Determinants of Parenting among Aboriginal and European Canadian Young Mothers

Abstract

The present research applied a model, modified from existing research on parenting to examine the effects of psychological adjustment, parenting readiness, and environmental protectiveness on the parenting of 54 European Canadian and 32 Aboriginal young mothers. Findings indicated that these factors were predictive of more nurturing and less restrictive parenting in young mothers of both cultures. Environmental protectiveness was the strongest predictor of positive parenting practices, suggesting that intervention programs may have the greatest impact on parenting by inclusion of support groups or teaching coping strategies to relieve stress among mothers. When the cultures were examined separately, none of the variables of interest were predictive of parenting among Aboriginal young mothers. The model applied in the present study has been developed in Western samples and these variables may be less applicable to a Native population. Future research should attempt to identify variables that may be more relevant for Aboriginal families.