youth influence on family matters was compared to the adjustment of youth from families less open to youths' influence (Persson et al, 2007). The results showed that adolescents from families open to adolescent influence had the lowest scores on measures of delinquency, alcohol consumption, depression and expectation of failure, and the highest scores on measures of self-esteem.…”

Parents' accounts: Factors considered when deciding how far to involve their son/daughter with learning disabilities in choice-making

“…This has demonstrated the role played by parental attitudes and beliefs, and parenting styles in determining children's involvement in choice-making (Peterson-Badali et al, 2004;Pyke-Grimm et al, 2006;Jackson et al, 2008;Mack et al, 2011;Coyne, 2008;Lease & Dahlbeck, 2009;Commendador, 2010).…”

Effective Children’s Rights Education from the Perspectives of Expert Teachers in Children’s Rights Education: A Turkish Sample

“…As a matter of fact, it is likely that there will be a conflict if there are discrepancies between what the children have learned at the school and the house. In addition, children's using their right to participation in the family supports their self-determination skills (Peterson-Badali, Morine, Ruck, & Slonim, 2004;Day, Peterson-Badali, & Ruck, 2006). On the other hand, the family (Brown, Cohen, Johnson, & Salzinger, 1998), which is among the risk factors for child abuse and neglect, can expose the children to emotional abuse with humiliating comments, even if they provide the child adequate care, protection and education (Horton & Cruise, 2001).…”