Parental experience and distress: the protective role of self-care and employment flexibility on parenting practices in parents of adolescents

ABSTRACT

Objective

The aim of this study was to identify whether the coping strategy of active self-care, and the coping resource of employment flexibility were moderators of the relationships between parental distress and parenting practices, and parental experience and parenting practices, in parents of adolescents.

Method

This research was part of a larger study conducted by the Parenting Research Centre who surveyed a representative sample of 2600 Victorian parents on their parental concerns, approaches, and experiences using computer-assisted telephone interviews.

Results

Results demonstrated that employment flexibility and active self-care significantly moderated the relationship between a demanding parental experience and autonomy-supportive parent-child communication, and that active self-care moderated the relationship between the belief parenting comes naturally and negative parenting. It was concluded that both coping indicators had protective effects on parenting practices, through interacting with parental experience.

Conclusions

Practical implications of this research include enhancement of parental interventions by lending evidence that both self-care and employment flexibility promote parent-child communication and protect against more aversive parenting behaviours.

KEY POINTS

What is already known about this topic:

1. Adolescence is a critical developmental stage, involving many biological, social, and psychological changes, including changes in the parent-child relationship.

2. Positive parenting throughout adolescence is crucial due to the enduring effects on adolescent mental health. Autonomy-supportive parenting which includes strong parent-child communication has been shown to improve personal and relational wellbeing in adolescents.

3. Self-care as a coping strategy, and employment flexibility as a coping resource, have been demonstrated to contribute towards parental wellbeing which is important in supporting positive parenting practices.

What this study adds:

1. This study explored the relationship between distress, parental experience, and parenting behaviours, utilising coping indicators as protective factors, in a representative sample of Australian parents.

2. Results suggested that self-care and employment flexibility significantly moderate the relationship between a demanding parental experience and autonomy-supportive parent-child communication.

3. Results suggested that lower levels of self-care may increase negative parenting when parental experience is not perceived to come naturally.

4. This study has implications for both theory and practice by identifying opportunities to enhance parenting interventions to promote parent-child communication in adolescence and protect against aversive parenting behaviours.

KEYWORDS:

• Parental distress
• parental experience
• parenting practices
• self-care
• employment flexibility, adolescence

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the parents who shared their views with us as part of this study and acknowledge the contributions of members of the Parenting Research Centre’s Parenting Today in Victoria project team.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the authors, subject to approval by the Victorian Government.

Additional information

Funding

The Parenting Today in Victoria project was funded by the Victorian Government