From Strictness to Maternal Intuition? Parenting Styles in Czechia from a Historical Perspective
From Strictness to Maternal Intuition? Parenting Styles in Czechia from a Historical Perspective

Summary/Abstract: This article analyses parenting styles on the basis of thirty-three narrative interviews with mothers from Czechia who raised their children between the 1950s and 1990s. This comparison of different generations has revealed a shift from authoritarian to authoritative parenting styles, including a move from an emphasis on independence, obedience, and the provision of basic physical needs to more child-centered parenting emphasizing an emotional relationship with the child, negotiation, and the child’s psychological and physical development. Analysis reveals that parenting is embedded in political, economic, and gender conditions. Moreover, the analysis shows that during the communist era there were increasing differences in parenting styles in connection with socio-economic status. These findings are interpreted as being in line with the development of intensive parenting norms in market economies.

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