parenting styles _ education

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Parenting Styles

Parenting style refers to the normative patterns of behavior and

tactics that parents use to socialize and control their children. Early

work on parenting styles in the 1950s (e.g., Sears, Maccoby, & Levin,

1957) documented that adults who were nurturing and able to exert

control were especially influential on children's development of self-

regulated and disciplined behavior. Others (Lewin, Lippitt, & White,

1939) documented that adult leadership styles in classroom-like

settings resulted in different levels of engagement on the part of

children, with relatively warm and egalitarian styles resulting in

greater task involvement, more self-regulated and autonomous

behavior, and more competent performance than either highly

controlling or permissive styles. From this work evolved a general

approach to the study of parenting styles focused on socialization

strategies reflecting demandingness and responsiveness.

Demandingness, or control, refers to the degree to which parents

attempt to integrate a child into the family social system by

enforcing family rules and standards for behavior, setting

expectations that are developmentally appropriate, and providing

structure; responsiveness, or warmth, refers to parental attempts to

support the development of their child's individuality and self-

assertive tendencies by being attentive to the child's emotional well-

being, special needs, and interests.

BAUMRIND'S TYPOLOGY OF PARENTINGSTYLES

Following this early work, Diana Baumrind (1971) conducted

extensive observations of parents interacting with their children in

their homes and concluded that four dimensions of parent-child

interactions reflecting types of responsiveness and control could

predict reliably children's social, emotional, and cognitive

functioning. Parental control reflected consistent enforcement of

rules, provision of structure to children's activities, and persistence

in gaining child compliance; maturity demands reflected



expectations to perform up to one's potential, and demands for self-

reliance and self-control; clarity of communication reflected the

extent to which parents solicit children's opinions and feelings, and

use reasoning to obtain compliance; and nurturance reflected

parental expressions of warmth and approval as well as conscientious

protection of children's physical and emotional well-being.

These dimensions were then used to develop a typology of

qualitatively different parenting styles based on levels of

responsiveness and control: authoritative, authoritarian, permissive

indulgent, and permissive uninvolved (Baumrind, 1971; Maccoby &

Martin, 1983). Authoritative parenting is responsive and demanding

in that parents communicate high expectations, provide clear

standards for behavior, monitor child behavior, and discipline based

on reasoning and explanation rather than power assertion or

withdrawal of love. Authoritarian parenting is similar to

authoritative parenting in terms of being demanding; however,

parents are described as less responsive in that they are more likely

to use power assertive disciplinary techniques and rely on love

withdrawal to gain child obedience. Permissive indulgent parents

display relatively high levels of responsiveness but low levels of

control. Specifically, this style is typified by low levels of control and

maturity demands, but high levels of solicitation and demonstrations

of warmth. In contrast, permissive uninvolved parenting is described

as being relatively low on both warmth and control. At its extreme,

this style is considered to be rejecting or neglectful of children.

CORRELATES OF PARENTING STYLES

There is widespread recognition that Baumrind's dimensions

describe socialization processes central to the development of

childhood and adolescent social and cognitive competence (Grusec &

Goodnow, 1994; Maccoby & Martin, 1983). Baumrind's studies

established that elementary-aged children of authoritative parents

display adaptive levels of self-reliance and self-esteem, and socially

responsible, independent, and achievement-oriented behavior;

children with authoritarian parents display relatively less

independent behavior and lower levels of self-reliance and self-

esteem; and children with permissive parents display less positive

behavior and self-reliance but high levels of self-esteem. Work by



Steinberg and his colleagues (Steinberg, Lamborn, Darling, Mounts,

& Dornbusch, 1994) supported the validity of the four-dimension

typology in that adolescents with authoritative parents fared best

with respect to a range of social, emotional, and academic

competencies; students with authoritarian parents reported

relatively lower levels of psychological well-being; those with

indulgent parents were characterized as enjoying high levels of

psychological and emotional well-being but lower levels of

achievement coupled with higher levels of misconduct; and students

with uninvolved/neglectful parents were characterized as

demonstrating the lowest levels of competence in all areas.

Moreover, over the course of the high school years, the academic

functioning of adolescents with neglectful parents declined and

levels of delinquency and internalizing symptoms such as depression

increased significantly, especially in comparison to that of students

with authoritative parents.

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Other researchers have documented similar advantages for children

with authoritative parents such that they demonstrate competent



social interaction skills, self-reliant and independent problem

solving, emotional well-being and overall psychological adjustment,

and few maladaptive internalizing and externalizing behaviors

(Grusec & Goodnow, 1994; Pomerantz, Grolnick, & Price, 2005).

These children enjoy academic success, demonstrate socially

responsible and prosocial forms of classroom behavior, and

competent relationships with their peers. They also report strong

intrinsic interest in learning, positive beliefs about ability and

control, and mastery goal orientations toward learning (see Wigfield,

Eccles, Schiefele, Roeser, & Davis-Kean, 2006). It is important to

note, however, that few of these findings reflect comparisons of

parenting styles based on Baumrind's typology, but rather on

parenting described more generally along dimensions of control or

warmth or in terms of authoritative versus non-authoritative

parenting.

CLASS, ETHNICITY, AGE, AND GENDER

The benefits of authoritative parenting have been documented

mostly in samples of middle-class families in industrialized Western

societies. However, some evidence indicates that parenting in

working class and low socio-economic status families tends to be

more authoritarian, with fathers using power assertive discipline

more often than mothers. Children raised in more communal and

extended family networks such as those found in Native American

cultures, tend to be treated more permissively than European

American children. Chinese mothers tend to demonstrate more

controlling, authoritarian parenting practices than their European

American counterparts (Fisher & Lerner, 2005). Research on age-

related differences suggests that as children get older, outward

displays of warmth and affection and direct disciplinary encounters

by parents lessen, as verbal communication and discussion increase.

Parents also tend to provide greater opportunities for autonomy and

self-regulation as children enter adolescence and early adulthood

(Maccoby, 2007).

Despite these group-level differences, the positive effects of

responsiveness and developmentally appropriate levels of control are

quite similar for all children. However, work on gender differences

suggests that girls tend to be generally more susceptible to



socialization practices than boys, whereas parental control tends to

be more critical for boys' well-being than for girls' (Pomerantz et al.,

2005; Weiss & Schwartz, 1996). Authoritative parenting also tends

to predict social competence and adaptive psychological functioning

for African American, Asian American, European American, and

Hispanic American children; positive relations between authoritative

parenting and academic outcomes have been found mostly for

European American children.

CONCEPTUAL AND METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES

Although findings have been fairly robust and consistent with

respect to the benefits of responsive and demanding parenting,

several conceptual and methodological issues preclude strong

conclusions about the effects of parenting styles on children. A

central issue is that most researchers document parenting on the part

of just one parent, most often the mother. Little is known about the

frequency with which both parents display similar parenting styles or

about the effects of discordant styles on children's development.

Similarly, few studies document parenting styles within the context

of broader family systems. It also is not clear how consistent

parenting styles are across contexts and age of the child. In this

regard, the degree to which consistency moderates the effects of

parenting styles on child outcomes is not known. However,

inconsistent parenting has been related to aggressive and

noncompli-ant behavior throughout childhood and adolescence

(Wentzel, 1994).

Additional concerns surround the methods employed to document

parenting styles (Maccoby, 2007). In studies of young children,

observations of mother-child interactions during prescribed

laboratory-based activities typically are used to identify specific

parenting styles. Or mothers are asked to self-report on their

parenting behaviors. In the case of observational studies, issues focus

on how to capture behavior in real time and take into account the

sequential and reciprocal nature of parent-child interactions.

Decisions concerning whether to interpret interactions as a function

of time, event, or context also are cause for debate. The use of

mothers' reports has been met with concern given the psychological

investment that mothers have in presenting themselves and their



children in the best light. In studies of older children, self-report

methodologies typically are used to ask children about their parents'

behavior. In this case, researchers place importance on children's

cognitive understanding of their parents' actions rather than on

objective forms of behavior. However, the degree to which these

reports are reliable and valid assessments of parents' behavior as

opposed to characteristics of the child is not well understood.

Of final interest are the processes and mechanisms by which

parenting styles might have their influence on child outcomes. To

illustrate, reasons for why responsive parenting should be related to

a child's academic performance have not been well articulated.

Darling and Steinberg (1993) argued that parenting styles are part of

a more complex system of parental inputs that include goals and

expectations for their children (e.g., expectations for academic

performance) and provisions of opportunities, resources, and

instruction (e.g., academic enrichment programs, help with

homework) targeted at achieving specific outcomes (e.g., mastery of

academic subject matter). Additional research and theorizing that

clarifies these possibilities is needed.

See also:Parent Involvement[1]

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Baumrind, D. (1971). Current patterns of parental authority.

Developmental Psychology Monograph, 4, (1, Pt.2).

Darling, N., & Steinberg, L. (1993). Parenting style as context: An

integrative model. Psychological Bulletin, 113(3), 48749.

Fisher, B. C., & Lerner, M. R. (2005). Encyclopedia of applied

developmental science. Vol. 2. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Grusec, J. E., & Goodnow, J. J. (1994). Impact of parental discipline

methods on the child's internalization of values: A

reconceptualization of current points of view. Developmental

Psychology, 30(1), 419.

Lewin, K., Lippitt, R., & White, R. K. (1939). Patterns of aggressive



behavior in experimentally created social climates. Journal of Social

Psychology, 10, 271299.

Maccoby, E. E. (2007). Historical overview of socialization research

and theory. In J. E. Grusec & P. D. Hastings (Eds.), Handbook of

socialization: Theory and research (pp. 1341). New York, NY: Guilford

Press.

Maccoby, E. E., & Martin, J. A. (1983). Socialization in the context of

the family: Parent-child interaction. In P. H. Mussen (Ed.), Handbook

of child psychology. Vol. 4: Socialization, personality, and social

development (pp. 1101). New York: Wiley.

Pomerantz, E. M., Grolnick, W. S., & Price, C. E. (2005). The role of

parents in how children approach achievement. In A. J. Elliot & C. S.

Dweck (Eds.), Handbook of Competence and Motivation. New York:

Guilford Press.

Sears, R. R., Maccoby, E. E., & Levin, H. (1957). Patterns of child

rearing. Evanston, IL: Row, Peterson.

Steinberg, L., Lamborn, S. D., Darling, N., Mounts, N. S., &

Dornbusch, S. M. (1994). Over-Time Changes in Adjustment and

Competence among Adolescents from Authoritative, Authoritarian,

Indulgent, and Neglectful Families. Child Development, 65(3), 754

770.

Weiss, L. H., & Schwartz, J. C. (1996). The relationships between

parenting types and older adolescents' personality, academic

achievement, adjustment, and substance use. Child Development, 67,

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Wentzel, K. R. (1994). Family functioning and academic achievement

in middle school: A social-emotional perspective. Journal of Early

Adolescence, 14, 268291.

Wigfield, A., Eccles, J. S., Schiefele, U., Roeser, R., & Davis-Kean, P.

(2006). Development of achievement motivation. In W. Damon and

N. Eisenberg (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology (Vol. 3, 6th ed. pp.

9331002). New York: Wiley.



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