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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children Ages 0-8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21868.
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PARENTING
MATTERS

SUPPORTING PARENTS OF CHILDREN AGES 0–8

Committee on Supporting the Parents of Young Children

Vivian L. Gadsden, Morgan Ford, and Heather Breiner, Editors

Board on Children, Youth, and Families

Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education

A Report of

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Washington, DC
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children Ages 0-8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21868.
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS500 Fifth Street, NWWashington, DC 20001

This activity was supported by contracts between the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the Bezos Family Foundation (unnumbered award); the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1118359); the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (200-2011-38807); the David and Lucile Packard Foundation (2014-40233); the Foundation for Child Development (09-2014); the Health Resources and Services Administration (HHSH25034025T); the Heising-Simons Foundation (2014-64); and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (HHSP23320140224P). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-38854-2
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-38854-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016953420
Digital Object Identifier: 10.17226/21868

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Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2016). Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children Ages 0-8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21868.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children Ages 0-8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21868.
×

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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children Ages 0-8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21868.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children Ages 0-8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21868.
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COMMITTEE ON SUPPORTING THE PARENTS OF YOUNG CHILDREN

VIVIAN L. GADSDEN (Chair), School of Education, University of Pennsylvania

CLARE ANDERSON, Chapin Hall, University of Chicago

OSCAR A. BARBARIN, III, Department of African American Studies, University of Maryland, College Park

RICHARD P. BARTH, School of Social Work, University of Maryland, Baltimore

WILLIAM R. BEARDSLEE, Department of Psychiatry, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School

KIMBERLY BOLLER, Mathematica Policy Research, Princeton, New Jersey

NATASHA J. CABRERA, Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park

ERIC DEARING, Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology, Boston College

GREG J. DUNCAN, School of Education, University of California, Irvine

NORMA FINKELSTEIN, Institute for Health and Recovery, Cambridge, Massachusetts

ELENA FUENTES-AFFLICK, Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco

IHEOMA U. IRUKA, Buffett Early Childhood Institute, University of Nebraska

SAMUEL L. ODOM, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

BARBARA ROGOFF, Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz

MARK A. SCHUSTER, Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, and Department of Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital

SELCUK R. SIRIN, Department of Applied Psychology, New York University

KASISOMAYAJULA (VISH) VISWANATH, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard School of Public Health, and Health Communications Core, Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center

MICHAEL S. WALD, School of Law, Stanford University

MORGAN A. FORD, Study Director

HEATHER BREINER, Associate Program Officer

SARAH TRACEY, Research Associate (until April 2016)

KELSEY GEISER, Research Assistant

STACEY SMIT, Senior Program Assistant

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children Ages 0-8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21868.
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ANTHONY JANIFER, Program Assistant (until December 2015)

PAMELLA ATAYI, Administrative Assistant

BRIDGET KELLEY, Acting Director, Board on Children, Youth, and Families (from July to September 2015)

KIMBER BOGARD, Director, Board on Children, Youth, and Families (until July 2015)

NATACHA BLAIN, Director, Board on Children, Youth, and Families (from November 2015)

KATHERINE J. GOLD, James C. Puffer /American Board of Family Medicine Fellow

LISA ALSTON, Financial & Administrative Officer (starting July 2015)

FAYE HILLMAN, Financial Associate (until July 2015)

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children Ages 0-8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21868.
×

BOARD ON CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND FAMILIES

ANGELA DIAZ (Chair), Departments of Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

SHARI BARKIN, Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital, Vanderbilt University

THOMAS F. BOAT, College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati

W. THOMAS BOYCE, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia

DAVID A. BRENT, Western Psychiatric Institute and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

DAVID V.B. BRITT, Retired CEO, Sesame Workshop

DEBBIE I. CHANG, Nemours Health and Prevention Services

PATRICK H. DELEON, F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine and the Graduate School of Nursing Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

ELENA FUENTES-AFFLICK, University of California, San Francisco, and San Francisco General Hospital

EUGENE E. GARCIA, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers’ College, Arizona State University

J. DAVID HAWKINS, School of Social Work, University of Washington

JEFFREY W. HUTCHINSON, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

JACQUELINE JONES, Foundation for Child Development, New York, NY

ANN S. MASTEN, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota

VELMA MCBRIDE MURRY, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University

BRUCE S. MCEWEN, Harold and Margaret Milliken Hatch Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology, The Rockefeller University

MARTIN J. SEPULVEDA, IBM Fellow (retired), Research Division, IBM Corporation

TAHA E. TAHA, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University

NATACHA BLAIN, Director, Board on Children, Youth, and Families

Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children Ages 0-8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21868.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children Ages 0-8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21868.
×

Acknowledgments

The committee and project staff would like to express their sincere gratitude to all of those who generously contributed their time and expertise to inform the development of this report.

To begin, we would like to thank the sponsors of this study for their guidance. Support for the committee’s work was provided by the Administration for Children and Families, the Bezos Family Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, the Foundation for Child Development, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Heising-Simons Foundation, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Many individuals volunteered significant time and effort to address and educate the committee during our public sessions (see Appendix A) and our interviews with parents. Their willingness to share their perspectives was essential to the committee’s work. We express gratitude to those who provided support in identifying parents for the interviews and public session in Irvine, California, including Sunnah Kim at the American Academy of Pediatrics, Yolie Flores at The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, Sandra Gutierrez and Debbie Ignacio at Abriendo Puertas/Opening Doors, and Michael Duncan at Native Dad Networks. We are grateful to Lucy Rivero for providing interpretation services during the public session in Irvine. We also thank the many stakeholders who offered input and shared information and documentation with the committee over the course of the study, including the Center for Law and Social Policy, the Center for the Study of Social Policy, Futures Without Violence, the National Parenting Education

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children Ages 0-8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21868.
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Network, and ZERO TO THREE. In addition, we appreciate the generous hospitality of the organizations and providers in Omaha, Nebraska, and Washington, D.C., who opened their doors to provide us space to conduct interviews with parents. We are also immensely grateful for the planning assistance and logistical support for site visits provided to us by Lori Koker at the Buffett Early Childhood Institute, University of Nebraska. Furthermore, we extend our appreciation to the many assistants who provided scheduling, communication, and travel support for the committee members.

The committee also expresses its deep appreciation for the opportunity to work with the dedicated members of the staff of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on this important project. We are thankful to the project staff: Morgan Ford, Heather Breiner, Sarah Tracey, Kelsey Geiser, Stacey Smit, Anthony Janifer, and Katherine Gold. The committee is also thankful to Pamella Atayi, Faye Hillman, and Lisa Alston for their assistance on this project. The committee gratefully acknowledges Kimber Bogard and Bridget Kelly of the Board on Children, Youth, and Families; Robert Hauser, executive director of the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education; Mary Ellen O’Connell, deputy executive director of the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education; and Clyde Behney, executive director of the Health and Medicine Division for their leadership and the guidance they provided throughout this study. The committee would like to thank staff of the Office of Reports and Communication of the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education for their assistance with the preparation of this report, including Eugenia Grohman, Viola Horek, Patricia L. Morison, Kirsten Sampson-Snyder, Douglas Sprunger, and Yvonne Wise. We also wish to thank the staff at the Research Center for their research assistance. In addition, we thank the staff of Kentlands Travel for their assistance with the travel needs of this project.

The committee is grateful to Lauren Tobias of Maven Messaging & Communications for her work as a consultant for this study. We greatly appreciate Jessica F. Harding, Joanne Nicholson, Karen Bierman, Kyla Liggett-Creel, Lisa A. Gennetian, Pamella Morris, and Tumaini Coker for their valuable commissioned work. We thank Rona Briere and Alisa Decatur at Briere Associates, Inc., for the diligent editorial assistance they provided in preparing this report.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children Ages 0-8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21868.
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Reviewers

This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report: Anthony Biglan, Education and Training, Oregon Research Institute, Eugene; Deborah Daro, Hall Center for Children, University of Chicago; Julia Mendez, Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Bennett A. Shaywitz, Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, Yale University; Susan J. Spieker, Family and Child Nursing and Barnard Center for Infant Mental Health and Development, University of Washington; William H. Teale, Center for Literacy, University of Illinois; Ross A. Thompson, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis; Richard Wasserman, Department of Pediatrics, University of Vermont College of Medicine.

Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the report’s conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Nancy E. Adler, Departments of Psychiatry and Pediatrics and Center for Health and Community, University of California, San Francisco, and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn,

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children Ages 0-8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21868.
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Teachers College and College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University. Appointed by the Academies, they were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children Ages 0-8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21868.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children Ages 0-8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21868.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children Ages 0-8. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21868.
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Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the family—which includes all primary caregivers—are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger.

Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting.

Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

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