Study finds parenting concerns of poorer are ‘misplaced’

By The Press Association20th January 2015News EnglandChildren, Families, News England, Parenting

Common perceptions that poorer mothers and fathers are likely to be less involved in their children’s lives are unfounded, according to research.

A new study argues that less well-off parents are just as likely to help with homework, play games and read with their children as those from wealthier backgrounds.

Researchers from Bristol University and Cardiff University analysed data on 1,665 UK households looking at how often mothers and fathers were involved with their children’s leisure activities and those that have been linked to success at school.

The findings show that overall, more than half of parents said that during the previous week, they had read to their child and played games with them on at least four days. The proportions were similar for helping with homework, eating together and watching TV together.

Just over one in four (28%) said that they had done sports with their child.

The study, published online in the journal Sociology, went on to find that there was no significant difference between the proportion of poorer parents who played sports of games with their children on at least four days and the richer parents. This was also the case for reading to children and helping them with homework.

Poorer parents were more likely to have watched TV with their children on four or more days, with 34% doing so compared to 24% of other parents.

“Claims that families who are poor or are less well educated do not engage in high profile ‘good’ parenting practices are misplaced,” the study says.

“And we found no evidence for the existence of a group of ‘delinquent’ parents who fail to participate in parent-child activities; in fact very few respondents were ‘opting out’ of age appropriate parenting practices.”