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

Causes and consequences of personal financial management in the case of larger and structural charitable donations

We study causes and consequences of financial management in households in the specific case of charitable giving. We test hypotheses using couples in the Giving in the Netherlands Panel Study (n = 1,101). We find that more relationship specific investments lead to deciding on charitable giving as one economic actor. Furthermore, we find that the partner with the highest relative educational resources has most decision making power over charitable donations. Separately deciding couples are smallest charitable donors. Households in which the male partner decides are largest charitable donors when only larger and more structural donations are considered. This can be explained by their more conservative religious denomination. Re´sume´ Notre e´tude porte sur les causes et les conse´quences de la gestion financie`re des me´nages pour le cas spe´cifique des dons caritatifs. Nous testons des hypothe`ses a` travers un panel de quelques couples des Pays-Bas (GINPS) en matie`re de dons (n = 1,101). Nous trouvons que davantage d’investissements spe´cifiques relationnels conduisent a` prendre en compte le don caritatif en tant qu’acteur e´conomique. En outre, nous trouvons que le conjoint au revenu le plus e´leve´ de´tient le plus de pouvoir de´cisionnel quand il s’agit de faire des dons de charite´. Les couples qui prennent les de´cisions se´pare´ment sont les donateurs les plus modestes. Lorsque des dons structurels importants sont envisage´s, les me´nages dans lesquels l’homme prend les de´cisions sont les donateurs les plus ge´ne´reux. Une confession religieuse conservatrice peut venir expliquer cette conduite Zusammenfassung Wir untersuchen Gru¨nde und Folgen der Verwaltung der Haushaltsfinanzen speziell bezogen auf das Spenden fu¨ r wohlta¨tige Zwecke. Wir testen Hypothesen an Paaren im Projekt Giving in the Netherlands Panel Study (n = 1,101). Wir finden, dass Paare bei beziehungsspezifischeren Investitionen eine Spendenentscheidung als eine o¨konomische Einheit treffen. Außerdem entdecken wir, dass der Partner mit dem ho¨chsten relativen Bildungsniveau die gro¨ßere Entscheidungsbefugnis u¨ber wohlta¨tiges Spenden hat. Paare, wo Partner separat entscheiden, spenden am wenigsten. Haushalte, in denen der ma¨nnliche Partner entscheidet, sind die gro¨ßten Spender bei gro¨ßeren und strukturelleren Spenden. Dies kann mit deren Zugeho¨rigkeit zu konservativeren Glaubensgemeinschaften erkla¨rt werden. Resumen Hemos estudiado las causas y las consecuencias de la administracio´n econo´mica de los hogares en el caso especı´fico de las donaciones caritativas. Probamos diversas hipo´tesis con parejas dentro del Estudio del Panel de las Donaciones en los Paı´ses Bajos (n = 1,101). El resultado es que las inversiones especı´ficas de relacio´n llevan a decidir sobre las donaciones caritativas como un actor econo´mico. Asimismo, hemos descubierto que el co´nyuge con ma´s recursos educativos tiene ma´s poder de decisio´n sobre las donaciones caritativas. Las parejas que deciden por separado son donantes de menor envergadura, mientras que los hogares en los que decide el co´nyuge masculino son donantes de ma´s envergadura, solo cuando se tienen en cuenta ma´s y mayores donativos estructurales. Esto puede explicarse por su cara´cter religioso ma´s conservador.

Assortative mating in the online market for sperm donation

Previous studies on assortative mating have struggled to isolate preferences from actual constraints faced throughout the matching process, including the geographic and social propinquity that limit the availability of possible mates. Because such passive factors restrict the possibility set of potential partners, they may either restrict the chance of fulfilling mating preferences or lead to a high level of positive assortative mating. The possibility set may be further reduced by competition in the mating market. It is also unclear from couple’s data how much assortative mating is driven by partner selection to reduce anticipated child rearing problem and how much by a desire for parental assistance and altruistic preferences for offspring. Adopting the online market for sperm donation as the research setting reduces such problems: the more controlled setting ensures isolation of a male’s genetic impact on his offspring from other factors. By identifying the factors that influence the symmetry of characteristics between recipients and partners and recipients and donors chosen, we provide empirical evidence that even with limited constraints on available choice, women still exhibit homogamous donor preferences. Likewise, by exploring how potential donors’ characteristics match partner characteristics, we offer insights into what drives recipients’ desires to find donors who surpass both their own and their partners’ characteristics