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SYLLABUS
PSY530 PARENT-CHILD RELATIONS
Autumn Semester, 2015
Time & Location: Tuesday 18:45 – 20:15 Room: U23
Instructor: Tomo Umemura, Ph.D.
Office: FSS MU 2.52
Office Hours: Monday 3pm – 5pm and by appointment
E-mail: tomoumemura@mail.muni.cz
This course is supported by Employment of Best Young Scientists for International Cooperation
Empowerment: CZ.1.07/2.3.00/30.0037
Targeted Students:
This course is intended for master students who are pursuing a degree related to Psychology and for
bachelor students who are planning to pursue a master degree. The course requires basic knowledge
in the field of psychology, interests in developmental psychology, and knowledge of English.
Course Objectives:
The purpose of this course is to acquire the basic knowledge of development of children and young
people in relation to parents. The course emphasizes the influence of parents including the
following topics: parenting styles, parent-child attachment, mother-father coparenting, children’s
preferences for the mother versus the father, parent-child boundary problems, cultural differences in
parent-child relations, and roles of family poverty in children.
Goals for Students:
1. Students are expected to learn about theories that are important to understand roles of
parents in children’s social/emotional development.
2. Students are expected to be familiar with recent empirical findings on the area of parentchild
relations.
3. Students will be able to think critically about roles of various factors (e.g., culture, socioeconomic
status, family structures, etc.) to understand parent-child relations.
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Course Format:
Course will be conducted in the combined form of lectures (30-45 minutes) and seminars (45-60 minutes).
Every week, students are required to read either two academic articles or one academic article and one book
chapter (depending on the topic of the week), and then to submit their thought questions to the instructor (see
below more details). During the first half of each class, the instructor will have a lecture. During the second
half of the class, he will lead class discussions using students’ thought questions.
Class web: be familiar with use of on-line Information System (IS). Check PSY530 and look for the course
study materials and updates regularly. In addition, check your student e-mail account.
Course Requirements:
1. Thought questions. Students need to write one question for one assigned reading (i.e., two
questions for two assigned readings). Your questions must be your original based on the reading.
a. You need to read all the assigned readings. Then, you write questions with 2-3 sentences to
help you explain your question.
b. Throughout the semester, a total of 11 thought questions will be submitted.
c. Students need to submit their question via email to the instructor by midnight of the day
before each class (i.e., 12am on Monday) and attend the class to get full credits. All
thought questions submitted after this point will be considered late. Late thought questions
will be accepted with a penalty of minus 1 point per hour. If you do not attend the class,
you will earn 0 point.
d. The lowest thought questions will be dropped in calculating the total points.
2. Paper. You are asked to write a paper to demonstrate your understanding of the subject.
a. Your paper has to be logical and critical. You need to comprehend assigned readings well
and critically think though the core ideas of each reading. (30%)
b. To support your ideas, students need to use at least 2 assigned readings and find and use
at least 2 more academic journal articles. The papers are cited both in your text and in
your reference section using the American Psychology Association (APA) format. Here is a
useful website about the APA format: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
(15%)
c. Your paper has to follow the rules of English grammar. (5%)
d. The main body of your paper must be longer than 800 words. (10%)
e. The body of your paper should include:
i. One introduction paragraph ending with the purpose of your paper. (10%)
ii. Review of at least 2 assigned readings and at least 2 journal articles you find. (20%)
iii. Your conclusion(s) supported by logic and previous empirical studies, and
limitations/future directions should also be included in your conclusion (10%)
f. The due will be on December 15th. Late paper will be accepted with a penalty of minus 5
points per day.
3. Draft. You need to submit the first draft of your introduction paragraph on October 13th and the
first draft of your entire paper on November 17th. Your first draft should include introduction
paragraph, at least two citations in body paragraphs, conclusion paragraph, and reference section. A
late draft will be accepted with a penalty of minus 10 points per day.
4. Peer review. Students are required to evaluate one of your classmates’ papers to help your classmate
improve his/her paper.
a. Your peer review should include introduction (1 paragraph), strengths of the paper (1
paragraph), and suggestions for improvement (2 to 3 paragraphs).
b. Introduction should include 1 introductory sentence that summarizes what the paper is
about, summary of the key strengths of paper, and summary of the key weaknesses of paper.
c. Your suggestions for improvement have to be helpful. That is, you need to provide reasons
and suggestions for improvement. Each paragraph should include only one idea of
evaluation.
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Summary of requirements
The requirements will be weighted according to the following table, based on a course total of 300 points:
Requirements Points Total Points %
Thought questions 10 questions @ 10 pts each 10 times x 10 pts 100 33%
Paper 100 pts 100 33%
Draft Intro para. & Entire paper 10 + 70 pts 80 27%
Peer Review 20 pts 20 7%
Total 300 100%
The grading scale for this course will be:
A: 276 – 300 points (92% and above)
B: 255 – 275 points (84% to 91.99%)
C: 225 – 254 points (76% to 83.99%)
D: 204 – 224 points (68% to 75.99%)
E: 180 – 203 points (60% to 67.99%)
F: 0 – 179 points (59.99% and below)
Timetable and topics:
Date
Topic
Readings
Important Dates
announcement
Class 1 Theories to understand parent-child relations
No readings
Introduction to the Course and Assignments
Class 2 Theories to understand parent-child relations (cont.)
Maccoby, E. E. (1992). The role of parents in the socialization of children: An historical
overview. Developmental Psychology, 28, 1006-1017.
Cox, M. J., & Paley, B. (2003). Understanding families as systems. Current Directions in
Psychological Science, 12, 193-196.
Important guidelines for writing a psychological paper (focus on the introduction paragraph)
Suggestions about topics of paper in the area of parent-child relations
Class 3 Roles of parenting styles and discipline in children
Aunola, K. & Nurmi, J. (2005). The role of parenting style in children’s problem behavior.
Child Development, 76, 1144-1159.
Lansford, J. E. et al. (2005). Physical discipline and children’s adjustment: Cultural
normativeness as a moderator. Child Development, 76, 1234-1246.
Writing a paper using the American Psychological Association (APA) format
Class 4 Roles of parent-child attachment in child development
Weinfield, N. S., Sroufe, L., Egeland, B., & Carlson, E. (2008). Individual differences in
infant-caregiver attachment: Conceptual and empirical aspects of security. In J.
Cassidy, P. R. Shaver, J. Cassidy, P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment:
Theory, research, and clinical applications (2nd ed.) (pp. 78-101). New York, NY
US: Guilford Press.
Introduction Due
N/A
Class 5 Fathers’ roles in children and mother-father coparenting
Doherty, W. J., Kouneski, E. F., & Erickson, M. F. (1998). Responsible fathering: An
overview and conceptual framework. Journal of Marriage & the Family, 60, 277-
292.
Paquette, D. (2004). Theorizing the father-child relationship: Mechanisms and developmental
outcomes. Human development, 47, 193-219.
Introduction will be
returned
Discussions about introduction & body of paper
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Class 6 Children’s hierarchical preference for mother vs. father
Kobak, R., Rosenthal, N. L., Zajac, K., & Madsen, S. (2007). Adolescent attachment
hierarchies and the search for an adult pair bond. In M. Scharf & O. Mayseless
(Eds.), New directions in child development: Adolescent attachment. New York,
NY: Jossey-Bass.
Umemura, T., Jacobvitz, D., Messina, S., & Hazen, N. (2013). Do toddlers prefer the primary
caregiver or the parent with whom they feel more secure? The role of toddler
emotion. Infant Behavior and Development, 36, 102-114.
Techniques for finding a good academic journal article
Class 7 Effects of parental divorce and marital conflict on children
Amato, P. R., & Keith, B. (1991). Parental divorce and the well-being of children: a metaanalysis.
Psychological bulletin, 110, 26.
Understand ways of summarizing previous studies
Class 8 Relationship with parents in adolescence and emerging adulthood: differences and similarities
from childhood
Stattin, H., & Kerr, M. (2000). Parental monitoring: A reinterpretation. Child
development, 71, 1072-1085.
Influence of parents on the development of children’s psychopathology
Shipman, K. L., & Seman, J. (2001). Socialization of children’s emotion regulation in motherchild
dyads: A developmental psychopathological perspective. Development and
Psychopathology, 13, 317-336.
N/A
Class 9 Development of morality and social trust in the context of parent-child relationships
Wray-Lake, L., & Flanagan, C. A. (2012). Parenting practices and the development of
adolescents’ social trust. Journal of Adolescence, 35, 549-560.
First Draft Due
Submit 2 copies
Study how to write peer review
Class 10 Does culture really matter or something else for children?
Coll, C. G., Crnic, K., Lamberty, G., & Wasik, B. H. (1996). An integrative model for the
study of developmental competencies in minority children. Child Development, 67,
1891-1914.
Hill, N. E. (2006). Disentangling ethnicity, socioeconomic status and parenting: Interactions,
influences and meaning. Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies, 1, 114-124.
Peer Review Due
Discussions about the first-draft of paper
Class 11 Roles of environment and poverty in children
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1986). Ecology of the family as a context for human development:
Research perspectives. Developmental Psychology, 22(6), 723-742.
Linver, M. R., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Kohen, D. E. (2002). Family processes as pathways from
income to young children's development. Developmental Psychology, 38, 719-734.
First draft will be
returned
Tips for improving an academic paper
Class 12 TBA
Final Paper Due
on TBA
Summary of the course
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