| dc.description.abstract | In conclusion, a multitude of child developmental research has dealt with the explanation of why children develop as they do, and what factors are influencing child adjustment. Two broad categories of influences may be summed, a) those stemming from the child’s biological endowment, b) those referring to environmental effects.
There is ample evidence indicating that child characteristics such as biological status, temperament and gender to some extent may determine the parents’ reactions to and handling of the child. Recent theories of child development presume that aspects of the home and family environment and characteristics of the child interact, covary or transact, or that a combination of these possible interrelated mechanisms shape developmental outcomes. Empirical findings have demonstrated that characteristics of the child interact with environmental factors in affecting child developmental outcome. Such findings are however not frequently seen, and are restricted to non- Western populations.
Research on socio-cultural and cross-cultural differences suggests that the nature and quality of parent-child relationships may vary with the ecological and cultural context.
(Lamb, 1987). Scandinavian populations are more homogeneous than American populations, which may partly be due to governmental support and community services being more extensive in Scandinavian countries. Furthermore, Scandinavian countries have gone further than many other countries in promoting models of gender equality with higher maternal employment and higher fathers’ involvement in childcare as compared to other countries. In particular, fathers are encouraged to be involved in parenting both through media, prenatal courses, child-birth-leave, and child-rearing publications (Hwang, 1987; Haas & Hwang, 1995). Such conditions may have consequences for both family structure and social interaction patterns. Furthermore, research on the relationship between child characteristics, parental characteristics and child development may be particularly informative in Scandinavian populations since confounding produced by for example strong environmental risk factors such as poverty and drug abuse is reduced. | nb_NO |
