Editing Parenting (section)

{{short description|Process of raising a child}}
{{About||the magazine|Parenting (magazine)|parental care in animals|Parental investment}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}}
[[File:Baby Sofia.jpg|thumb|A [[father]] and a [[mother]] holding their [[infant]] child]]

'''Parenting''' or '''child rearing''' promotes and supports the [[physical fitness|physical]], [[cognitive]], [[Social change|social]], [[emotion]]al, and [[education]]al [[child development|development]] from [[infant|infancy]] to [[adult]]hood. Parenting refers to the intricacies of raising a child and not exclusively for a biological relationship.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jane B. Brooks|title=The Process of Parenting: Ninth Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CZE0AAAAQBAJ|date=28 September 2012|publisher=McGraw-Hill Higher Education|isbn=978-0-07-746918-4}} For the legal definition of parenting and parenthood see: Haim Abraham, [https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2925886 A Family Is What You Make It? Legal Recognition and Regulation of Multiple Parents] (2017)</ref>

The most common caretakers in parenting are the [[Parent#Biological|biological parents]] of the child in question. However, a caretaker may be an older sibling, step-parent, [[grandparent]], [[legal guardian]], aunt, uncle, other family members, or a family friend.<ref>{{cite web | last = Bernstein | first = Robert | title = Majority of Children Live With Two Biological Parents | date =20 February 2008 |url = https://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/children/011507.html | access-date =26 March 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080420053142/http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/children/011507.html |archive-date = 20 April 2008}}</ref> [[Government]]s and [[society]] may also have a role in child-rearing or upbringing. In many cases, [[orphaned]] or abandoned children receive parental care from non-parent or non-blood relations. Others may be [[adoption|adopted]], raised in [[foster care]], or placed in an [[orphanage]].

[[Parenting styles]] vary by historical period, culture, social class, personal preferences, and other social factors.<ref>{{Cite book|title=SOC 2018.|last=JON.|first=WITT|date=2017|publisher=McGraw-Hill|isbn=978-1-259-70272-3|edition=5TH|location=[S.l.]|oclc=968304061}}</ref> There is not necessarily a single 'correct' parenting style for raising a child, since parenting styles can affect children differently depending on their circumstances and temperament.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kiff |first1=Cara J. |last2=Lengua |first2=Liliana J. |last3=Zalewski |first3=Maureen |date=2011-09-01 |title=Nature and Nurturing: Parenting in the Context of Child Temperament |journal=Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review |language=en |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=251–301 |doi=10.1007/s10567-011-0093-4 |issn=1573-2827 |pmc=3163750 |pmid=21461681}}</ref> Additionally, research supports that parental history, both in terms of their own attachments and parental [[psychopathology]], particularly in the wake of adverse experiences, can strongly influence parental sensitivity and child outcomes.<ref>Schechter, D.S., & Willheim, E. (2009). Disturbances of attachment and parental psychopathology in early childhood. Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Issue. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinics of North America, 18(3), 665-87.</ref><ref>Grienenberger, J., Kelly, K. & Slade, A. (2005). Maternal Reflective Functioning, Mother-Infant Affective Communication and Infant Attachment: Exploring The Link Between Mental States and Observed Caregiving. Attachment and Human Development, 7, 299-311.</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Lieberman | first1 = A.F. | last2 = Padrón | first2 = E. | last3 = Van Horn | first3 = P. | last4 = Harris | first4 = W.W. | year = 2005 | title = Angels in the nursery: The intergenerational transmission of benevolent parental influences | journal = Infant Ment. Health J. | volume = 26 | issue = 6| pages = 504–20 | doi = 10.1002/imhj.20071 | pmid = 28682485 | citeseerx = 10.1.1.964.1341 }}</ref> Parenting may have long-term impacts on [[adoptive]] children as well, as recent research has shown that warm adoptive parenting is associated with reduced internalizing and externalizing problems of the adoptive children over time.<ref name="Paine">{{cite journal |author1=Amy L. Paine, Oliver Perra, Rebecca Anthony, and Katherine H. Shelton |title=Charting the trajectories of adopted children's emotional and behavioral problems: The impact of early adversity and postadoptive parental warmth |journal=Development and Psychopathology |date=Aug 2021|volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=922–936 |doi=10.1017/S0954579420000231 |pmid=32366341 |pmc=8374623 }}</ref>