Participatory Research Contributes to Parenting in Turbulent Times

SYNOPSISTraditional parenting research has largely treated parents and children as passive respondents rather than active contributors, creating both a knowledge gap (limited understanding of families’ lived experiences) and an agency gap (parents are better informed than ever, yet report feeling less efficacious in their parenting). These gaps are especially urgent given today’s “polycrises” (i.e. climate change, geopolitical instability, and economic uncertainty) which place heavy psychological burdens on families. This essay argues that research with families should be agentic, intentionally designed to foster participants’ capacity to shape their own functioning and life course. We propose participatory research, where parents and children act as co-researchers, as a tool to foster dialogue, co-created and actionable knowledge, and, in turn, agency. However, participatory research faces real challenges: it is time-intensive, complicated by power asymmetries, and difficult to evaluate using conventional research standards. A paradigm shift toward agentic, co-created research therefore requires transforming how research is funded, designed, and valued.