Page 35 - Johns Hopkins Nursing Magazine Spring 2023 - Johns Hopkins School of Nursing

‘Parenting in America Today’:

What Nurses Need to Know

JHSON researchers find silver linings in
Pew Research Institute study

Raising children is, has been, and almost certainly of the Chicago Parent Program. For example, parents
will remain one of life’s great challenges. (Ask your with lower incomes were four times as likely to worry
parents.) Yet data from the Pew Research Institute about kids getting shot or abducted and six times as
show 62 percent of parents across the board and the likely to worry about their children getting into trouble
nation find it even more difficult than they imagined. with police compared to parents with high incomes.
“Almost half—44 percent—of parents reported that
they were trying to parent differently from how “All parents see the role as an important part of their
they were raised, which may be part of why so many identity,” she adds. “But parents with lower incomes
parents also reported that parenting is harder than are more likely [41 percent vs. 22 percent for parents
they expected! It’s harder to parent when you don’t with high incomes] to say it is the most important
have models or direct experience,” says Johns Hopkins part of who they are as a person. And they’re also
School of Nursing PhD candidate Emily Hoppe. more likely than upper-income parents to say that it is
rewarding all of the time [43 percent vs. 28 percent]—
And their worries for their kids are legion, topped— but also that it is stressful most or all of the time [33
after years of life under COVID, economic/political percent vs. 22 percent].” 33
uncertainty, and social disparities—by fears that
their children’s mental health is at risk. Add in the For its report, Pew sampled 3,757 parents nationally
“enormous influence of social media,” much of it with kids under 18.
negative, and those worries make sense, says Johns
Hopkins School of Nursing Professor Deborah Gross, As for what makes raising children seem harder
DNSc, MS, RN, FAAN. nowadays, Hoppe points to another silver lining: It is
far easier to repeat the patterns—good and bad—of
Still, Gross and Hoppe, both mental health one’s own rearing than to change the dynamic
nurses, were upbeat at the results of the 2022 Pew altogether once you become a parent. That desire to
questionnaire. Why? The study found parents of all do it differently is always a welcome sign, explains
groups still profoundly love the gig and are going Hoppe. “This suggests to me that parents who want
to great lengths to maximize their performance to do things differently need support and resources,
as caregivers and their kids’ happiness. After all, yet experience a lot of judgment, 47 percent of it from
parents who want to do better can be offered new their own parents,” whose style they turned away from.
tools, strategies, and other assistance—and can make
things better for their offspring than they might have As for what nurses need to know from all this? “Nurses,
experienced themselves. And to Gross and Hoppe, that as so many of us are parents ourselves, should go in
is the sweet spot for making a meaningful difference. with the baseline attitude that all parents may need a
bit more support,” says Gross.
The catch, as always, is that the playing field is never
level. “All parents want the same things for their “Parents are really thinking deeply about their role as
children, but the roads they need to navigate to get parents and how best to prepare their children for MAGAZINE.NURSING.JHU.EDU
there are very different depending on their incomes, adulthood,” adds Hoppe.
neighborhoods, and access to supports,” says Gross,
Leonard and Helen R. Stulman Endowed Professor in And that’s the most hopeful stat of all. ◼
Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing and co-founder