Parental Caregiving Cognitive Control Complexity: A New Construct for Understanding Parental Caregiving Behavior and Caregiving Identity Commitment

Prior research has identified parental cognitions as a potentially important aspect of parenting. This exploratory study proposes Parental Caregiving Cognitive Control Complexity (PC4) as a new construct concerning parental cognitions. PC4 was assessed in both mothers and fathers among 29 couples (N = 58) with a preschool aged child using a semi-structured interview format. Associations of PC4 to parental gender, caregiving identity commitment, and self-reported caregiving involvement were investigated. Mothers' and fathers' means on PC4 were almost identical. Higher PC4 was associated with caregiving identity commitment for both fathers and mothers. Among fathers, PC4 was negatively associated with their self-reported caregiving involvement. This research advances prior research on parental cognitions by establishing associations between PC4 and both parental identity and self-reported parental involvement.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Human and Community Development

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Hansen, David Mark

Contributors dc:contributor

• Pleck,Joseph H.

• Sociology, Individual and Family Studies

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI3017091

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/87177