Immediate contextual influences on maternal behavior: Environmental affordances and demands

Although it is commonly recognized that parenting is multiply determined, m echanisms by which the context influences parental behavior have rarely bee n examined. In this paper, the role of environmental affordances and demand s are described and tested in two observational studies. In Study 1, mother s and their 3-year-old children were observed in three settings where affor dances and demands differed: the home, park, and laboratory. In Study 2, mo thers and their children engaged in three laboratory conditions in which th e amount of demands on the mother was manipulated. Several child-rearing va riables showed systematic relations with the presence of affordances and de mands. It is concluded that affordances and demands play an important role in influencing maternal behavior by acting as environmental cues for place- related behavior. Further, it is proposed that parental perceptions of the immediate context and the recognition of appropriate environmental cues are paramount in understanding the variability of parental behavior across sit uational contexts. (C) 1999 Academic Press.