The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Towards a more comprehensive view of parenting : an investigation of parental cognitions

Towards a more comprehensive view of parenting : an investigation of parental cognitions
Towards a more comprehensive view of parenting : an investigation of parental cognitions

Problems with parent training programmes, such as high attrition rates and poor skills maintenance, indicate that this approach is inadequate. This dissertation proposes that the difficulties surrounding parent training may be due to limited conceptualisations of parenting. The literature review paper highlights that parent training programmes have failed to consider individual differences. Research on parenting attitudes and attributions is reviewed and conclusions drawn suggest that these factors do not explain parenting behaviour. More recent research has emphasised parental beliefs as having a significant impact upon parenting. However, methodological difficulties including the lack of an operational definition of the term "belief" has made it difficult to draw conclusions. The empirical paper addresses these weaknesses and represents an original attempt at exploring the range of parental cognitions in relation to child behaviour between a clinical group of parents and middle class and working class controls. It was hypothesised that the clinical group would have significantly more negative cognitions than controls, that they would have a greater number of dysfunctional attitudes and would be less able to take a child-centred perspective. Results indicated that hypotheses were partially supported. Recommendations are made for targeting parental beliefs in future parenting interventions.

University of Southampton
Connolly, Nicola
bf84428a-0a6c-4000-886f-e1a9506604e9
Connolly, Nicola
bf84428a-0a6c-4000-886f-e1a9506604e9

Connolly, Nicola (2000) Towards a more comprehensive view of parenting : an investigation of parental cognitions. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

Problems with parent training programmes, such as high attrition rates and poor skills maintenance, indicate that this approach is inadequate. This dissertation proposes that the difficulties surrounding parent training may be due to limited conceptualisations of parenting. The literature review paper highlights that parent training programmes have failed to consider individual differences. Research on parenting attitudes and attributions is reviewed and conclusions drawn suggest that these factors do not explain parenting behaviour. More recent research has emphasised parental beliefs as having a significant impact upon parenting. However, methodological difficulties including the lack of an operational definition of the term "belief" has made it difficult to draw conclusions. The empirical paper addresses these weaknesses and represents an original attempt at exploring the range of parental cognitions in relation to child behaviour between a clinical group of parents and middle class and working class controls. It was hypothesised that the clinical group would have significantly more negative cognitions than controls, that they would have a greater number of dysfunctional attitudes and would be less able to take a child-centred perspective. Results indicated that hypotheses were partially supported. Recommendations are made for targeting parental beliefs in future parenting interventions.

Text
758431.pdf - Version of Record
Available under License University of Southampton Thesis Licence.
Download (3MB)

More information

Published date: 2000

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 467039
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/467039
PURE UUID: 7a9b886c-9163-4373-b61b-34bce68fe919

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 05 Jul 2022 08:09
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 20:56

Export record

Contributors

Author: Nicola Connolly

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×