Commentary and challenges to Grusec and Davidov's domain-specific approach

J. E. Grusec and M. Davidov's article (this issue) about domains of parenting and their links with different aspects of childhood outcome raises both interesting questions and challenges. Four of these concerns are discussed in relation to early childhood. First is the issue of bidirectionality. Recent studies highlight the contribution of individual differences in children, and of dyadic measures that include both child and parent, to the quality of parent-child relationships. Second, the specification of domains can be problematic, given the evidence of overlap between domains, and of combinations of different domains in real-life interactions. Third, developmental issues need to be addressed, as do cultural and cohort influences. Finally, children need to be considered as family members who monitor interactions between other family members, learn from and influence these others. The challenge to their account posed by models of family environments that include effects not shared by siblings merit attention.