Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Understanding parents and child rearing -- Introduction: from beliefs to evidence -- Theoretical perspectives on parenting -- Approaches to parenting research -- The effects of parents on development -- Determinants of parenting -- Parenting and development -- Becoming a parent -- Parenting infants and toddlers -- Parenting preschoolers -- Parenting in the middle childhood years -- Parenting adolescents -- Contemporary issues -- Parenting in nontraditional families -- Parents at risk -- Cultural influences on parenting -- Child maltreatment: when parenting goes awry -- Social policy issues -- Appendices -- Glossary -- References -- Author index -- Subject index -- About the author.