Intensive parenting of mothers in 11 countries differing in individualism, income inequality, and social mobility

Abstract

Although intensive parenting has been found to be mostly detrimental for both children and parents, less is known about the correlates and sources of this type of parenting. This study aimed to examine associations between mother's primary involvement in caregiving and intensive parenting, as well as their potential sources, thereby focusing on: family social status, characteristics of the national economy (income inequality and social mobility) and culture (individualism-collectivism) in 11 culturally diverse countries. Participants were 2535 mothers of children aged between 6 and 10. Mothers reported on their intensive parenting behaviors, entailing both supportive and undermining aspects of meeting their child's needs, as well as their level of involvement in daily caregiving tasks and the subjective family social status. Hypotheses were tested controlling for country level response style. Results revealed that: mothers who were more often the primary caregiver across daily tasks used more intensive parenting behaviors; high social status mothers were using less child need undermining yet more supportive intensive parenting behaviors, and less frequently served as the primary caregiver for daily tasks; the undermining intensive parenting behaviors related positively to country-level individualism and income inequality, whereas relations with social mobility were mixed.

HIGHLIGHTS • Supportive and undermining parenting are the two pillars of intensive parenting. • Intensive parenting mothers are likely to be primary involved in daily caregiving tasks. • Intensive parenting was found in lower social status families and individualistic countries with high income inequality.