Children as ‘becomings’—Mapping parental adultcentrism in Hungary

Abstract

Adultcentrism is the tendency of adults to view children from a biased perspective, hindering the recognition of children's competence and agency. It presents a challenge for parents, potentially influencing parenting practices and children's participation in decision-making. Adultcentrism has received increasing attention in the literature, and with its recent operationalization, a new focus has emerged. However, adultcentrism has remained unexplored in Hungary. Using the Adultcentrism Scale, we aimed to conceptualize adultcentrism in this sociocultural context and validate the instrument in a different language, both for the first time. A cross-sectional sample of 422 parents was surveyed online to analyse adultcentrism in Hungary and identify whether adult-centric thinking is associated with less-positive parenting behaviour. Our findings showed that extreme adult-centric biases are rare among Hungarian parents and indicated that adult-centric thinking has two major dimensions in our context. Firstly—and dominantly—adults tend to think about children as ‘becoming’ rather than ‘being’. Secondly, they tend to underestimate children's agency. The present conceptualization challenged the role of seeing children as incompetent in the construct. Adultcentrism indicated a weak positive association with parental perceptions of children's participation in decision-making and positive parenting behaviours. However, it was not associated with negative behaviours, except for physical control. Our findings support the latest research that emphasizes that a certain level of adultcentrism is natural and presents thought-provoking dilemmas regarding the understanding and measurement of adultcentrism in the Hungarian context. The study has implications for researchers analysing and theorizing this evolving construct and practitioners who want to improve the adult–child relationship.