Parents' Beliefs About Children

This book synthesizes a large and diverse literature on what parents believe about children in general and their own children in particular. Its scope is broad, encompassing beliefs directed to numerous aspects of children's development in both the cognitive and social realms that span the age periods from birth through adolescence. In examining the nature and origins of parents' beliefs, this book is central to our understanding of both parenting practices and children's development, and it speaks to some of the most important pragmatic issues for which psychology can provide answers.