Parents’ Attitudes and Beliefs: Their Impact on Children’s Development: Exploring the Influence of Parents' Attitudes on Children's Development

Abstract

Child-rearing attitudes are cognitions that predispose an individual to act either positively or negatively toward a child. Attitudes most frequently considered involve the degree of warmth and acceptance or coldness and rejection that exists in the parent-child relationship, a powerful impact on behavior, even if parents are distressed by or unaware of that impact. Researchers interested in children’s development have explored parenting attitudes, cognitions, and the resulting emotions (such as anger or happiness), because of their influence on parenting behavior and on the subsequent impact of that parenting behavior on children’s socioemotional and cognitive development.