This document summarizes initial findings from a study on poverty and parenting. It examines measures of parenting, data on the relationship between parenting practices, poverty, education and time, and profiles of parents engaged in different activities with their children. The study found no evidence of a group of "poor parents" doing "poor parenting". Instead, most parents engage in activities with children multiple days a week, and highly educated parents are more likely to do so daily. The conclusions suggest rethinking assumptions about poor parenting and poverty, and focusing more on the parenting practices of highly educated families.

1. Poverty and Parenting:
Initial Findings PSE 2012
Esther Dermott
University of Bristol
Marco Pomati
University of Cardiff
Esther.Dermott@bristol.ac.uk
PomatiM@cardiff.ac.uk
Third Peter Townsend Memorial Conference
Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK

2. Overview
• Parenting Culture
• Parenting in Political Context
• Parenting and Poverty
• Measures of parenting
• Data - Relationship with poverty, education and time
• Conclusions

3. Parenting Culture
• Increased profile of parenting: ‘tiger mothers’
feckless fathers’, ‘helicopter parents’
• Intensive motherhood (Hays 1996)
• Paranoid parenting (Furedi 2001)

4. Parenting in Political Context
• Cycle of deprivation (1970s)
• Focus on family structure (1980s)
• Shift to parenting practices (1990s)
• Individualised discourse (current)

5. Parenting versus Poverty
• “the right kind of parenting is a bigger influence on their
[children’s] future than wealth, class, education or any
other common social factor” (Allen 2011: pxiv)
• “It is family background, parental education, good
parenting and the opportunities for learning and
development…that together matter more to children than
money” (Field 2010:p5)
• Troubled Families programme (launched 2011). Directed
at 120,000 families with ‘troubled and chaotic lives’

6. Measuring Parenting
• “We all know what good parenting looks like” (David
Cameron 2010)
• Parenting includes:
Parenting style
Quality of parent-child relationship
Direct parent-child activities
General caring activities

7. Parenting Practices
• “Activities that parents undertake with their child(ren) which
have a positive effect on their development, such as reading
with their child, teaching songs and nursery rhymes, painting
and drawing, playing with letters and numbers, visiting the
library, teaching the alphabet and numbers, and creating
regular opportunities for them to play with their friends at
home” (Field 2010:93)
• Five “small, manageable steps”: Talk to your child (with the
television off) for 20 minutes; play with your child on the floor
for 10 minutes; read to your child for 15 minutes; provide good
nutrition; offer positive praise (Paterson 2011:6)

8. Every Day
Parenting Practices
Education: Reading
Homework
Attend school parents’ evenings
Leisure: Television
Sports
Games
Food: Family meals
Most Days Some Days Never

9. Influences on Parenting Practices
• Poverty
Income poverty (< 60% median)
Subjective assessment of poverty
• Education
Educational qualifications
• Time
Employment status (anyone unemployed / all adults
in employment)
Perceived time pressure

10. Frequency of Parenting Practices
n = 1667
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Time spent
eating with
children
Time spent
watching TV with
children
Time spent
reading with
children
Time spent
playing games
with children
Time spent
helping children
with homework
Time spent doing
sporting activities
with children
%
Never Some days(1-3) Most days(4-6) Every day

11. RR

12. Latent Class Profiles
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Read Games Sport TV Meal Homework
%whoengageinactivity3orfewerdaysperweek
Parents with young children (28%) Parents with older children (11%)
Average parent (37%) Highly educated (24%)

13. Conclusions
• No evidence for group of parents who fail to
participate in high profile parent-child
activities
• Rethink assumptions about existence of group
of ‘poor parents’ doing ‘poor parenting’
• Focus analysis on the top of the social scale
and the ‘unusual’ practices of these parents

14. Poverty and Parenting:
Initial Findings PSE 2012
Esther Dermott
University of Bristol
Marco Pomati
University of Cardiff
Esther.Dermott@bristol.ac.uk
PomatiM@cardiff.ac.uk
Third Peter Townsend Memorial Conference
Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK