Advances in the Study of Parenting in Argentina

Abstract

The importance of parenting styles on children’s development and welfare is widely known and also how parenting practices are linked to the social meanings of each culture or social group. We present various perspectives about parenting styles and their relation to different contexts, cultures and social classes in Argentina. We also analyze the characteristics of particular parenting styles of both middle class and disadvantaged backgrounds. Next we study whether more efficient parenting styles may vary from one culture to another, under the hypothesis that parenting styles that ensure children’s socio-emotional adjustment, remain invariant in different socioeconomic contexts and cultures. We also analyze parental competencies, defined as parenting practices aimed at promoting healthy family relationships and optimizing children’s development and wellbeing, and their study in Argentina, as well as ways of evaluating them. We emphasize the importance of interventions aimed at optimizing parenting, so that parents can correct irrational beliefs about behaviors, customs, and styles of parenting, which hamper the development of the resilience of children, parents, and family. An intervention program developed in Argentina is also described and its results are presented. Finally, we have referred to the effects that the COVID-19 isolation had on children and mothers’ behavior, further being affected by contextual factors such as parents’ age, the number of children, as well as the type of perceived parenting before the pandemic