This article analyzes how varying parenting styles impact child development, psychosocial outcomes, such as behavior problems, and attachment (Barnett, Kidwell, & Lueng, 1998). Racial differences are one primary way in which parenting style, discipline practices, and the quality of the caregiving environment differs. Subsequently, the two racial groups, which are focused on for their differences, include Caucasian and African American families. Generally, African American parents have been described in the literature as more likely to engage in “no-nonsense” (Brody & Flor, 1998), authoritarian and or strict with their children, when compared with Caucasian parents. For example, examples of authoritative parenting include greater …show more content…
The first session took place in the child’s home, and in contrast the second session was conducted in a “child development laboratory located at a Midwestern urban university”. Differences in parenting behavior were evaluated during the home visit, and a semi-structured ring toss game at the lab visit. A child’s attachment status was assessed during the “Strange Situation”, taking place at the beginning of the lab visit. At last, all caregivers provided written informed consent at the start of the study and prior to any data collection. Furthermore, at the end of the study, caregivers received $25 to thank them for their participation, and children received a small prize and …show more content…
Regardless of race and assessment types, parenting behaviors were found to considerably vary by child attachment status. However, African American and Caucasian children did not differ drastically in the distribution of attachment. Caregivers of “securely attached preschool children, when compared with caregivers of insecurely attached children were observed to display greater levels of positive affect and responsivity toward their children”. In conclusion, the current study has several strengths and limitations. Strengths include the fact that the parent-child interaction was assessed using the Strange Situation paradigm, in addition to parenting behaviors being assessed using a multi-method, multi-contextual approach. In addition, limitations include the fact that all measures and observations were collected in a cross-sectional manner, and as a result, conclusions made between the study variables were