Parenting, Gender, and Perception of Changes in Children's Behavior during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

In a previous Argentine study, we found that, in the critical context of social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, there were changes in maternal practices that influenced the relationship with their children. We also found that the impact of mandatory isolation was moderated positively by protective factors such as positive parenting and maternal school support or negatively by risk factors such as maternal stress. Although this study only analyzed maternal behavior, we were interested in studying the behavior of both parents, comparing the parenting (positive parenting, parental stress, and school support) of the father and mother and the perceived behavioral changes in their children. A quantitative ex post facto study was carried out. The sample consisted of 120 Argentinean parents (70 mothers and 50 fathers) aged between 27 and 56 (M = 38.84; SD = 5.03). Questionnaires were administered on sociodemographic and behavioral data of the children, as well as a brief scale to assess parenting. Mann-Whitney U and MANOVA were used to analyze the influence of gender on perceived changes in children's behavior and perceived parenting, respectively. Mothers perceived more significant changes than fathers in their children's behavior. In addition, women reported more parental stress, greater child school support, and greater perceived positive parenting compared to men. These findings support the hypothesis that parenting developed differently in fathers and mothers. These results imply the need for psycho-educational intervention programs aimed at promoting greater involvement of fathers in parenting and better management of parental stress in mothers' and family psychological well-being.

Parenting and Children's Behavior During the COVID 19 Pandemic: Mother's Perspective.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many parents have felt anxious, overwhelmed, and stressed out due to the changes in education and family and working routines. This work aimed to (a) describe three dimensions of perceived parenting (positive parenting, parenting stress, and parental school support) in the COVID-19 pandemic context, (b) describe possible changes perceived by mothers in their children's behavior during the social isolation phase, (c) analyze if behavioral changes vary according to the dimension of perceived parenting, and (d) analyze whether the characteristics of perceived parenting dimensions vary with mother's age, number of children and number of work hours. The purposive sample consisted of 646 mothers of school-aged children in Argentina. Questionnaires on sociodemographic and work-related data, and on children's behavior were administered, as well as an instrument (Vargas Rubilar et al., 2021) that assessed the three parenting dimensions (positive parenting, parenting stress, and parent-school support). The sociodemographic and work-related variables of the study were described using descriptive statistics: measures of central tendency, frequencies, and percentages. The changes perceived in children's behavior according to the reports given by the mothers regarding positive parenting, parenting stress, and school support were compared using the Mann Whitney's U test, respecting the qualitative nature of the evaluated indicators. A factorial MANOVA was conducted to analyze the effect of mother's age, ä number of children, and the number of work hours on parenting perceived by mothers. Parenting dimensions influenced the perceived children's behavior. Mothers with higher positive parenting perceived more changes in their children's behavior. In addition, those mothers who were more stressed out perceived more problems in almost all the measured behaviors than less stressed mothers. The mothers who reported to have provided more school support to their children perceived that they adapted better to online classes. Finally, mothers' age and the number of children I parenting, particularly on parenting stress and school support, whereas work hours did not. A number of children affected stress and school support, and age only affected parenting stress. The only significant interaction regarding parenting was observed between the number of children and the number of work hours, which specifically affected parenting stress. Although social isolation due to COVID-19 affected children's behavior, according to mothers, this might be partially linked to the number of children, mothers' age, and the mothers' parenting style. These initial findings may allow the identification of some protective factors and some risk factors of parenting in the Argentine context of a pandemic, and the design of preventive psychoeducational interventions to optimize the psychological wellbeing of families.

El rol de la atribución en el comportamiento prosocial adolescente / The role of attribution in adolescent prosocial behavior

Resumen La prosocialidad comprende aquellas conductas intencionales que se realizan para el beneficio de otras personas. Entre las variables que tienen una incidencia en la decisión de ayudar, se incluyen los patrones atribucionales: interpretaciones que se realizan sobre las causas de un determinado acontecimiento. El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar el rol que tiene la atribución que un individuo realiza sobre una situación de potencial ayuda en la elicitación de la conducta prosocial. A partir de un muestreo intencional, no probabilístico, participaron 359 adolescentes de clase media, de una institución privada de la provincia de Córdoba, Argentina. Se aplicó la Escala de Conducta Prosocial Adolescente y, para la evaluación del estilo atribucional ligado a las conductas de ayuda, se redactaron cuatro situaciones con el objetivo de identificar la atribución causal predominante. Se realizó un ANOVA unifactorial para conocer si la conducta prosocial presenta una variabilidad en función del estilo atribucional. Se encontró que la puntuación promedio de conducta prosocial obtenida por los sujetos con un patrón atribucional externo incontrolable fue significativamente superior al de quienes presentaron un estilo atribucional neutro e interno controlable. Estos hallazgos aportan evidencias a favor de que la conducta es influida por patrones de atribuciones causales. Estos resultados se encuentran en concordancia con estudios previos, los cuales encontraron que las representaciones dinámicas y los modelos mentales sustentados en las propias creencias sobre el mundo, más que los hechos en sí, ejercen un control sobre las acciones que se llevan a cabo.

Abstract Prosociality includes those intentional behaviors that are performed for the benefit of other people. Framed in the field of study of positive psychology, the study of prosocial behavior has deepened in recent years, considering different ways in which it can manifest itself. Examples of this type of actions are volunteering and helping in general, and more specifically, acts of cooperation, positive revaluation of the other, condolence, physical or verbal help in the face of a difficulty, consolation at a time of anguish and the rescue. Several variables have been identified that have an incidence in the decision to help; among these are variables specific to the person, factors that have more to do with early development, and variables from the context. These include attributional patterns, that is, interpretations made about the causes of a particular event. In general, the attributional process arises unconsciously, with little effort and in a quick and spontaneous way. The objective of this work was to evaluate the role of the attribution that an individual makes about a situation of potential help in the elicitation of prosocial behavior. An ex post facto research design was used. An intentional non-probabilistic sampling was carried out, from which 359 middle-class adolescents were selected from a private institution in the province of Córdoba, Argentina. For the evaluation of the help behaviors, the Adolescent Prosocial Behavior Scale was applied. This one-dimensional instrument consists of 30 items written in the first person, which express help behaviors, which must be answered using a five-point Likert type scale, indicating how often such behavior is performed. Then, to know the predominant attributional style linked to the help behaviors, four situations were written that express a problem or a need of a specific person, presenting four response options for each case: two corresponding to an internal style of attribution, and two referring to a non-controllable external attribution. A unifactorial ANOVA was performed to determine if prosocial behavior presents variability depending on the attributional style, whether internal, neutral or external. Regarding the main hypothesis of this study, it was found that the average prosocial behavior score obtained by the subjects who presented an uncontrollable external attributional pattern (. = 3.30; DE = .59) was significantly higher than those who presented a neutral attributional style (. = 3.07; DE = .54) and a controllable internal attributional style (. = 2.98; DE = .56) (. (2 351) = 7.88; . < .000). It was found that those subjects, in whom an uncontrollable external attribution predominated, obtained a higher score in prosocial behavior, since they would be attributing the problematic of the situation posed in the instrument mainly to the context, to the circumstances or to chance. On the contrary, those who chose controllable internal causes as a predominant causal explanation would have a lower tendency to be prosocial, since they would be placing more responsibility on the subject who is in the situation described in the instrument, which would have an unfavorable impact on the carrying out of aid actions. These findings provide evidence in favor of the behavior being influenced by patterns of causal attributions. These results are in agreement with previous studies, which found that dynamic representations and mental models based on beliefs about the world, rather than the facts themselves, exert a control over the actions that are carried out.

Apego percibido y conducta prosocial en adolescentes / Perceived attachment and prosocial behavior in adolescents

Teniendo en cuenta el rol fundamental del apego parental en el desarrollo de diferentes recursos socio-emocionales, el objetivo de este trabajo fue estudiar si la percepción del apego parental, se relaciona específicamente con la conducta prosocial adolescente. Método: se trabajó con una muestra no probabilística intencional de 285 adolescentes (216 mujeres y 69 varones) de entre 14 y 18 años (M = 15,68; DE = 1,14), de Córdoba, Argentina. Previa autorización de los padres y consentimiento informado, se les administró la versión traducida y validada en Argentina del Cuestionario de Apego Parental de Kenny (1987) y la versión traducida y validada para adolescentes argentinos del Prosocial Tendencies Measure (PTM) de Carlo & Randall (2002). Se realizó un Análisis Multivariado de Variancia (MANOVA), cuyos resultados indicaron diferencias significativas en el perfil de prosocialidad en función del apego seguro/positivo (F de Hotelling (8.556) = 3.33; p = .001). Los resultados de los análisis univariados correspondientes a cada una de las dimensiones de la conducta prosocial evaluada, se discuten en función de los desarrollos teóricos y empíricos encontrados hasta el momento, encontrando una consistencia general entre los mismos

Considering the fundamental role of parental attachment in the development of different socio-emotional resources, the aim of this research was to study if the perception of parental attachment is specifically related to adolescent's prosocial behavior. Method: We worked with an intentional non-probabilistic sample of 285 adolescents (216 females and 69 males) aged between 14 and 18 years (M = 15.68, SD = 1.14), of Cordoba, Argentina. After obtaining informed consent from their parents, the translated and validated in Argentina version of Parental Attachment Questionnaire of Kenny (1987) and the translated and validated version for Argentinean adolescents of the Prosocial Tendencies Measure (PTM) of Carlo & Randall (2002) were administered. A Multivariate Variance (MANOVA) analysis was performed, the results indicated significant differences in the profile of prosocial behavior in function of secure/positive attachment (F de Hotelling (8.56) = 3.33; p = .001). The results of univariate analysis corresponding to each one of the prosocial dimensions evaluated are discussed in terms of theoretical and empirical developments found until now, finding an overall consistency between them.