ABSTRACT
The broad topic of parenting has received substantial research attention in recent years (e.g., Bornstein, 1995; 2002). Studies have been devoted to increasing our understanding of the many personal and environmental influences on parenting, of the impact of variations in parenting on child developmental outcomes, and of the processes by which parenting interacts with other aspects of family life. Based on the accumulating empirical and theoretical work on this topic, contemporary parenting researchers have developed a keen awareness of the inherent complexity of this area of study. Not only are multiple factors involved in determining parenting and its effects, but many relations among the relevant factors are bi-directional, multidirectional, and nonlinear. In this chapter, we examine one relatively neglected aspect of parenting, the effects of child characteristics on parenting, while attempting to maintain sensitivity to the broader literature on parenting and to the myriad relations between parenting and other variables.
