Family and parenting

Parents and the family play an important, if not the most important, role for children. They can offer a positive context for children to develop into well-functioning citizens and to promote positive development and health. For most people, parenting is a source of joy and happiness, and an opportunity for parents to follow their children’s development. At the same time, it is probably safe to say that most parents face challenges in parenting of their children.

This research group circles around questions about family processes and parenting in terms of explanations for variations in behaviors, attitudes, and perceptions, as well as links to children’s behaviors and adjustment. The overall approach is to understand why some parents and families are better in offering children a positive context for development than others. Specific aspects in focus of the current research are parenting connected to the Internet, ethnicity and culture, parents’ perceived competence, and violence and hostile family processes. Both longitudinal and cross-sectional data are analyzed using advanced statistical methods (both person-oriented and variable-oriented).