Pre-schoolers who take responsibility do better later on (no surprise there then

[Guest guest]

02 Aug 2005

 

 

 

 

 

A new study published in Journal of Personality finds that parents

who provide their preschoolers with choices and encourage them to

take on responsibilities were helping their children in the long run.

This pattern of parenting called " autonomy supportive " was shown to

lead to high academic and social adjustment in eight-year-olds.

Teacher reports and standardized tests showed that this flexible and

responsive parenting technique that focused on the child's

perspective, explaining the rationale for requests, providing

choices, and not using controlling language lead to better

outcomes. " Autonomy support was found to increase the odds of

children being both high in social and academic adjustment, as well

as high in both social adjustment and in reading achievement, " the

authors state. The results held true regardless of socio-economic

status, gender, or IQ.

 

The study interviewed the mothers of five-year-olds to measure the

level of autonomy support and other parenting dimensions. Three years

later, the study looked at the children's social adjustment and

achievement in reading and math in grade three. " Maternal autonomy

support measured in kindergarten was positively associated with

social adjustment, academic adjustment, and reading achievement in

third grade, " the authors cite as their most important finding.

 

This article is published in the August issue of the Journal of

Personality. Media wishing to receive a PDF of this article please

contact journalnews

 

Journal of Personality publishes scientific investigations in the

field of personality. It focuses particularly on personality and

behavior dynamics, personality development, and individual

differences in the cognitive, affective, and interpersonal domains.

 

Mireille Joussemet is an assistant professor in Child Clinical

Psychology at the University of Montreal. She has extensively

examined the role of parents and teachers in promoting children's

internalization of values and guidelines. She has recently focused on

the role of parents in teaching children to inhibit their aggression.

Dr. Joussemet is available for questions and interviews.

 

Richard Koestner is a professor of psychology at McGill University.

His graduate research focused on the motivational effects of rewards

and praise. He has published over 80 scientific articles in the areas

of human motivation and personality. Dr. Koestner is available for

questions and interviews.

 

Jill Yablonski

Journalnews

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Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

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