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The Intensification of Parenthood in Adolescence: Unpacking Gender Dynamics and Sociocultural Pressures

par Lamprianidou, Elli-Anastasia
Président du jury Bernard, Philippe
Promoteur Van Petegem, Stijn Julien
Publication Non publié, 2025-05-28

Thèse de doctorat

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Résumé :	Parenting adolescents today takes place within a societal discourse shaped by intensive parenting norms and growing concerns about the potential effects of overly involved parenting. Expectations for labor- and time-intensive parenting coexist with gender-essentialist views that position women as “naturally” more suited for childcare, alongside deterministic views on parenting that frame parents as primary risk managers of their children. Within this landscape of increasing expectations and prescriptive norms for parents, little is known about how these discourses shape the quality of parental involvement during adolescence—a developmental stage characterized by numerous challenges.
	The present dissertation examines the intensification of parenthood in adolescence through a gender lens, focusing on the increased sociocultural pressures faced by contemporary parents. We propose five overall research goals that are addressed throughout five empirical Chapters: (1) to analyze the core components of an intensive parenting discourse; (2) to examine the gendered foundations of intensive parenting; (3) to explore how broader sociocultural contexts, including culture and media, shape parenting practices; (4) to study adolescent sexting as a specific case of parental risk management in intensive parenting; and (5) to examine links between intensive parenting norms and the quality of parental involvement, focusing both on positive (i.e., interpersonal involvement, responsiveness, autonomy support, trust, autonomy-supportive mediation) and negative types of involvement (i.e., overprotection, controlling parenting, internet control, controlling mediation).
	In Chapter 2, we employed a person-centered approach using a sample of 1002 Belgian parents to identify profiles of parents based on their adherence to intensive parenting beliefs, their perceived societal pressure and their gender essentialist beliefs. We revealed five profiles for mothers and three for fathers, and we further examined how these profiles differed in their quality of parental involvement. In both mother and father samples, “traditional intensive” profiles reported more overprotective and controlling parenting.
	In Chapter 3, we focused on dynamics between partners by examining associations between parents’ gender essentialist beliefs and the quality of their involvement in a sample of 1260 Belgian parents. Stronger endorsement of gender essentialism was found to relate to more overprotective and controlling parenting among both mothers and fathers, and less autonomy-supportive and responsive parenting among fathers. We found no evidence for partner effects.
	In Chapter 4, we expanded on Chapter 3 and investigated how country-level gender inequalities shape parents’ beliefs and practices, thereby using data from 5754 parents collected across 11 different countries. As in Chapter 3, stronger endorsement of gender essentialist beliefs was associated with more overprotection for both mothers and fathers across the whole sample. Further, mothers’ and fathers’ endorsement of gender essentialist beliefs explained the relationship between country-level gender inequality and parental overprotection.
	Then, we moved our focus to sexting as a new type of risk for teenagers’ development. In Chapter 5, we conducted interviews with 13 Belgian parents of adolescents to examine their attitudes and practices regarding teen sexting, with a focus on gendered dynamics and sexual double standards between girls and boys. Parents voiced doubts about sexting as a “genuine” form of intimacy; described their efforts to balance trust and guidance when addressing online intimacy with their teens; and expressed ambivalent views on the gendered aspects of sexting.
	In Chapter 6, we built upon Chapter 5 by experimentally investigating whether different media portrayals of teen sexting influence parental attitudes and practices, using data from 312 Belgian parents. A normalcy discourse on sexting elicited more positive parental attitudes. Additionally, parents who perceived higher levels of societal pressure exhibited significantly lower overprotection, internet control and controlling mediation when exposed to the normalcy discourse on sexting. Finally, parents with more traditional beliefs consistently reported higher overprotection, internet control and controlling mediation, regardless of the media discourse, while no gender differences were found between parents of boys and parents of girls.
	In conclusion, this work sheds light on how intensive parenting norms shape parenting during adolescence, emphasizing the impact of broader sociocultural pressures on parents and the persistent gender dynamics within parenthood. Practical implications for family counselors and parenting programs are discussed, underscoring the importance of considering the social context when working with parents of teenagers.