Bringing Out the Best in Parenting: Translating Community-Engaged Research on Adversity and Parenting to Policy

What Is the Purpose of the Study?

• • This qualitative study engaged parents of young children enrolled at a Head Start center to explore how the social environment influences parenting.

• • This study also translated research findings into community advocacy to support positive parenting.

What Is the Problem?

• • Positive parenting is harder for families dealing with stress and trauma that come with poverty.

• • Increasing positive parenting is an important way to help children grow up healthy and thrive in the face of adversity.

• • Interventions to improve parenting do not always address how stress and trauma affect parenting.

• • To make our parenting interventions more effective, we need to understand how the social environment affects parenting, especially among families living in poverty.

What Are the Findings?

• • The parents who participated in this study reported positive parenting attitudes, values, and goals.

• • Parents encountered barriers to effective parenting in their social environments, from dangerous neighborhoods to conflict with their children’s educators, that stemmed from systemic inequity.

• • Challenges existed not only in the present, but also in the past, with parents explaining how intergenerational trauma and racism shaped their parenting decisions.

Who Should Care Most?

• • Families with young children who are living with adversity such as poverty and violence.

• • Professionals who work with families exposed to adversity, especially those who receive services at Head Start centers, including:

  • ○ Teachers

  • ○ Healthcare providers

  • ○ Social workers

Recommendations for Action

• • When delivering parenting interventions, consider natural protective factors such as parents’ goals and aspirations for their children.

• • Directly address how discrimination, oppression, and historical trauma affect client’s parenting behaviors.

• • Enact policy changes to support low-income families, such as increasing affordable housing in safe neighborhoods.

• • Train service providers working with children and families in cultural humility and trauma-informed practices.