Running head: CONCEPT ANALYSIS: PARENTING
Concept Analysis: Effective Parenting
Jennifer Dixon and Ann Swanson-Hill
Washburn University
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CONCEPT ANALYSIS: PARENTING
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Concept Analysis: Effective Parenting
Parenting is one of the most important public health issues facing our society. It is the
single largest variable implicated in childhood illnesses and accidents, teenage pregnancy,
substance misuse, truancy, school disruption, underachievement, child abuse, unemployment,
juvenile crime, and mental illness (Hoghughi, 1998, p. 1545). These are serious problems in
themselves but are even more important as precursors of problems in adulthood and the next
generation (Hoghughi, 1998, p. 1545). By providing information on effective parenting, some of
the potential difficulties with poor child rearing may be avoided, such as emotional and
behavioral problems experiences by some young people. Effective parenting provides a buffer
against adversity, such as poverty and delinquent influences (Hoghughi, 1998, p. 1545).
Broad Definition
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, effective means, "producing a decided,
decisive, or desired effect"(Merriam-Webster, n.d.). Parent comes from the Latin word parere,
which means to "bring forth, develop or educate"(Virasiri, Yunibhand, & Chaiyawat, 2011, p.
1110). Parere is a verb focused on the actions of educating and developing rather than who is
carrying out these actions. Parenting is defined as, "raising a child by its parents," or "taking
care of someone in the manner of a parent" (Merriam-Webster,n.d.). Kerby Alvy from the
National Effective Parenting Initiative states, "Effective parenting refers to carrying out the
responsibilities of raising and relating to children in such a manner that the child is well prepared
to realize his or her full potential as a human being. It is a style of raising children that increases
the chances of a child becoming the most capable person and adult he or she can be"(Alvy, n.d.)
"Parenting refers to the rearing of a child or children, in particular, love and guidance given by a
parent"(Virasiri, Yunibhand, & Chaiyawat, 2011, p. 1110)
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In Masud Hoghughi's article, The Importance of Parenting in Child Health reports the following
as key components of parenting:

Care- meeting the child's needs for physical, social and emotional well being and
protecting the child from avoidable harm, accident or abuse.

Control- setting and enforcing appropriate boundaries.

Development- realizing the child's potential in different domains.
The relationship between parent and child is multidimensional and continually evolving.
Operational Definition
"Parenting is the activities of parents that provide care, support and love in a way that
leads to a child's total development (Virasiri et al., 2011, p. 1111)." Three of the essential parts
of parenting include; protecting children from harm, which includes promoting the emotional
and physical health of child, setting effective boundaries, and recognizing a child's potential and
maximizing it. (Please see Appendix A)
Review of Literature
The concept analysis was conducted based on a literature search using a variety of online
databases such as CINAHL, SAGE, ProQuest, PubMed, PsychInfo and Google Scholar. The
research was conducted using key terms such as; parents, parenting, effective parenting, positive
parenting, concept analysis, parenting practices and parenting styles. In addition, this concept
analysis was conducted through an analysis process by Walker and Avant.
The first article reviewed was "The Importance of Parenting in Child Health," written by
Masud Hoghughi. He states that, "Parenting is probably the most important public health issue
facing our society" (Hoghughi, 1998). Parenting affects childhood illnesses, teenage pregnancy,
substance abuse, child abuse, crime and mental illness. It is important to address effective
CONCEPT ANALYSIS: PARENTING
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parenting qualities during childhood, because of the negative effects of poor parenting that carry
over into adulthood. Effective parenting acts as a buffer against difficulties like poverty or bad
influences. Many people may provide parenting influences to children, including teachers,
nurses, doctors and daycare providers. There tends to be a consensus on what bad parenting is,
but good or effective parenting tends to be more difficult to define. Some of the variables that
can affect parenting are; the demanding level of motivation required to parent, poverty and
maternal depression.
There are many services in place to deal with family and children having difficulties.
Unfortunately, many of these services focus on reacting to a crisis, rather than preventing it. The
more interventions that become necessary, the more expensive this becomes to society. Health
care providers are in a key position to promote care for the child, by advocating for effective
parenting. Together with education and social services, skills can be enhanced that will help
parents to be more effective. Ideally, the result will be a society where everyone realizes the
importance and shared responsibility for providing care. Children's needs will become more
important to society as a whole.
The next article reviewed, "Parenting: What are the Critical Attributes?" Virasiri,
Yunnibhand and Chaiyawat report that because parenting is a public health issue, increased
knowledge of effective parenting is an important concept to research. The scientific knowledge
gained through research can be valuable to health care providers, teachers, and counselors in
promoting the wellness of children and families. Parenthood is becoming a parent through the
process of birth; parenting is a more comprehensive term that involves the activity and
responsibilities of raising a child. Parenting occurs daily, it is complicated, challenging and
rewarding. Parenting is a job that is learned, whereby an individual provides for the safety,
CONCEPT ANALYSIS: PARENTING
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physical and emotional well being of a child. Some of the tasks that parents teach children are
economic survival, communication skills, independence and productivity. "Parenting is
dynamic, bi-directional process from parent to child as well as from child to parents (Virasiri et
al., 2011, p. 1111)."
The third article reviewed is "Perceived parental efficacy: Concept analysis." Francine de
Montigny and Carl Lacharite from the University of Quebec performed this concept analysis.
The concept analysis was performed to eliminate some of the ambiguity regarding the term
"perceived parental efficacy" and to distinguish it from the similar concepts of "parental
confidence" and "parental competence." Establishing parental efficacy or effectiveness is an
important step for first time parents. To further advance the study of this concept, delineation
and clarification are required. To begin the concept analysis, a literature search was performed
using multiple databases to retrieve articles written between 1980 and 2000. Eventually 30
articles were selected from the disciplines of nursing and psychology. An analysis of the
literature was performed using Rodger's evolutionary concept analysis method. The findings
indicate that four principles must be present to have parental efficacy, they are "positive enactive
mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion and an appropriate physiological
and affective state. (De Montigny & Lacharite, 2004, p. 391)" The definition of parental efficacy
is "beliefs or judgments a parent holds of their capabilities to organize and execute a set of tasks
related to parenting a child. (De Montigny & Lacharite, 2004, p. 387) Nursing and psychology
can benefit because of the clarification of the concept of parental efficacy.
In 2011, Alberto Alegre researched the connection between parenting styles and
children’s emotional intelligence, or ability to process emotional information. Based on the
literature, four main dimensions of parenting are identified: parental responsiveness, parental
CONCEPT ANALYSIS: PARENTING
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positive demandingness, parental negative demandingness, and parental emotion-related
coaching (Alegre, 2011, p. 56). Alegre identified four styles of parenting: authoritative,
authoritarian, permissive, and neglectful (Alegre, 2011, p. 57). Authoritative parents use
developmentally appropriate demands, maintain control of children when needed, but are
responsive, affectionate and communicate effectively with their children. Authoritarian parents
are highly demanding, exercise a strong control over their children, and show little affection and
do not communicate often (Alegre, 2011, p. 57). Permissive parents make few demands of their
children and exercise little control but are very responsive and affectionate. Neglectful or
uninvolved parents make few demands of their children, exercise little control, show little
affection, and do not communicate often (Alegre, 2011, p. 57). Children of authoritative parents
have been found to score better than children of authoritarian, neglectful and permissive parents
in measures of adjustment, attachment, resilience, school achievement, social and school
competence, and prosocial behavior (Alegre, 2011, p. 57).
Another way that the art of parenting has been studied is through the basic dimensions
that compose parenting styles, responsiveness and demandingness. The term responsiveness
refers to parental warmth, nurturance, and support. There are two different terms when looking
at demandingness in reference to parenting practices: positive demandingness and negative
demandingness. Positive demandingness includes parental practices such as monitoring and
supervision, behavioral control, autonomy granting, appropriate maturity demands and
expectations, and inductive discipline (Alegre, 2011, p. 57). On the other hand, negative
demandingness includes parenting practices such as psychological control, inconsistent and
punitive discipline, and harsh discipline (Alegre, 2011, p. 57). Alegre concluded that parental
responsiveness, parental emotion-related coaching, and parental positive demandingness are
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related to children’s higher emotional intelligence, while parental negative demandingness is
related to children’s lower emotional intelligence (Alegre, 2011, p. 56).
In her article, Parenting Style and Its Correlates, Nancy Darling defines parenting style
and consequences for children of these four different parenting styles that are a parents attempt
to control and socialize their children. Darling points out that looking at a specific parenting
behavior in isolation may be misleading and that in predicting child well-being the broad pattern
of parenting needs to be explored (Darling, 1999). Darling differentiates between four parenting
styles; indulgent parents, authoritarian parents, authoritative parents, and uninvolved parents
with each of these parenting styles differing on responsiveness and demandingness (Darling,
1999). Indulgent parents are more responsive than they are demanding. Authoritarian parents
are highly demanding and direct, but not responsive. Authoritative parents are both demanding
and responsive. Uninvolved parents are low in both responsiveness and demandingness
(Darling, 1999). Research has consistently shown that children of authoritative parents rate
themselves and are rated by objective measures as more socially competent than children of
nonauthoritative parents (Darling, 1999). Darling summarizes that “parental responsiveness
predicts social competence and psychosocial functioning, while parental demandingness is
associated with instrumental competence and behavioral control” (Darling, 1999). The
detrimental effects of uninvolved parenting is evident as early as the preschool years and
continues into adulthood with these individuals performing poorly in all domains (Darling,
1999). Parenting style is a powerful indicator that predicts a child’s well-being across diverse
environments and communities of children.
Gloria Jacobson conducted a descriptive exploratory study using Peplau’s theory to
investigate the experiences of parenting by those identified as having positive parenting
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processes by community members or health care professionals. Sixteen parents who had at least
one child who had completed high school and were identified as having positive parenting
processes were interviewed to explore and describe the approaches to parenting (Jacobson, 1999,
p. 240). The findings of the study show: clarity and continuity with positive outcomes of
parenting emerge as happy, hard-working, honest, and respectful children; parents serve as role
models and guides for their children who were expected to be trustworthy, hard-working, and
kind to others; and weighing challenges, empowering children, facing and staying with problems
leads to success (Jacobson, 1999, p. 243). Jacobson describes how nurses are often in a position
to guide parents in positive parenting and that they can encourage parents to identify values and
beliefs that are important to their families to help guide them with process-type needs (Jacobson,
1999, p. 244).
One of the commonalities of the articles reviewed is that there is a lack of information on
the role that fathers play in effective parenting. The importance of the role of mothers has been
established, there is need for more information on the role that fathers play.
Defining Critical Attributes
Model Case
Mr. and Mrs. Smith are parents to a newborn baby boy. Mrs. Smith breastfeeds her son
for the first year of his life. They have "baby proofed" their home to make sure it is safe when
the baby starts exploring his world. They take him to the pediatrician for routine examinations
and immunizations. They dress him appropriately for the weather. They have a regular bedtime
routine that involves dinner, bathing, quiet playtime and bedtime stories. They hold and cuddle
him and frequently tell him how much they love him. They have many hopes and dreams for
him and tell him that he can one day be anything that he desires. As baby Smith grows into a
CONCEPT ANALYSIS: PARENTING
young child, his parents establish boundaries of what is right and wrong and if he chooses to
disobey, there are consequences for his actions. His parents love him unconditionally but also
expect him to obey. As he grows into a school age child, he participates in swimming and plays
the piano. He is a good student and does well in school. His parents attend his swimming
matches and encourage him to do well in school and practicing the piano. As he becomes a
teenager, he is allowed more freedom and to make more of his own choices. The family has
dinner together nearly every evening and they discuss their joys and let downs. There are
holiday and birthday meals with extended family and the importance of family is always
encouraged. Now baby Smith has grown into an adult. He has graduated from college and is
following his lifelong goal of becoming a teacher. He regularly talks to his parents and seeks
their advice in his adult life. He has become a productive member of society and his parents are
incredibly proud of him and hope that one day when he becomes a parent, that he too will be an
effective parent by practicing the skills of caring, control and development.
Contrary Case
Amy is a sixteen-year-old high school student experiencing an unplanned pregnancy.
After giving birth at the hospital, Amy did not want to care for or breastfeed her baby and
became irritable when he cried. Amy ultimately decides to give her baby up for adoption.
Amy did not perform any activities of child rearing, she did not set any goals to nurture
her child’s development and she did not interact with or care for her child.
Antecedents and Consequences
The antecedents of parenting are that there must be a parent that is a biological parent or
person that possesses parental status in relation to a child. There must also be a child that needs
a parent or person to act as a parent. There must be a relationship between the parent and child
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that promotes the process and activity of rearing and educating the child in everyday life
(Virasiri, Yunibhand, & Chaiyawat, 2011, p. 1112).
Parenting practices are knowingly associated with child outcomes in such areas as:
academic achievement, social competencies, self-esteem, life-satisfaction, sexual behaviors, and
adjustment (Virasiri et al., 2011, p. 1113). Positive parenting can result in positive outcomes for
children including physical maturation, internalized morality, autonomy, and self-identity.
Negative outcomes for children can result from non-positive parenting such as delinquency,
alcohol misuse, marijuana use, poor life satisfaction, hopelessness, depression, and poor mental
health (Virasiri et al., 2011, p. 1113).
Empirical Referents
There are several measures to assess parenting practices but consideration must be given
to determine the appropriateness of one measure over another. Age and developmental stage of
the child is one such consideration. Parent-child observation is frequently used when evaluating
parenting practices during young childhood (Randolph & Radey, 2011, p. 88). When seeking
information on parenting practices used by parents of teenagers it is helpful to seek information
from the teenagers themselves.
The Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ) is one of the first instruments designed to
survey parents about their parenting practices. The APQ is a measurement device that focuses
on parental practices and parenting processes and activities as a part of family-based
interventions designed to improve child outcomes (Randolph & Radey, 2011, p. 88). This tool
focuses on six dimensions: involvement, monitoring/supervision, consistency discipline,
positive parenting, corporal punishment and other discipline practices (Virasiri et al., 2011, p.
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1113). To establish a link between parenting practices and child conduct problems, researchers
have used the APQ (Randolph & Radey, 2011, p. 88).
Conclusion
Nurses and primary care providers are in a position to guide parents in effective parenting
practices. With knowledge gained through this concept analysis, nurses are able to analyze
parenting problems and create appropriate interventions to promote the growth, development and
health of children and their families.
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References
Alegre, A. (2011). Parenting Styles and Children’s Emotional Intelligence: What do We Know?
[]. The Family Journal: Counseling and Therapy for Couples and Families, 19(1), 5662. doi: 10.1177/1066480710387486
Darling, N. (1999). Parenting style and its correlates []. The ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary
and Early Childhood Education. Retrieved from www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED427896.pdf
Hoghughi, M. (1998, May 23). The Importance of Parenting in Child Health []. BMJ, 316, 1545.
Retrieved from www.bmj.com/content/316/7144/1545.full.pdf
Jacobson, G. A. (1999, July). Parenting Processes: A Descriptive Exploratory Study Using
Peplau’s Theory []. Nursing Science Quarterly, 12(3), 240-244. doi:
10.1177/08943189922106800
Randolph, K. A., & Radey, M. (2011). Measuring Parenting Practices Among Parents of
Elementary School-Age Youth []. Research on Social Work Practice, 21(1), 88-97. doi:
10.1177/1049731509353048
Virasiri, S., Yunibhand, J., & Chaiyawat, W. (2011). Parenting: What are the Critical
Attributes? []. J Med Assoc, 94(9), 1109-1116. Retrieved from
http://www.mat.or.th/journal