Children's Underst and ing of Parenthood (Adoption, Social Cognition, Family).

Abstract

This study examined a domain of social cognition potentially related to children's experience of divorce; that is the underst and ing of the continuity of the parental relationship based on the recognition of the blood or biological tie as a central defining feature of parenthood. It was hypothesized that recognition of the blood tie as a sufficient characteristic to define parenthood is a relatively late development. Furthermore, that before this is understood, children will use characteristics of parents (e.g. they love you and take care of you, they live with you, they are married to your other parent) as defining features. In the absence of these features, a person may no longer be considered a parent. One hundred twenty elementary school children in grades K-6 were interviewed. Children were predominantly from families with no divorce or adoptive histories. They took part in a semi-structured interview involving a doll family and told stories in which characteristics of the parent figures were changed. Children's patterns of judgments were examined using a rule assessment approach. Developmental trends in children's definitions were strong. The blood tie as a defining feature of parenthood was used by 4%, 44%, 62% and 95% of the kindergarteners, second graders, fourth graders and sixth graders respectively. Those recognizing the blood tie tended to differentiate between "step" and "real" parenthood. Over 48% of the children in the three youngest grades used marriage as a defining feature, believing that a parent is no longer a parent following a divorce. More than 32% of the kindergarteners used custodial aspects of parenthood as defining features. It is proposed that the findings have implications for children's experience of divorce and adoption. The early use of characteristic features as defining features may negatively impact the noncustodial parent-child relationship, yet facilitate stepparent or adoptive parent relations. The advent of the meaningfulness of the blood tie may negatively affect a child's relationship with non-blood (e.g. stepfamily and adoptive family) relations. The need for parents and professionals to take into account children's construction of parenthood is stressed.