Current challenges of parenting: family-work conciliation, co-responsibility, emotional education and new technologies

Olga Gómez Ortiz

COORDINATOR

SYMPOSIUM SPEAKERS
Short CV

I work as a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Córdoba. Since I started working there, I have written more than twenty scientific articles that have been published in high-impact journals and various book chapters in different educational manuals. The most recent ones, which are the ones that respond to my current intellectual concerns, are aimed at examining the emotional impact derived from the difficulty of reconciling family tasks with those of other spheres and their possible individual and social causes and consequences. Specifically, I have focused on researching guilt linked to family-work conflict and parental stress. Previously, my lines of research have focused on the analysis of parental educational practices and social competence as elements of influence in the development and psychosocial adjustment of children and adolescents and particularly on the involvement in bullying of young people. I have participated in various research projects, being the main researcher of the Spanish team of the European BOOST project with reference 755175 (H2020) and of the National Plan project with reference PSI2019-111241RA. In my training, I highlight the completion of two international research stays at Dublin City University. I obtained the Extraordinary Doctorate Award in the 2015-2016 and the Leocadio Martín Mingorance Research Award granted by the University of Córdoba in the 2016-2017 academic year. Regarding the transfer work, I have led different contracts related to article 83 of the LOU for collaboration with public or private organizations and aimed at the training of families in positive parenting. I have also collaborated in others linked to the study and evaluation of adolescent social competence and to the evaluation of the effectiveness and efficiency of the Treatment Program for Families with Minors in Andalusia.

Symposium abstract

Introduction: Reconciling parenting with the development of activities related to other vital spheres can be highly complicated, especially in the first years of the child’s life. This is a reality that particularly affects women, taking into account the low co-responsibility that is still seen in many Spanish families and the impact of traditional gender roles. All of this often encourages the abandonment of those activities that are seen as less compatible with parenthood or the search for support or orientation from other parental figures. In this symposium we examine the factors related to leaving work after the birth of children and the evolution in the enjoyment of leisure activities, as well as their benefits and gender differences. Likewise, we seek to determine the relationship between the work-family conflict and the parental meta-emotional philosophy, examining the relationship between this dimension and child adjustment. Finally, we will analyze the psychosocial and family impact of the social comparison orientation in fathers and mothers and maternal gatekeeping.

Methods: The reference population in all the symposium works are Andalusian mothers and fathers with children enrolled in early childhood education (0-5 years). All the works have a cross-sectional design.

Results: Parental social comparison and the development of maternal attitudes that inhibit the involvement of the partner foster parental stress and family-work conflict. In turn, these processes negatively impact the life satisfaction of the parents and their meta-emotional philosophy, encouraging them to give up work and leisure activities.

Discussion: The need to offer measures that promote family-work conciliation, effective gender equality and critical evaluation of the content to which parents are exposed in the online context is stressed