Promoting Parenting: a UK response toimproving outcomes for children
Tackling Child Poverty: Lessons from the UK and New
Frontiers in Japan
Doshisha University, Kyoto
9th January 2012

Dr Esther Dermott, Sociology, Politics & International Studies

Overview• Parenting versus poverty• Emphasis from current UK government on importanceof parenting and downplaying of significance of poverty• What is parenting?
• Difficulties of definition and measurement• Parenting and poverty• The importance of resources to parents and thelimitations of an either/or approach

Parenting versus Poverty
UK governments’ view of family• Conservative Government (1980s & early1990s)• ‘Family Values’ & ‘Back to Basics’• “There is no such thing as society. There are individual
men and women and there are families.” (MargaretThatcher 1987)• New Labour Government (1997-2010)• ‘Hard-working Families’• “Every policy examined, every initiative tested, every
avenue explored to see how we strengthen ourfamilies” (Tony Blair 1997)

Parenting versus Poverty
British Prime Ministers doing parenting…

Parenting versus Poverty
The current government’s view
• “It is family background, parental education, goodparenting and the opportunities for learning anddevelopment…that together matter more to children thanmoney (The Foundation Years: preventing poor children
becoming poor adults 2010:p5)• “the right kind of parenting is a bigger influence on their[children’s] future than wealth, class, education or any
other common social factor” (Early Intervention: The
Next Steps 2011:p xiv)

Parenting versus Poverty
The current government’s view• “What matters most to a child’s life chances is not thewealth of their upbringing but the warmth of theirparenting.” (David Cameron 2010)• The current government therefore emphasises parenting
as offering both the cause of childhood problems as wellas the potential solution for countering negative
outcomes for children

Parenting versus
PovertyLondon Riots
August 2011
Explanations offered bygovernment focused on
individual responsibility
linked to absence ofappropriate parental rolemodels and inadequate
parentingWhat is Parenting?
From form to function• Shift from interest in particular family forms
e.g. single parent households• Shift to activities of parents “what parents
do not who they are that makes thedifference”

What is Parenting?
Contemporary Change in UK families• Separation of sex from marriage• Sex before marriage, higher age at marriage, higher levels ofcohabitation, acceptance of gay sexual relationships• Reconstruction of marriage as a terminable arrangement• Divorce and remarriage• Separation of childbearing and childrearing frommarriage• Extra-marital births, lone parenting, step/blended families

What is Parenting?
Contemporary Change in UK families:
reconstruction of marriage as a terminable arrangement

Prince Charles and Camilla
the Duchess of Cornwall
divorced and remarriedWhat is Parenting?
Contemporary Change in UK families:
separation of childbearing and childrearing from marriage• Births Outside Marriage (England and Wales)• 1971 - 65,700 births outside marriage (8.4%)• 2009 - 326,200 births outside marriage (46.2%)• In 2010 7% of households were lone parents withdependent children• Of families, in 2010
• 68% married couple family• 15.6% cohabiting couple family• 16.2 lone parent family

What is Parenting?
Shift from ‘being’ to ‘doing’• Variation in living arrangements and range of personal
relationships thought of as ‘family’ mean there is lessfocus on ensuring a single ‘best’ family form

What is Parenting?
Good Parenting = Intensive Parenting• Intensive• highly demanding, child-centred approach• time and emotionally intensive enterprise• requires knowledge (from experts)• term ‘intensive mothering’ Hays (1996)

What is Parenting?
Intensive Parenting - Supernanny• Routine and Teamwork• “Sometimes, all a family needs is some structure and some
practice at working together to get them back on track.”• Discipline and Reward• “Positive attention and praise are the most effective rewards forgood behaviour, but sometimes it's important to give your childboundaries and let them know that certain behaviour isunacceptable” ‘Naughty Step’
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/supernanny
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aj0u8aZ-5O8

What is Parenting?
(also) Good Parenting = Intimate Parenting• Intimacy• dyadic approach, focused on development of closeparent-child relationship• emotionally intensive (though not necessarily timeintensive• requires communication, emotional engagement• term ‘intimate fatherhood’ Dermott (2003:2008)

What is Parenting?
Measuring Parenting• “We all know what good parenting looks like” (DavidCameron 2010)• But not straightforward to translate these cultural
expectations into quantifiable measures; mostsociological research has relied on qualitative research• Parenting behaviours• Parent-child relationship• Parenting activities

What is Parenting?
Measuring Parenting• Parenting measurement tends to include:• (1) Parenting behaviours e.g. discipline, routine, settingboundaries:• ‘positive parenting’; “parents setting clear boundaries androutines for children as well as being responsive and warm
towards the child” (The Foundation Years: preventing poor
children becoming poor adults 2010: 43)• Difficulty in how to assess these, either lot of questions e.g. toestablish what a routine is or parents’ interpretation of what a‘routine’ is.

What is Parenting?
Measuring Parenting• Parenting measurement tends to include:• (2) Parent-child relationship, e.g. perception ofrelationship quality ‘how close a relationship do you havewith your child?’• Relationship quality is inherently subjective.
• Not meaningful unless both parties express an opinion• Measure requires a battery of questions, preferably supported byobservations and interviews as wellWhat is Parenting?
Measuring Parenting• Parenting measurement tends toinclude:• (3) Parenting activities e.g. reading withchild, helping with homework, watching
television together, playing games• One-to-one interaction in joint activity• ‘Home learning environment’: talk to yourchild (with the television off) for 20 mins;
play with you child on the floor for 10 mins;
read to your child for 15 minutes(Centreforum 2011: 6)

What is Parenting?
What is Left Out?
•Family characteristics•

Parental characteristics•Caring activities

E.g. presence of step-parents/children,parents marital status, number ofsiblings, generations in household
E.g. age of mother at birth, occupation,
education/qualifications
E.g. cooking, cleaningParenting and Poverty• Link between poverty and child outcomes• Link between parenting and child outcomes• But relationship between poverty and parenting
is NOT clear

Parenting and Poverty

Total sample(%)

Parenting

Index

Score

LowMid

High

33.3

33.3

33.3

Povertyhistory
None

61.4

20.5

36.0

43.5

Episodic (notpoor at 5)12.945.6

33.1

21.4

Episodic (poorat 5)

12.2

48.7

31.4

19.9

Persistentpoverty

13.6

66.3

23.1

10.6

Adapted from Kiernan and Mensah 2010

Poverty and Parenting
Causality?

Parenting
OutcomesforChildrenPoverty

Poverty and Parenting• Current political discourse is problematic andunhelpful• Problematic – because of difficulties ofconceptualising and measuring parenting• Unhelpful – works against development of
nuanced understanding of relationship between
parenting and resources

Conclusion - Parenting and Poverty
Parenting in the Poverty and Social Exclusion Survey(PSE)
••
•
•
•

Test existing measures and examine the extent and nature of poverty
and social exclusion in the UK
Parenting measures:
Family characteristics (including information on children in otherhouseholds)
Parental characteristics
Parenting activities• Parenting will be examine alongside variables measuring
poverty and social exclusion• Qualitative interviews will be able to tease out the relationshipbetween parenting practice, parental attitudes, and access to arange of social and financial resources.