Parenting is a critical influence on the development of children across the globe. This handbook brings together scholars with expertise on parenting science and interventions for a comprehensive review of current research. It begins with foundational theories and research topics, followed by sections on parenting children at different ages, factors that affect parenting such as parental mental health or socioeconomic status, and parenting children with different characteristics such as depressed and anxious children or youth who identify as LGBTQ. It concludes with a section on policy implications, as well as prevention and intervention programs that target parenting as a mechanism of change. Global perspectives and the cultural diversity of families are highlighted throughout. Offering in-depth analysis of key topics such as risky adolescent behavior, immigration policy, father engagement, family involvement in education, and balancing childcare and work, this is a vital resource for understanding the most effective policies to support parents in raising healthy children.

'This volume is an extraordinarily rich compendium providing a diversity of perspectives on parenting. It is a comprehensive portrayal of the state of the art of our scientific and sociopolitical knowledge of virtually every facet of parenting, including cultural, biological, psychological, medical, and legal. The volume is an essential source for clinical and developmental psychologists, pediatricians, child psychiatrists, and educators.'

Dante Cicchetti - McKnight Presidential Chair, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, USA

'Morris and Mendez Smith provide an excellent comprehensive handbook that examines significant and complex dimensions of parenting science. Leading scholars skillfully discipline our body of contemporary research across these dimensions, with a particular focus on usable knowledge, to advance our understanding of parenting practice, policy, and future research.'

John Fantuzzo - Albert M. Greenfield Emeritus Professor of Human Relations, University of Pennsylvania, USA

'This comprehensive handbook on parenting, grounded in contemporary research and carefully curated and co-edited by two of the field’s well-known scholars, will be a terrific asset to scholars and students alike. The book’s contributors discuss the basics foundations of good parenting, how parenting changes and varies across stages of the child’s development, characteristics of both parents and their children that affect how parenting is expressed, and the policy and practical implications of contemporary parenting science. I recommend it highly.'

Laurence Steinberg - Distinguished University Professor, Temple University, USA