Parents’ Support of Everyday Autonomy, Engagement in Rough-and-Tumble-Play (RTP), and Encouragement of Risk-Taking

To develop and thrive, children need both to be cared for and to be challenged by their parents. In this study, we aimed to investigate some of the more challenging aspects of parenting, namely parents’ engagement in rough-and-tumble play (RTP), and their support of children’s everyday autonomy and risk-taking. The sample consisted of 287 parents (112 fathers, 175 mothers) in Norway. They responded to a questionnaire about a specific child, with responses for 151 girls and 136 boys. The children's average age was 8.7 years (SD = 0.9), ranging from 7.2 to 10.3 years. The responses were analyzed with descriptive statistics, factor analysis and regression analysis. Results show that the parents in our study reported moderate to high autonomy granting and tolerance towards their children’s risk-taking, confirming to a certain extent that parents in Norway are relatively risk tolerant. Interestingly, we found few sex differences. Especially, support for children's risk-taking was not influenced by age or sex of neither child nor parent. Also, we found no relation between parents’ age and this type of parental behavior. However, parents’ sex played a role related to the children’s age. Mothers engaged less in RTP and granted less autonomy to younger children, while this trend was weaker and not significant with fathers. Interpretations and possible implications are discussed.