Core Dimensions of Parenting.
Over the past several decades, parenting researchers have repeatedly suggested that three dimensions can be considered as a set of core features of parenting style . These are warmth versus rejection, structure versus chaos, and autonomy support versus coercion. As can be seen in the historical overview in Table 1, these dimensions have appeared in assessments of parenting for children from preschool age to late adolescence and have been tapped using a variety of methods, most notably parent- and child-report questionnaires, but also including open-ended interviews, rating scales, and observations in vivo and in the laboratory. Indeed, these very three features of parenting, referred to as Acceptance versus Rejection , Firm Control versus Lax Control , and Autonomy versus help and attention , or it can be initiated by the parent, independent of the child’s behavior. Structure and chaos . When it first appeared in the parenting literature in discussions of disciplin...