Positive parenting statistics show how supportive childhood experiences, caregiver behavior, and structured parenting programs relate to children’s well-being. The available evidence spans U.S. surveys, randomized trials, and international reviews, so percentages should be read with their population, location, and measurement period in mind.
Table of contents
- Positive childhood experiences among U.S. adults
- Differences by state and demographic group
- Positive experiences reported for U.S. children
- Evidence from the Legacy for Children program
- Parenting-program evidence across countries
- Discipline and positive parenting in North Macedonia
- Caregiver context in the UNICEF Poland report
Positive childhood experiences among U.S. adults
The CDC’s 2024 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report measured positive childhood experiences (PCEs) retrospectively among adults in four U.S. states. The survey grouped respondents by how many of seven experiences they reported. A majority, 53.1%, reported six or seven positive childhood experiences. Another 34.7% reported three to five, while 12.2% reported zero to two (CDC MMWR, 2024).
These categories describe reported experiences during childhood, not a direct measure of parenting quality in the present. They are useful for showing how common different levels of supportive childhood experience were in the surveyed adult population.
The same CDC MMWR analysis reported a gender difference in the lowest PCE category. Women were reported at 13.2% for zero to two positive childhood experiences, compared with 11.2% for men (CDC MMWR, 2024). The figures are survey percentages and should not be interpreted as proof that gender alone caused different childhood experiences.
Sexual-orientation groups also differed in the reported distributions. Bisexual adults had a 23.6% share in the zero-to-two PCE category, and gay or lesbian adults had a 20.9% share. Straight adults had 54.7% in the six-to-seven category (CDC MMWR, 2024). The supplied CDC figures do not establish why these differences occurred.
Differences by state and demographic group
Among the four states in the CDC MMWR analysis, the percentage reporting six or seven PCEs ranged from 50.3% to 54.6%.
| Group or state | Share reporting 6–7 PCEs |
|---|---|
| Kansas | 54.6% |
| South Carolina | 54.4% |
| Wisconsin | 52.9% |
| Montana | 50.3% |
Kansas had the highest reported share among the named states at 54.6%, followed closely by South Carolina at 54.4%. Wisconsin was 52.9%, while Montana was 50.3% (CDC MMWR, 2024). These are state-specific survey results, not a ranking of all U.S. states.
The report also gave percentages by race and ethnicity for the six-to-seven PCE category. White adults were reported at 55.2%. The corresponding figures were 38.9% for Hispanic or Latino adults, 39.2% for other-race adults, and 43.9% for multiracial adults (CDC MMWR, 2024).
Age patterns were also reported. The six-to-seven PCE share was 47.7% among adults aged 18–24, 46.3% among those aged 25–34, and 47.8% among those aged 35–44. It was 53.8% for ages 45–54, 54.2% for ages 55–64, and 58.9% for adults aged 65 and older (CDC MMWR, 2024).
The age figures are retrospective reports from adults in different age cohorts. They do not represent a longitudinal follow-up of the same people from childhood through adulthood, and they should not be treated as evidence that PCE levels necessarily increase with age.
Positive experiences reported for U.S. children
A separate CDC child PCE report, published through CDC Stacks in 2024, analyzed nationally representative parent-reported data on 35,583 U.S. children aged 6–17 years. It examined 26 specific positive childhood experiences rather than only the seven-item adult grouping (CDC Stacks, 2024).
The prevalence of individual PCEs in that child survey ranged from 22.6% to 92.1%. The most prevalent experience was having parents with positive mental health, reported for 92.1% of children. The least prevalent was getting the recommended amount of physical activity, at 22.6% (CDC Stacks, 2024).
The CDC paper connected the number of positive experiences with several current child outcomes. Across PCE quartiles, it found a dose-response relationship for anxiety, depression, and behavioral or conduct problems (CDC Stacks, 2024). In other words, the study reported a patterned relationship across groups with different levels of PCE exposure; this description does not by itself establish that PCEs caused every observed outcome.
The associations were not identical for every experience or outcome. Of the 26 PCEs, 22 were associated with lower current childhood anxiety prevalence. The same number, 22 of 26, were associated with lower current childhood depression prevalence. For behavioral or conduct problems, 21 of 26 were associated with lower prevalence (CDC Stacks, 2024).
Adjusting for adverse childhood experiences did not generally attenuate the reported child PCE associations (CDC Stacks, 2024). This is an adjustment result from the CDC analysis, not a claim that positive experiences eliminate the effects of adversity.
Evidence from the Legacy for Children program
The CDC’s Legacy for Children evaluation followed children from birth to age 5 in randomized trials conducted in Los Angeles and Miami. In the participating group, 7% of mothers reported socioemotional problems for their 4-year-old children. In the comparison group, the reported figure was 16% (CDC Legacy for Children, 2020).
The evaluation also reported that mothers who did not participate in Legacy were 1.8 times more likely to report noticeable behavioral concerns from age 2 to age 5 (CDC Legacy for Children, 2020). The comparison describes a difference reported in the evaluation; it should not be generalized to every family or parenting program.
Together, the 7% and 16% figures provide a compact comparison of reported socioemotional problems at age 4, while the 1.8-times figure summarizes the evaluation’s reported likelihood of noticeable behavioral concerns over the ages 2–5 period. The study setting and randomized-trial design matter when interpreting these results: the evidence came from Los Angeles and Miami, not a worldwide sample.
Parenting-program evidence across countries
WHO’s Parenting for Lifelong Health (PLH) for Young Children materials report positive program effects at one-month follow-up in South Africa. A later South Africa trial included 296 parents and children. Adaptations were also tested with 120 low-income families in Metro Manila, Philippines, and 120 families in Udon Thani, Thailand (WHO, PLH for Young Children).
The Thailand study reported reduced overall child maltreatment at both immediate and three-month follow-up. It also found reduced harsh parenting at the three-month follow-up (WHO, PLH for Young Children). These are follow-up findings from the named adaptation and time points; the supplied facts do not provide effect-size percentages for those reductions.
Broader WHO-INTEGRATE reviews published in 2023 provide larger evidence bases. The LMIC review included 131 randomized controlled trials from 36 countries. The global review of parenting interventions included 278 randomized controlled trials in 30 countries (WHO-INTEGRATE reviews, 2023).
| Review subgroup | Mean effect size | Sample and study counts |
|---|---|---|
| Higher-income settings | d = -0.53 | N = 57; k = 210 |
| Lower-income settings | d = -0.41 | N = 27; k = 223 |
| Ethnic-majority parents | d = -0.29 | N = 40; k = 96 |
| Ethnic-minority parents | d = -0.51 | N = 56; k = 217 |
In the global review, the mean effect size was d = -0.53 in higher-income settings and d = -0.41 in lower-income settings (WHO-INTEGRATE reviews, 2023). The reported difference between those income groups was d = 0.10, with a 95% confidence interval from -0.08 to 0.27.
The same review reported a small mean effect size of d = -0.29 for ethnic-majority parents and a medium mean effect size of d = -0.51 for ethnic-minority parents. The ethnicity subgroup difference was d = 0.22, with a 95% confidence interval from 0.05 to 0.39 (WHO-INTEGRATE reviews, 2023). Effect-size signs and magnitudes depend on the review’s outcome coding, so these values should be read as review statistics rather than simple percentage-point changes.
The qualitative search in the WHO-INTEGRATE review produced 48 records. After one duplicate was removed, 47 titles and abstracts were screened; 41 full texts were assessed and 31 were included. Handsearching added four studies, producing 35 included records in that qualitative component (WHO-INTEGRATE reviews, 2023).
Discipline and positive parenting in North Macedonia
UNICEF’s North Macedonia follow-up survey compared caregiver reports from 2016 and 2019. The percentage of parents or caregivers who reported using at least one violent disciplinary method rose from 79% in 2016 to 84% in 2019. The share reporting only positive parenting and non-violent methods fell from 21.3% to 15.8% over the same comparison (UNICEF North Macedonia follow-up survey).
| North Macedonia measure | 2016 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Used at least one violent disciplinary method | 79% | 84% |
| Used only positive and non-violent methods | 21.3% | 15.8% |
| Believed children are affected by shouting or arguing | 84% | 87% |
| Disagreed that shouting or arguing has no effect | 60% | 65% |
Beliefs about conflict in front of children also changed in the survey. In 2019, 87% believed children are affected when parents shout or argue in their presence, compared with 84% in 2016. In the same years, 65% and 60%, respectively, disagreed with the statement that shouting or arguing has no effect on children (UNICEF North Macedonia follow-up survey).
These figures measure reported practices and beliefs in two survey years. They do not measure every interaction between caregivers and children, and the supplied data do not identify the causes of the year-to-year differences.
Caregiver context in the UNICEF Poland report
A UNICEF Europe and Central Asia positive parenting report from 2024 included caregivers from Ukraine and reported their Polish-language proficiency and time living in Poland. Proficiency was rated on a numbered scale by respondents: 32% rated themselves at level 5, 17% at level 6, and 7% said they were fluent in Polish (UNICEF Europe and Central Asia positive parenting report, 2024).
The same report described how long respondents had lived in Poland. Seventy-five percent had lived there for more than 18 months. The remaining reported time bands included 2% for less than 3 months, 2% for 3–5 months, 3% for 6–8 months, 3% for 9–11 months, and 15% for 12–18 months (UNICEF Europe and Central Asia positive parenting report, 2024).
These language and residence figures provide context for interpreting caregiver support needs in the report’s population. They are not measures of parenting quality, child outcomes, or the effectiveness of a positive-parenting intervention.