Poster #136 - Expert Advice in Parents Magazine: A Historical Review of Topics From 1927-2017

• In Event: 1-115 - Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

Introduction. In a history of expert advice to parents from 1900-1985, Wrigley (1989) noted that the advice to parents was grounded in the social context of the times. For example, topics such as child-rearing strategies and women’s roles as stay at home mothers were discussed through the 1950s. Wrigley also detailed the rise of importance in parents helping to develop children’s cognitive abilities happened in the 1960s. With the new movement of 3rd grade reading proficiency and kindergarten being the “new 1st grade,” child development is a main concern of parents (Bassok, Lathm, & Rorem, 2016). Parents have long used magazines for ideas, tips, and point of reference in raising children. We reviewed articles in Parents magazine spanning ninety years (10 issues) to understand how the concept of parenting has changed. Parents is seen as an industry standard magazine for parents, especially of young children.
Research question. The key research question was how has expert advice on parenting changed across the last ninety years? Another research question asked, how has societal changes impacted the advice to parents on the topics of child development and the role of parents, including the shift in mothers working outside the home?
Data. We used the table of contents of ten Parents magazines to identify articles that focused on advice to parents on child-rearing. We then selected a minimum of three articles from the child-rearing section, or equivalent section, to represent the expert advice to parents. A total of 42 articles were used, spanning across ten December issues of Parents (1927-2017).
Methods. Content analysis was used to determine overarching themes in child-rearing used by experts to advise parents across 90 years of publications of Parents magazine.
Results. From the 1920s-1950s, Parents magazine experts advised both parents on how to care for the basic needs of children. Topics also focused on how to develop children’s moral character, how to help children not be selfish, and how to have a Christmas season without tears. The advice drastically changed focus in the 1960s to helping parents develop children’s cognitive abilities, replicating Wrigley (1989), which coincided with the shift to constructivist theory of child development (Bruner, 1966; Piaget, 1963). Beginning in the 1980s and continuing to 2017, the advice shifted again with the inclusion of an Ages and Stages section, which provided more detailed information for meeting children’s developmental needs by age range (i.e. birth - 12 months, 1-2 years, etc.). It was also in the 1980s when topics specific to fathers were eliminated. Three common themes were found across all nine decades: the importance of play; reading books with children; and providing age appropriate toys. Topics and structure changes of Parents magazine across the decades are summarized in Table 1.
Discussion and implication. We extended Wrigley’s work on experts’ advice to parents through to 2017. As the Zeitgeist of early childhood education grew, the content of experts’ advice to parents changed, including the role of both mothers and fathers in child-rearing and children’s cognitive development. Implications will be discussed.

Authors

• Katie Homant, Oakland University
  Presenting Author

• Tomoko Wakabayashi, Oakland University
  Non-Presenting Author