Advice on parenting is less likely to be accessed by fathers, older parents and parents with lower qualifications, a new Home Office survey has found.
These parents were also less likely to want more advice and information on an aspect of bringing up their children.
Less satisfaction with the parenting advice available was reported by parents with disabilities, lone parents and parents who live apart from their children.
Although there were lower satisfaction rates with advice services among ethnic minority parents, this was found to be due to higher levels of deprivation and single parenthood in this group.
However, Chinese parents were less likely than white parents to have had regular practical help from family and friends with their children.
And Asian parents had a lower awareness of the advice on offer than white parents.
Parents with qualifications below A level accessed advice less often than the more qualified, and were less likely to know where to find it.
The survey of 15,655 parents in England and Wales – which included a large cohort from minority ethnic groups – asked about the quantity and quality of both formal advice on parenting and informal sources of information and practical help.
89 per cent of parents were satisfied with the quantity and quality of parenting advice.
Survey at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs04/rdsolr4804.pdf
