Parenting and Early Childhood Functioning: A Comparison of Poor and Non-Poor Families in Dominican Republic

Background and Purpose. It is widely recognized that the ways in which parents raise their children, and the impact that these parenting practices have on child development, depend in part on the context within which development occurs. Much of what is known of parenting and child development is based on empirical studies from middle-class families living in developed countries. Research on parenting practices among poor and non-poor families in developing nations presents an opportunity to further understand how ecological contexts shape parenting practices and child development. Little is known about normative parenting practices among Dominicans, the extent to which they differ according to contextual characteristics such as poverty (i.e., poor vs. non-poor), and how they are associated with child functioning. This study collected survey data from 340 Dominican families from the Dominican Republic (DR) to examine: (1) whether authoritarian parenting is normative, and (2) whether authoritarian parenting is adaptive by examining its relation to child functioning across levels of risk defined by poverty status.

Methods. Data comes from a cross-sectional study of Dominican early childhood development. The sample included 340 mothers raising their 4 – 5 year-old children in the DR. Participants were drawn from 12 urban schools that offered pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classes. The participants’ socioeconomic status was assigned based on the type of schools their children were attending: public schools (poor; n = 102, 30%), and private schools (non-poor; n = 238, 70%). Mothers completed the Parenting Styles and Dimensions (PSD; Robinson, et al., 1996) measure, which yielded scores of authoritarian and authoritative parenting, and the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC-2; Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004), which yielded scores of child externalizing and internalizing behaviors. 


Results. Mothers in the DR reported high levels of authoritarian parenting (in a 5-point scale, M = 1.90, SD = .55), and authoritative parenting (M = 4.16, SD = .54). There were, however, differences in levels of authoritarian parenting by poverty status. Poor mothers reported higher levels of authoritarian parenting practices than non-poor mothers (M = 2.19,  SD = 0.67] vs. M = 1.77,  SD =0.43). Regressions indicated that high levels of authoritarian practices were associated with externalizing and internalizing problems for all children, but they were more strongly associated with internalizing problems among poor, relative to non-poor, children.  

Conclusions and Implications.  The findings suggest that, in the Dominican Republic, authoritarian parenting is associated with child and externalizing internalizing behavior problems, especially among poor (compared with non-poor) families. Discussion will focus on the application of Western constructs (i.e., authoritarian and authoritative parenting) to families from a non-Westernized country.