Parenting Styles: A Closer Look at a Well-Known Concept

Although parenting styles constitute a well-known concept in parenting research, two issues have largely been overlooked in existing studies. In particular, the psychological control dimension has rarely been explicitly modelled and there is limited insight into joint parenting styles that simultaneously characterize maternal and paternal practices and their impact on child development. Using data from a sample of 600 Flemish families raising an 8-to-10 year old child, we identified naturally occurring joint parenting styles. A cluster analysis based on two parenting dimensions (parental support and behavioral control) revealed four congruent parenting styles: an authoritative, positive authoritative, authoritarian and uninvolved parenting style. A subsequent cluster analysis comprising three parenting dimensions (parental support, behavioral and psychological control) yielded similar cluster profiles for the congruent (positive) authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles, while the fourth parenting style was relabeled as a congruent intrusive parenting style. ANOVAs demonstrated that having (positive) authoritative parents associated with the most favorable outcomes, while having authoritarian parents coincided with the least favorable outcomes. Although less pronounced than for the authoritarian style, having intrusive parents also associated with poorer child outcomes. Results demonstrated that accounting for parental psychological control did not yield additional parenting styles, but enhanced our understanding of the pattern among the three parenting dimensions within each parenting style and their association with child outcomes. More similarities than dissimilarities in the parenting of both parents emerged, although adding psychological control slightly enlarged the differences between the scores of mothers and fathers

High school textbooks in turkey from teachers’ and students’ perspectives: The case of history textbooks

This study investigates how teachers and students assess the textbooks they use in history courses at. the high school level in Turkey. Through a survey questionnaire, teachers and students were asked their perceptions of the textbooks. Then a sub-sample of the teachers and students were interviewed to collect more in-depth data on their assessment of the textbooks. The results indicated that the textbooks assist the teacher in instructional planning and in preparing exams, and help the students deal with the content. However, both teachers and students point to problems in textbooks in terms of their physical aspects, content presentation and organization, language, teaching and learning aids, and their impact on students. The textbooks focus mostly on transmission of knowledge, and they are found ineffective in leading students to read the information with interest and develop an understanding of the content area. They are found ineffective in developing students' thinking skills and positive attitudes toward the subject

Reassessment of the roles of the peritrophic envelope and hydrolysis in protecting polyphagous grasshoppers from ingested hydrolyzable tannins

We examined several of the mechanisms that have been reported to enable polyphagous grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae) to tolerate ingested hydrolyzable tannins: hydrolysis, adsorption on the peritrophic envelope, and peritrophic envelope impermeability. None of these mechanisms explain the tolerance of Melanoplus sanguinipes to ingested tannic acid. In this species, tannin hydrolysis was 12–47% complete, adsorption accounted for less than 1% of the tannic acid contained in the midgut, and the peritrophic envelope was permeated by several gallotannins. The foregut is the main site for the chemical transformation of tannic acid in this species. In Phoetaliotes nebrascensis , hydrolysis was more extensive (82% complete), but the peritrophic envelope was readily permeated by two gallotannins. Oxidizing redox conditions were found in the guts of both species, and ingested tannins were oxidized in M. sanguinipes . We hypothesize that the tolerance of some polyphagous grasshoppers to ingested hydrolyzable tannins may be the consequence of their ability to tolerate the reactive oxygen species generated by polyphenol oxidation, whereas others may rely on rapid and extensive hydrolysis.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44891/1/10886_2005_Article_BF02028511.pd