Individual and family factors contributing to harsh parenting have been investigated,
but little is known of how comparable factors contribute to positive parenting. In
the study reported, the contributions to positive parenting of parent positive
personality qualities, positive child characteristics, and marital quality were
investigated in a middle class sample of intact families in which the eldest child
was 6-7 years of age. A positive parenting composite was formed by summing measures
relating to self-reported positive involvement with the child, observed
warmth/affection, and observed positive involvement. Moderate associations were
found between positive parenting and the predictor variables, with these significant
for mothers but not for fathers. The absence of associations for father variables
occurred in both father-son and father-daughter dyads. The most consistent
predictions were in the mother-son dyad. Therefore, whereas factors contributing to
positive parenting were identified, gender differences were suggested by the findings.
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