Although parenting is influenced by numerous factors at varying levels, some of the central qualities of parenting can be predicted from the parent’s childhood history and how the parent remembers and reflects on that history. Major disruptions in parenting, such as child abuse, are predictably related to similar problems identified in the parent’s own childhood, but even subtle differences between parents, such as comfort with intimacy, are associated with childhood experiences. These intergenerational influences are powerful and often nonconscious; indeed, many parents find themselves repeating intergenerational patterns that they vowed to break.
Positive factors at each layer (e.g., a child with an easy temperament, a loving family history, stable finances) enhance parenting, whereas negative factors (e.g., a child with a challenging temperament, an abusive history, poverty ) present risks. The combined and cumulative picture provides the most complete explanation ...
Major disruptions in parenting, such as child abuse, are predictably related to similar problems identified in the parent’s own childhood, but even subtle differences between parents, such as comfort with intimacy, are associated with childhood experiences.
Although parenting is influenced by numerous factors at varying levels, some of the central qualities of parenting can be predicted from the parent’s childhood history and how the parent remembers and reflects on that history. Major disruptions in parenting, such as child abuse, are predictably related to similar problems identified in the parent’s own childhood, but even subtle differences between parents, such as comfort with intimacy, are associated with childhood experiences. These intergenerational influences are powerful and often nonconscious; indeed, many parents find themselves repeating intergenerational patterns that they vowed to break.
Positive factors at each layer (e.g., a child with an easy temperament, a loving family history, stable finances) enhance parenting, whereas negative factors (e.g., a child with a challenging temperament, an abusive history, poverty ) present risks. The combined and cumulative picture provides the most complete explanation ...
Major disruptions in parenting, such as child abuse, are predictably related to similar problems identified in the parent’s own childhood, but even subtle differences between parents, such as comfort with intimacy, are associated with childhood experiences.