Relations between parenting and children psychological adjustment

A systematic literature review

Abstract

The repercussions of family relationships on child development have been gaining significant ground in literature in recent decades. In this context, parenting has special relevance, favoring children's psychological adjustment or the development of externalizing and internalizing symptoms in our children. This article aims to present a systematic review of literature on parenting and its relations with the psychological adjustment of children in early grades. We evaluated articles elaborated between 2007 and 2017, in English and Portuguese, in the Bireme, Scopus, Pubmed and Cochrane databases, using the descriptors: Parenting AND children adjustment AND/OR school age, including studies with children from 6 to 10 years, compatible with the initial school years. Thirty-six articles were eligible, which are presented per year of publication, origin and methodological delimitations, their informants and the main instruments used for assessing parenting and child adjustments. We highlight many studies contemplating intervention programs in parenting as the basis of the research and the increasing inclusion of children as respondents. There is the need to expand the research on the subject in the Latin American scenario, contributing to the healthy development of these populations.