OVERVIEW

Parenting practices play an important role in fostering the healthy development of children. Positive parenting can nurture a child’s strengths, boost self-esteem, and increase positive behaviors, skills and characteristics that promote social and emotional wellbeing, cognitive growth and adaptive functioning. Similarly, negative parenting has been shown to contribute to emotional-behavioral problems in children, including increased anti-social behavior and aggression.

Researchers at the Offord Centre for Child Studies are working to gain a better understanding of the nature of parent-child relationships and the impact they have on the lives and future life opportunities of children. From this, we hope to develop more cost-effective, evidence-based models for prevention and intervention that will optimize the capacity of families to nurture children.