Situating Parenting in the Broader Context of Child Development.
Distinguishing between control and structure, rather than different forms of control, has a third benefit: It moves toward the creation of a model of parenting that is linked to broader theories of children’s development . In doing so, it leads to a more integrative understanding of children’s development, allowing for the identification of the mechanisms by which parenting shapes children . In the context of self-determination theory, Grolnick et al. made the case that control and structure are two important dimensions of parenting because they tie into two basic human needs whose fulfillment is essential for children’s positive psychological functioning . Although the multiple-forms approach was not originally based on such a framework, investigators have begun to focus on how different forms of what has been considered control may ‘‘meet the basic requirements for healthy development’’. In this vein, similar to investigators working in the framework of self-determination theory,...