Four Domains Of Parenting In Kenya

Abstract

The goals of this study were to track changes in parental warmth and rules/limit-setting over time and to examine parents’ age at the time of their child’s birth, parents’ education, and child gender in relation to changes in each parenting domain in Kenya. Participants included mothers, fathers, and their children (N = 100 families) residing in Kisumu. Families were recruited when children were age 8, on average, and interviewed for eight years using the Parental Acceptance-Rejection/Control Questionnaire and Parental Monitoring Scale. The results indicated that parental warmth initially decreased from ages 7 to 11 and later increased between ages 11 and 16 but stabilized between ages 16 and 18. Parents’ rules/limit-setting initially increased from ages 9 to 13 but later decreased over time from ages 13 to 19. Parents’ age at the time of the child’s birth, parents’ education, and child gender were selectively related to parental warmth and rules/limit-setting.