Individual and family factors contributing to mothers' and fathers' positive parenting

Individual and family factors contributing to harsh parenting have been investigated, but little is known of how comparable factors contribute to positive parenting. In the study reported, the contributions to positive parenting of parent positive personality qualities, positive child characteristics, and marital quality were investigated in a middle class sample of intact families in which the eldest child was 6-7 years of age. A positive parenting composite was formed by summing measures relating to self-reported positive involvement with the child, observed warmth/affection, and observed positive involvement. Moderate associations were found between positive parenting and the predictor variables, with these significant for mothers but not for fathers. The absence of associations for father variables occurred in both father-son and father-daughter dyads. The most consistent predictions were in the mother-son dyad. Therefore, whereas factors contributing to positive parenting were identified, gender differences were suggested by the findings.