He analyzes changing parental behavior as a response to social, economic, and technological changes in the 1980s and 1990s: for example, the rise of cable TV (and 24/7 news cycles) and its ability to spread stories that frighten parents; the rising number of women working and the corresponding increase in day care and after-school programs; and the increasing influence of parenting “experts,” whose advice was often a better reflection of their social and political views than of any scientific consensus.
