Synonyms
Definition
Parental behavior that facilitates child development
Introduction
Good parenting qualities are commonly defined as parental behavior that increases a child’s chances of good health, happiness, and success. Such parental behaviors can include everything from the provision of fundamental resources, such as nutrition and shelter, to modeling good relationship skills and encouraging a healthy lifestyle. Depending on cultural context and values, parental behaviors can also include different forms of education, spiritual guidance, and informing children about expectations and norms that will help them navigate society later in life. Understandably, what is seen as being good parenting is often determined by the effects parental behavior have on the child’s personal development – the evaluation of which is, at least partly, defined by cultural norms and subject to variation over time.
Evolutionarily, parental behavior has been...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Antfolk, J., Karlsson, L. C., Söderlund, J., & Szala, A. (2017). Willingness to invest in children: Psychological kinship estimates and emotional closeness. Evolutionary Psychology, 15(2), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474704917705730.
Barbaro, N., Boutwell, B. B., Barnes, J. C., & Shackelford, T. K. (2017). Genetic confounding of the relationship between father absence and age at menarche. Evolution and Human Behavior, 38(3), 357–365. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.11.007.
Fan, X., & Chen, M. (2001). Parental involvement and students’ academic achievement: A meta-analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 13(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:100904881.
Hamilton, W. D. (1964). The genetical evolution of social behaviour. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 7(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-5193(64)90038-4.
Harris, J. R. (2009). The nurture assumption: Why children turn out the way they do. New York: Free Press.
Hrdy, S. B. (2009). Mothers and others: The evolutionary origins of mutual understanding. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Kawabata, Y., Alink, L. R. A., Tseng, W.-L., van IJzendoom, M. H., & Crick, N. R. (2011). Maternal and paternal parenting styles associated with relational aggression in children and adolescents: A conceptual analysis and meta-analytic review. Developmental Review, 31(4), 240–278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2011.08.001.
Kresanov, P., Kotler, J., Seto, M., Lieberman, D., Santtila, P., & Antfolk, J. (2018). Intergenerational incest aversion: Self-reported sexual arousal and disgust to hypothetical sexual contact with family members. Evolution and Human Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.06.008.
McLeod, B. D., Weisz, J. R., & Wood, J. J. (2007). Examining the association between parenting and childhood depression: A meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 27(8), 986–1003. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2007.03.001.
Trivers, R. L. (1972). Parental investment and sexual selection. In B. Campbell (Ed.), Sexual selection and the descent of man (pp. 136–179). Chicago: Aldine.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Karlsson, L., Antfolk, J. (2019). Good Parenting Qualities. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_246-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_246-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences