Lightward Bound is proud to present the following research information from the founder's research that he started as part of his master's thesis. The report is finally complete and available here. (May 2022) The research was focused in Tooele County, Utah. The subject was parenting perspectives of parents within the county. It was a qualitative study that involved nine parents in Tooele City. Click on the links below to download the indicated files. A summary of the report follows the links.
(For something shorter, read about four parenting lessons from the research.)
Full Report of Tooele County Parenting Research (169 pages)
Transcript of first interview (23 pages)
Transcript of second interview (21 pages)
Transcript of focus group (47 pages)
Checksums for the files above
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Summary of the Report PURPOSE: This study was conducted in Tooele County, Utah to begin to understand the nature of parenting in the county. It sought to discover the perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, etc. of nine parents in the county regarding children, raising children, and learning how to do it. The study also intended to consider how these attitudes and beliefs compare with findings in the research literature. Ultimately, the goal for Lightward Bound is to use this and future research to assist leaders to optimize parenting in the county. LITERATURE REVIEW: The literature reviewed as part of this study strongly suggested that there are associations between parenting styles and various outcomes for children. Authoritative parenting has been linked to the lowest likelihood of internalizing problems, such as depression and anxiety, and externalizing problems, such as delinquency and substance abuse. This style of parenting involves being supportive and responsive to children, setting boundaries, monitoring children’s activities while allowing an appropriate level of autonomy, and ensuring accountability, often through positive or appropriate negative consequences. METHODS: This exploratory, qualitative research was conducted with parents who were currently raising children in Tooele County using two interviews and a focus group. A total of nine parents participated and shared their views. All conversations that were part of the study were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed to discover common themes among the parents’ views. FINDINGS: The study revealed five key findings. 1) The parents had positive views of children, took their role as parent seriously, and were concerned for the future of their children. 2) Each parent manifested an understanding of the authoritative parenting style and seemed to follow it for raising their children. 3) While the parents seemed to be broadly in agreement on following the authoritative parenting style, there was no consensus on what leads children to develop “personal integrity,” meaning that they would tend to make acceptable choices without supervision by people in authority. 4) Each parent seemed to recognize limits or boundaries that a parent shouldn’t cross, particularly regarding the use of “discipline.” 5) There were mixed views on learning how to raise children. All parents seemed to draw on the experiences of other parents (their own or others they knew), but some sought out additional, more professional, parenting knowledge, while others expressed some mistrust about those sources. DISCUSSION: Three of the five key findings have positive implications for the children of the parents who participated in this study. Positive views about children, limits on parental actions, and using the authoritative parenting style each are likely to contribute positively to the lives of these children. The finding about consensus on parenting style, but no consensus on what builds personal integrity and good values in children says more about the culture than the parents. There may not be any consistent societal message about how children grow up to be good people. The finding suggesting mistrust of parenting research and professional information suggests that science has not earned the respect of some parents in the area of parenting. If parents don’t adopt the best information from accurate parenting sources, they may be left only with what parents themselves can observe, which generally will reveal only the more immediate effects of parental actions, leaving long-term effects unknown. This could unknowingly lead to preventable negative outcomes for some children. It may therefore be imperative to educate all parents universally on the best parenting information and outcomes. The county should take intentional steps to increase the amount of sound parenting information that is available to parents and encourage its utilization with their children. Ultimately, our goal should be to make knowledge and examples of good parenting pervasive throughout the community. (A few additional recommendations are given in the report.) The main limitations of this study were the small number of participants, the potential bias that may be present because half of the participants were drawn from a parenting class, and some questions that may have artificially increased focus of parents on the authoritative parenting style. Additional qualitative and quantitative research will be essential to fully assess the nature of parenting in Tooele County. The data from such further research are necessary for the county to make the best choices for optimizing the county’s parenting and outcomes for our children.