Mothers’ endorsement of the ideals and expected practices of parental determinism

Parental determinism is a term coined by sociologist Frank Furedi to describe and critique an argument directly associating parents’ quotidian behaviour with their children’s outcomes and therefore, the future of society. This study involved qualitative interviews with 22 mothers living in Scotland to examine their views about the ideals of parental determinism and suggest possible factors explaining the varying endorsement. Of the mothers who more highly endorsed parental determinism, several reported poor experiences of being parented themselves. All the mothers of autistic children expressed some critique of the idea that parental action is solely responsible for children’s outcomes. The former variance may be due to perceived links between their own childhood experiences and later mental health issues, and the latter due to their children not responding to parental action as expected. These factors may highlight and minimise the perceived importance, to the mothers, of parenting behaviours.