Intergenerational Continuity of Protective Parenting Practices of Bangladeshi Mothers

Abstract

Existing literature challenges the assumption that parenting practices are uniform across varying social, economic, and cultural contexts, emphasising, rather, that parenting is culturally and socially constructed. Given this perspective, examining how traditional parenting practices evolve in response to cultural and social factors is essential. Bangladesh remains an under- researched country, particularly in the field of parenting. Mainstream parenting research largely overlooks the knowledge gap concerning parenting in Bangladeshi contexts, including moderating and mediating factors, their impact on a child’s life, and the development and adaptation of psychometric assessment tools for parenting. The study examined the intergenerational continuity of protective parenting practices among urban middle-class Bangladeshi mothers. The social constructivist paradigm guided the study’s cross-sectional, hermeneutic phenomenological research design, and the choice of qualitative, inductive research methods, which allowed themes to emerge from participants' accounts. Ethics clearance was obtained from the Human Research Ethics Committee (Non-Medical) of the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa (Protocol number: H16/06/38), and the Ethical Review Board of the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh (Project number: PH160603). Participants were selected from the Mirpur area of Dhaka City. Criterion-based snowball sampling was used to recruit 15 dyads of mothers and maternal grandmothers (pairs of mothers and their mothers). Participants provided written informed consent for study participation and permission for audio recording the interviews. Data were collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews to answer the research questions: 1) How do Bangladeshi mothers construct protective parenting practices based on their lived experiences? 2) What are the protective parenting practices of Bangladeshi mothers grounded in their socio-cultural contexts? 3) What is the process of intergenerational continuity of protective parenting practices? Data were analysed inductively using the hermeneutic circle. The patterns identified were examined in light of the research site’s cultural and social context. The findings revealed that mothers learnt protective parenting practices from their mothers through interactions shaped by social and cultural factors. This learning occurred through parental guidance, observation, modelling, and personal experience. This study also reveals that protectiveness is a vital parenting value among Bangladeshi mothers across generations. The mothers sometimes adopted parenting practices unconsciously, believing them instinctual. The identified intergenerational protective parenting practices included chaperonage, monitoring, selecting children's spouses, promoting religious practices, saving money to safeguard children from financial crises, enforcing gendered boundaries, instilling caution through fear, and using fire and traditional rituals. Although there were differences between the two generations of Bangladeshi mothers in specificities of parenting practices, the core value of protective parenting was sustained across generations. Cultural and social norms strongly influenced how mothers protected their children. However, maternal grandmothers played a key role in preserving and passing down these protective parenting traditions to the next generation. The study made scholarly contributions by offering a process model of intergenerational continuity in protective parenting practices, analysing intergenerational differences in these practices, identifying key protective parenting practices, examining the influence of cultural and social contexts on these practices, and defining protective parenting practices. Furthermore, the findings have implications for Bangladeshi child and adolescent services, highlighting the need to factor in sociocultural variables in order to ensure effective parenting interventions. Future studies could identify the factors that account for the intergenerational continuity of protective parenting practices within the interaction of other learning sources and influences, especially in the context of globalisation and freedom of information. The influence of factors other than cultural and social determinants on the continuation of protective parenting practices across generations should be explored, including how and to what extent they shape this process. Given the prominent role of maternal grandmothers in passing down these practices, future initiatives promoting optimal child development should actively involve them to enhance outcomes.