Contents



Preface

Taking an ecocultural perspective means paying attention to the variability of the contexts that shape the life experiences of individuals, without indulging in unnecessary generalizations about what is "typical" or "universal" in parenting behavior. Moving from Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory of child development [1, 2], parenting "is a complex plaiting of neurobiological and environmental

unique for every parent-child dyad [5].

especially relevant.

children.

influences, and the same is true for child development" [3, p. iv]. The developmental niches, with their physical and social characteristics, educational practices and parental psychologies, shape child development, but are themselves shaped by societal and cultural pressures [4]. However, parenting is not just a cause of a child's development, but also a product of developmental transactions; parent behavior influences child behavior, and in turn, child behavior causes parent responses. As such, from conception [3] to adulthood, a transactional history develops that is

The richness of human variability is reflected in the intra- and inter-cultural richness of the variability of parenting, in the forms it takes and in the produced effects either adaptive or maladaptive to societal demands both in parents themselves and in their offspring. This book presents twelve contributions reflecting this rich variability.

Dorn and Rocher Schudlich's chapter highlights the longitudinal associations between interparental conflict and a child's emotional security from infancy to the preschooler developmental period. The emotional security clusters developed as infants, specifically following exposure to interparental conflict, persist during preschool years and continue to mediate associations between interparental conflict and preschooler adjustment. Clinical implications of the chapter findings seem

An interesting interaction between nurtured and natural characteristics is the theoretical proposal by Samar M. Alzeer, who reviews literature about sibling

structural features and siblings' interactions, their family emotional climate, parental management, and parents' interactions with siblings. The author concludes with an invitation to address research towards exploring the ways in which parents' behaviors and siblings' relationships together affect a child's maladaptive outcomes related to predicting developmental personality traits, primarily into Callous–Unemotional

Wellbeing may take the form of a positive response to environmental demands, as when a primary school child is required to read fluently. If the child's reading fluency is a struggle, may the child benefit from a parent's involvement in a reading promotion intervention? Villiger's chapter discusses this topic, presenting data from a Swiss Paired Reading Intervention study. She highlights that "evidence about the effectiveness of reading programs with parents is rather vague" and "discusses

beneficial circumstances of parent involvement in reading programs."

From a social constructivist perspective, Brinn argues that the relationship between parents and school professionals could work to equalize learning but
