Background. The paper provides the results of studying gender views on parenthood. For efficient performance of the parent role the system of the subject’s ideas about the phenomenon of “parenthood” and its specific features, as well as personal features aimed at the effective performance of parental functions by both women (mothers) and men (fathers) are laid emphasis on.

The Objective is to describe the pilot experimental research focused on males and females’ attitude to parenthood. The hypothesis of the study is an assumption about gender-specific attitude to parenthood in males and females in relation to the parental roles and functions that are eventually actualized in children.  Females are focused on personal relationships with a child and emotionally coloured attitudes towards them, while for males mostly active forms of parenting are typical.

Design. The first stage of theoretical understanding of the issue included the literature review of the foreign and Russian national psychologists focused on the psychology of parenthood (A. Adler, E. Badinter, D. Winnicott, M. Marcons, M. Mead, D. Peynes, S. Fanti, E. Erickson; T.V. Andreeva, K.N. Belogay, N.N. Vasyagina, A.I. Zakharova, O.A. Karabanova, S.Yu. Meshcheryakova, R.V. Ovcharova, V.A. Ramikh, Yu.A. Tokareva, G.G. Filippova, L.B. Schneider, etc.). The second stage of the research was focused on the study of gender-specific ideas about parenthood.

Results. Based on the analysis of the existing approaches to understanding the phenomenon of “parenthood”, we defined it as a complex personal education including positive affective manifestations of the subject in relation to children shaped in the process of his interaction with the child and having a positive impact on the entire harmonious development and education of children. The survey data showed that the respondents expressed gender-specific attitudes to parenthood. In particular, the discrepancy lies in the perceptions of males and females of the “ideal parent” and their parental roles.

Conclusion.The study proved the presence of gender features in the ideas of parenthood. To optimize the level and content of ideas about parenting will contribute to further rendering psychological support for the family.

Background. The interest in childhood as a period of human life and in children as  members of society is determined by negative transformations of the sociocultural development  observed in the period starting with 70-80s of the 20^th century to the present day.

The Objective of the paper is to describe the pilot research for optimizing parenting motivation as part of personal education. The basic hypothesis of the research is the assumption about the objective dependence of parenting motivation on the system of value orientations and attitudes of the subject, including the perceived necessity for the child upbringing.

Progress Report. The first stage of the research includes the analysis of foreign and domestic scientists’ works of in the field of psychology of parenting, which allowed to shape the research hypothesis and to design the experimental part. The second stage is the implementation of the experimental research program. Respondents of the research were represented by males and females aged 16 to 22 years.

Research Results. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of the experimental data carried out at the third stage showed that 73 per cent of the respondents pointed to the family as the most important value. The central motivation for child birth in the majority of respondents (84 per cent) is receiving baby love.

Conclusion. The conducted research showed that parenting motivation is well-developed in the respondents. The hypothesis about the distinctive features of parenting motivation at the stages of early and late adolescence, and also the hypothesis of the gender specificity of parenting motivation have also been confirmed. Similarly, the qualitative analysis of the experimental data that has been performed in the research reveals the maximum intensity of the emotional component of parenting motivation. The cognitive component that objectively determines the stability of motivation is weakly expressed. To develop the parenting motivation as part of personal education  the program aimed at harmonizing the development process of both emotional and cognitive component of parenting motivation was organized.