Although parenting dimensionality and typology have been extensively examined with middle-class Caucasian samples, the parenting styles of low-income, African American mothers have been underexamined. This study focused on the parenting cognitions of single, adolescent, African American mothers from disadvantaged communities. Three parenting dimensions emerged from maternal reports: warmth, control, and anger. Parents were classified into four categories based on their relative scores on these dimensions: dismissive, permissive, authoritative, and affectionate-distressed. Measures of mothers'psychological distress, human capital, and sociodemographic status predicted parenting classification. The four-part typology was further validated by differences in mothers' observed parenting behaviors and reports of child outcome as a function of parenting type. Overall, dismissive and distressed parents exhibited the least optimal behavior, and their children displayed the poorest outcomes at 2-year follow-up. Results revealed a new parenting type, affectionate-distressed, that may be particularly salient in high-risk, African American populations.
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