George Holden and Amanda Harrist embrace the idea that parenting is a dynamic process: children affect parents just as much as parents affect children. A multi-level, ecological approach to parenting and childrearing allows a full range of parenting styles, covering topics from co-parenting, evolutionary views, human behavioral genetics, to religious influences, and addressing challenges to be encountered across parenting courses, such as family violence, behavior problems, and the role of pathology in the family. The completely updated Parenting: A Dynamic Process, Fourth Edition presents research in a way that is accessible and interesting but also accurate, current, and intellectually rich. Although written from a psychological perspective, views and applications from other disciplines - including sociology, criminology, anthropology, and pediatrics - are also discussed where appropriate. The text discusses contemporary issues, such as fertility problems, daycare, marital conflict, whether or not to use physical punishment, divorce, remarriage and step-parents, parenting emerging and young adults, LBGTQ parents, aging parents, the effects of poverty, risks and benefits of media use among children, and family violence. Additionally, Holden and Harrist include selected studies from developing and non-Western countries as well as recent statistics on such topics as US & world birthrate, birth problems, adolescent pregnancy, child injury, divorce and remarriage, child maltreatment, and certain social policy issues.