The Psychology of Parenting in Unique Life Experiences: Understanding the Challenges of Continuous Stressful Circumstances and Marginalized Populations

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Background

Parenting is a complex role that includes expectations, wishes, hopes, conflicts and a long-term responsibility and investment in human development. Understanding the various aspects of parenting is vital because these have implications not only for parents themselves but also for child development and for the resilience of society.

Both theoretical frameworks and empirical studies have suggested that parenting and its outcomes are shaped by a complex interplay between psychological and environmental factors and draw attention to the social context in which people live their lives. Conceptualizing the phenomena of parenting across different contexts and times is a complex task that has been studied from various perspectives and theoretical frameworks. For example, attachment theory, emotion regulation mechanisms and parental practice.

This Research Topic aims to focus on the phenomena of parenting and its outcomes in the context of extraordinary life events and ongoing, chronic stress. Chronic stress is defined here as ongoing demands that threaten to exceed the resources of an individual in one or more areas of life, that have no clear beginning or end.

The goal of this collection is to provide a state-of-the-art and comprehensive understanding of the intricate interplay between the psychological and social aspects of parenting and unique life experiences, including but not inclusive of ongoing stress situations and marginalized life experiences. This will be achieved by integrating interdisciplinary knowledge, research findings, and theoretical and clinical perspectives. The advanced understanding gained will provide valuable insights that can inform policy and practice, ultimately leading to better support for families and improved outcomes for children growing up in diverse environments and challenging circumstances.

We welcome studies that analyze the consequences and implications of parenting in the context of ongoing, chronic stress, such as parental feelings, beliefs, and cognitions, parental practices, children's adjustment indices, parenting emotion-regulation and intra-parental processes as adulthood attachment and self-compassion.

Studies that analyze the influence of marginalized environments, poverty, disability experience, mental health issues, chronic health condition and traumatic context are also welcome.

We welcome empirical and clinical studies that analyse the consequences and implications of parenting in the context of continuous and stressful circumstances. We aim to include rigorous studies from quantitative and qualitative approaches including theoretical and applied work. Manuscript Reporting on empirical work, case studies, and clinical practice, as well as conceptual analysis and scoping reviews, are welcome.

Keywords: disability, trauma, parenting, emotion regulation mechanisms, chronic stress, psychological and social aspects of parenting: poverty, marginality

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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