Mothers' perceptions of their competence in managing selected parenting tasks were examined for five stages of parenting (Infancy, Toddlerhood, Preschool, Schoolage, and Adolescence). Subjects were selected from a list of mothers who had scheduled appointments for their children at a private pediatric office. Overall, these mothers reported feeling highly competent in most areas of parenting; however, each stage presented unique challenges. Mothers of adolescents felt the least comfortable about their effectiveness in their parenting role. The findings are discussed with regard to their implications for parent education programs.

Mothers' Perceptions of Their Competence in Managing Selected Parenting Tasks.

Stresses and Satisfactions of the Parental Role.

Parents of adolescents: help-seeking intentions as a function of help sources and parenting issues.

A comprehensive assessment of the needs and sources of parenting information was con ducted in a midwestern college community. Two hundred and forty-eight parents of children from birth to senior high school as well as expectant parents responded to a mailed question naire. They indicated use, usefulness, and preferences for sources of advice on parenting and need for information on parenting. The results showed low expressed need for the traditional services of the parent educator. Parents preferred to use pediatricians, teachers, counselors, and other parents as their sources of advice on parenting. While the majority of parents ex pressed a low need for information, expectant parents expressed a high need for information for age-specific items. In view of these findings, both parents and those professionals sought out by parents as information sources may be considered audiences for parent education. In addition, parent education should be directed toward groups of individuals with similar needs to maximize the relevance of the information. The authors concluded that parent educators must be responsive to community preferences for sources and needs for information on child rearing, and that there is a need for reconsideration of parent education audiences and methods.

Parent Education Needs and Sources as Perceived by Parents

Within two generations, the primary reason that American children were deprived of a father shifted from a father's death to a woman's choice. That is, prior to the 1960s, the major cause of fatherlessness was the death of the father through illness or accident. After the 1960s, the children became deprived of fathers primarily because of women's decisions to petition for a divorce or to become a single parent mother. The path of the shift is examined, and the consequences writ small per child and writ large for the commonweal are examined.

/pdf/on-whose-watch-the-silent-separation-of-american-children-4c5r72rr3g.pdf

On Whose Watch? The Silent Separation of American Children from Their Fathers

Interviews with both parents in families at two stages of the family life cycleschool-age and teen-age-provide comparable data on some of the tasks and problems of parenting. Differences in involvement and perception of problems are identified between mothers and fathers and parents in the school-age and teen-age stages. Implications are drawn for education programs designed to meet the needs of learning-oriented and problem-oriented parents.

Karen W. Bartz

Papers

Selected Childrearing Tasks and Problems of Mothers and Fathers.