2025/06/28 by Lovisa Burman, Johanna Jonsson, Johanna Jönsson +2 · 1 citation
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development #Cognitive Abilities and Testing #Developmental psychology #Early Childhood Education and Development #Parenting styles #Psychology #Social psychology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/fare.70007
crossref issued 2025/06/28 · crossref published 2025/06/28 · crossref published-online 2025/06/28 · openalex publication_date 2025/06/28 · crossref created 2025/06/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref published-print 2025/12/01 · crossref deposited 2026/02/16 · crossref indexed 2026/08/03 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
ABSTRACT Objective The aim of this study was to explore whether there are naturally occurring groups of parents who display different profiles of upward (i.e., comparing with those better off) and downward (i.e., comparing with those worse off) social comparisons, and if these differ on parental symptoms, self‐efficacy, and positive parenting behaviors. Background While social comparisons can contribute to self‐evaluation and offer opportunities for self‐improvement by providing new information, they may also be associated with less positive parenting. One reason for different outcomes is the type of comparisons (i.e., upward or downward), which has not been studied using person‐oriented analysis within the parenting literature. Method A sample of 187 parents of children aged between 2 to 5 years were included (85% mothers and 15% fathers). Cluster analysis was used to explore profiles of parents depending on their upward and downward social comparisons, and analyses of variance were used to examine mean level differences. Results Results yielded a four‐cluster solution. In general, engaging in upward or downward social comparisons were associated with less positive outcomes. However, parents in the cluster who did predominantly upward comparisons showed more parental symptoms and less positive parenting. Conclusion The frequency and direction of social comparisons are important, with parents engaging in predominantly upward comparisons showing the greatest vulnerability. Implications Practitioners can help parents to reflect on their comparisons and to identify parents who focus mostly on others who they believe are doing better.