Another new SAFE-SORRY publication, which is also the first chapter of the PhD of Elliana Lamprianidou! Information on “good” parenting is nowadays abundant and being a parent seems more challenging than. These increased societal expectations towards parents are coined as the “intensive parenting ideology” – emphasizing parents’ personal responsibility for their children’s future success. Studies have suggested that intensive parenting prescriptions are now “pervasive” and the “norm” of modern parenthood. Yet, parents may differ in how they adhere to these societal expectations about parenting.

In our work, we revealed different “profiles” of parents, by focusing on three main elements of the intensive parenting discourse: parents’ intensive parenting beliefs; their perceived societal pressure to be a perfect parent; and their endorsement of gender essentialism  (i.e., women as “naturally” better at parenting than men). Not only did we find different profiles for both mothers and fathers, but we showed how these profiles differ in terms of negative parental involvement! Specifically, both our “traditional intensive” mothers AND fathers reported more negative, overinvolved parenting practices.

The paper is published in Journal of Family Psychology, do not hesitate to read or download the publication for more details!

Congratulations for the great publication, Elliana!