Measure Of Success

Skilled and Knowledgable Parents

The major indicator for this measure of success is percent of parents reporting frequent knowledge of child development and parenting skills.

Depth of maternal knowledge of child development can predict a child’s disruptive behavior, child negative affect, the home environment quality, and their IQ score. Positive parenting practices (e.g., parental warmth, lack of hostility, learning and literacy, and developmental advance) in the early years of a child’s life are associated with less shyness, fewer problems with concentration, and less peer rejection. Evidence also suggests that strong parenting practices have a positive effect on children’s cognitive development, especially in families with a lower socioeconomic status.

• Sullivan et al_2021_Knowledge of Infant Development: Cross-sectional analysis of 300 caregiver-child dyads in Ohio in 2018 and 2019. Evaluated effects of parental knowledge of infant development on parent well-being and child temperament (child negative affect). Parental knowledge of infant development was assessed using an index. Found that lower parental knowledge of child development was associated with higher levels of negative child affect, and lower levels of parental well-being.

• McFarlane_2010_​​The Importance of Early Parenting in At-Risk Families: Study of 318 families with children who were at risk of child maltreatment enrolled in Hawaii’s Health Start Program, a home visiting program. Children involved in the study were one year old at the start of the study and in first grade at the conclusion. Examined quality of early parenting on children’s behavioral and social emotional development. Measures of parenting quality included parental warmth, verbal skills, lack of hostility, learning and literacy, and developmental advance. Found that parental warmth was significantly associated with less shyness, fewer problems with concentration, and less peer rejection among children. Lack of hostility was also significantly associated with fewer problems with concentration. Encouragement of developmental advance associated with less peer rejection, and promotion of literacy and learning was associated with fewer concentration problems.
• Benasich and Brooks-Gunn_1996_Maternal Attitudes and Knowledge of Child-Rearing: Study of 608 low-birth weight children from the Infant Health and Development Program, a randomized control trial evaluating the effects of a child development intervention for low-birth weight infants. Followed the same children from birth to 36 months old. Measured maternal knowledge of infant development and concepts of child-rearing practices. Found that maternal knowledge predicted home environment quality, child behavior problems, and a child’s IQ score. Home environmental quality may be an indirect pathway by which maternal knowledge influences child cognitive outcomes.