The sociability of two-year-olds with their mothers and fathers

The trajectory patterns of parenting and the social competence of toddlers: a longitudinal perspective

Background

Many studies have suggested that the daily emotional interactions between a child and his/her caregiver play a significant role in his/her development. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the trajectory patterns of parenting patterns of caregivers raising toddlers affect the social competence of the toddlers.

Methods

The study participants were 246 dyads of 18-month-old children (baseline) and their caregivers, which was conducted as part of a Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) project. We used the Interaction Rating Scale (IRS) to evaluate the children’s social competence. We assessed the child rearing environments by analyzing the caregivers’ responses to the Index of Child Care Environment (ICCE).

Results

Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the children’s total score on the IRS was significantly related to how frequently they sang songs together with their caregivers. Their score was also significantly related to how closely their caregiver worked with his/her partner in raising the child. These relationships did not change according to demographic information.

Conclusions

The results confirm previous findings on the relationship between parenting patterns and children’s social competence. In particular, the study shows that varied and continual parenting significantly affects a child’s social competence.

Nursing care for the emerging family: promoting paternal behavior

In the last decade, nursing care related to childbirth has expanded from a narrow emphasis on the physical health needs of the mother and infant to a broader focus on more family-related, socioemotional needs. One prominent feature of this family-centered approach is the recent movement toward designing services to promote the formation of the mother-infant attachment bond. It is argued in this paper, however, that to achieve a truly family-centered practice, nursing must make a comparable commitment to understanding and meeting the needs of the father in the emerging family. Evidence is reviewed that suggests the father's potential contribution to the infant's overall development has been misperceived or devalued and that the father's ability and willingness to assume a more active role in the infant's care may have been underestimated. Questions for future research that would lead to a better understanding of the father's role in the emerging family are raised.