Traditional 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.
Parenting research needs to become front and center in public attention. On the internet, in newspapers, and on the evening news, one hears about politics, crime, and conflicts. However, numerous studies have documented that parenting is among the most influential human activities. It is troubling and unhealthy to have relegated parenting to a secondary position of significance in broader society. The goal is to identify three emphases in the study of parenting that are especially vital to rectify this shortcoming. The methods involved a large overview, especially of meta-analyses and research syntheses. This included slightly over 2,500 such studies to determine what emphases in the study of parenting need to be more intensively and accurately examined. A growing number of debates and adjustments are arising that could potentially improve the study of parenting, if implemented properly. To enable parenting research to become front and center in public attention three emphases in the study of parenting are especially vital. First, the primacy of love. Second, similarities and differences in motherhood and fatherhood. Third, better understanding the balance between quality versus quantity in parenting.
