Perceptions of parenting: Individual differences and the effect of community

Neighborhood norms are an important determinant of beliefs and attitudes ab out parenting, and measuring changes in community norms is an important com ponent of evaluating community-based programs for improving child outcomes. The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not a survey of comm unity residents' perceptions of parenting could be used to measure communit y parenting norms and whether these perceptions differed by individual or c ommunity characteristics. Two community surveys with 870 and 914 respondent s, respectively, were conducted in 3 low-income neighborhoods. Results indi cated that perceptions of parenting could be measured reliably at the commu nity level although it is important to consider the presence of multiple no rms when using such measures. Furthermore, differences in perceptions of pa renting associated with individual characteristics were markedly decreased when neighborhood characteristics were considered, suggesting that the asso ciation of individual characteristics with perceptions of parenting is conf ounded by neighborhood characteristics.