Parent-Child Interactions

In 1982, the North Dakota County Extension agents asked 5,000 homemakers were asked what they sought most in parenting and child upbringing information. The women and mothers wanted more information concerning parent-child communication. If the concerns of parents and their styles of parenting are not understood, it is difficult to design effective programs to aid them. The absence of localized parent-child data often reduces the credibility of programs for localized audiences. The family unit continues to be the cornerstone for the socialization of children in US society. Within this context, the child is expected to learn the perimateers of society - prohibitions, proscriptions and associated values and beliefs of their social context. the parent-child socialization process is a two way street where both influence each other. In 1982, research did not demonstrate clearly the degree to which this cross pollination, socialization process went. A study of parent-child interactions and socialization processes was developed to obtain information on parenting and parent-child relationships in both rural and urban areas. The objectives of the study were to determine the rewards and satisfactions, problems and stresses of parenting among families in North Dakota, to access the relationship between styles of parenting and the levels of social and emotional development of children, to determine the developmental patterns of parent-child interactions and, finally, to examine the stages of family and child development as both parents and children age. In summary, the study indicated that North Dakota families were communicating in specific ways given the age and the gender of the child and the gender of the parent