Types of Parenting Styles and Effects on Children

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Types of Parenting Styles and Effects on Children

When it comes to parenting, there is a great deal of diversity among families. Cultural backgrounds have a major impact on how the family unit exists and how children are reared. In the last several years, the population of the United States of America has had a makeup. Changes driven by immigration (with different cultural, ethnic, and spiritual ideologies), socioeconomic status, and single-parent families are some of the factors that determine a variety of parenting styles among families.

The definition of culture refers to a pattern of social norms, values, language, and behavior shared by individuals. As a result, parents are affected by their culture. When it comes to self-regulation, parenting approaches vary across cultures concerning promoting attention, compliance, delayed gratification, executive function, and effortful control.

Every parent has a different approach in how to interact and guide their children. A child’s morals, principles, and conduct are generally established through this bond. Different researchers have grouped parenting styles into three, four, five, or more psychological constructs. This article’s content will only focus on four parenting categories: authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and uninvolved. Every category employs a unique approach to how parents raise their children. Generally, each parent will fall into one of these categories and sometimes have some characteristics from another category. Parenting style can also be situation-dependent.

• Authoritarian Parenting

Parents of this style tend to have a one-way mode of communication where the parent establishes strict rules that the child obeys. There is little to no room for negotiations from the child, and the rules are not usually explained. They expect their children to uphold these standards while making no errors. Mistakes usually lead to punishment. Authoritarian parents are normally less nurturing and have high expectations with limited flexibility.

Children that grow up with authoritarian parents will usually be the most well-behaved in the room because of the consequences of misbehaving. Additionally, they are better able to adhere to the precise instructions required to reach a goal. Furthermore, this parenting style can result in children who have higher levels of aggression but may also be shy, socially inept, and unable to make their own decisions. This aggression can remain uncontrolled as they have difficulty managing anger as they were not provided with proper guidance. They have poor self-esteem, which further reinforces their inability to make decisions. Strict parental rules and punishments often influence the child to rebel against authority figures as they grow older. 

• Authoritative Parenting

This type of parent normally develops a close, nurturing relationship with their children. They have clear guidelines for their expectations and explain their reasons associated with disciplinary actions. Disciplinary methods are used as a way of support instead of punishment. Not only can children have input into goals and expectations, but there are also frequent and appropriate levels of communication between the parent and their child. In general, this parenting style leads to the healthiest outcomes for children but requires a lot of patience and effort on both parties.

Authoritative parenting results in children who are confident, responsible, and able to self-regulate. They can manage their negative emotions more effectively, which leads to better social outcomes and emotional health. Since these parents also encourage independence, their children will learn that they are capable of accomplishing goals on their own. This results in children who grow up with higher self-esteem. Also, these children have a high level of academic achievement and school performance.

• Permissive Parenting

Permissive parents tend to be warm, nurturing and usually have minimal or no expectations. They impose limited rules on their children. Communication remains open, but parents allow their children to figure things out for themselves. These low levels of expectation usually result in rare uses of discipline. They act more like friends than parents.

Limited rules can lead to children with unhealthy eating habits, especially regarding snacks. This can result in increased risks for obesity and other health problems later in the child’s life. The child also has a lot of freedom as they decide their bedtime, if or when to do homework, and screen time with the computer and television. Freedom to this degree can lead to other negative habits as the parent does not provide much guidance on moderation. Overall, children of permissive parents usually have some self-esteem and decent social skills. However, they can be impulsive, demanding, selfish, and lack self-regulation.

• Uninvolved Parenting

Children are given a lot of freedom as this type of parent normally stays out of the way. They fulfil the child’s basic needs while generally remaining detached from their child’s life. An uninvolved parent does not utilize a particular disciplining style and has a limited amount of communication with their child. They tend to offer a low amount of nurturing while having either few or no expectations of their children.

The children of uninvolved parents usually are resilient and may even be more self-sufficient than children with other types of upbringing. However, these skills are developed out of necessity. Additionally, they might have trouble controlling their emotions, less effective coping strategies, may have academic challenges, and difficulty with maintaining or nurturing social relationships.

Characteristics of a parent’s upbringing style may continue to be prevalent in the child’s behaviours and actions as they age. As a child grows older, they can be affected by other factors that further shape their conduct or possibly change it entirely (i.e., therapy, culture, job, and social circle). With regards to health outcomes, it is important to identify which areas of concern are related to the upbringing style of a patient’s parents (i.e., the habit of unmonitored snacking) and address the issues at that level. These issues become relatively more important when it comes to behavioural/ psychological intervention.

ON-TOPIC ITEMS:

• Impact: noun [ C usually singular, U ] UK  /ˈɪm.pækt/ US  /ˈɪm.pækt/

the force or action of one object hitting another

• Factor: noun [ C ] UK /ˈfæk.tər/ US /ˈfæk.tɚ/

a fact or situation that influences the result of something

• Compliance: noun [ U ] UK /kəmˈplaɪ.əns/ US  /kəmˈplaɪ.əns/

the act of obeying a law or rule, especially one that controls a particular industry or type of work

• Gratification: noun [ U ] UK /ˌɡræt.ɪ.fɪˈkeɪ.ʃən/ US  /ˌɡræt̬.ə.fəˈkeɪ.ʃən/

pleasure or satisfaction, or something which provides this

• Interact : verb [ I ] UK /ˌɪn.təˈrækt/ US   /ˌɪn.t̬ɚˈækt/

to communicate with or react to

• Authoritarian: adjective UK /ˌɔː.θɒr.ɪˈteə.ri.ən/  US  /əˌθɔːr.əˈter.i.ən/  

demanding that people obey completely and refusing to allow them freedom to act as they wish

• Authoritative: adjective UK  /ɔːˈθɒr.ɪ.tə.tɪv/  US  /əˈθɔːr.ə.t̬ə.t̬ɪv/

showing that you are confident, in control, and expect to be respected and obeyed

• Permissive: adjective UK  /pəˈmɪs.ɪv/ US   /pɚˈmɪs.ɪv/

A person or society that is permissive allows behaviour that other people might disapprove of

• Uninvolved: adjective UK / ʌnɪnˈvɒlvd/ US  / ʌnɪnˈvɑːlvd/

not being in a close relationship with someone 

• Negotiations: noun [ C or U ] UK /nəˌɡəʊ.ʃiˈeɪ.ʃən/ US  /nəˌɡoʊ.ʃiˈeɪ.ʃən/

the process of discussing something with someone in order to reach an agreement with them, or the discussions themselves

• Nurture: noun [ U ] UK  /ˈnɜː.tʃər/ US  /ˈnɝː.tʃɚ/

the way in which children are treated as they are growing, especially as compared with the  characteristics they are born with

• Impose: verb UK  /ɪmˈpəʊz/ US  /ɪmˈpoʊz/

to officially force a rule, tax, punishment, etc. to be obeyed or received

• Discipline: noun [ U ] UK /ˈdɪs.ə.plɪn/ US /ˈdɪs.ə.plɪn/

the ability to control yourself or other people, even in difficult situations

• Moderation: noun [ U ] UK /ˌmɒd.ərˈeɪ.ʃən/ US  /ˌmɑː.dəˈreɪ.ʃən/

the quality of doing something within reasonable limits

• Impulsive: adjective UK /ɪmˈpʌl.sɪv/ US  /ɪmˈpʌl.sɪv/

showing behaviour in which you do things suddenly without any planning and without considering the effects they may have

• Fulfil: verb [ T ] mainly UK (US usually fulfill) UK  /fʊlˈfɪl/ US  /fʊlˈfɪl/

to do something that is expected, hoped for, or promised, or to cause it to happen

•  Resilient: adjective UK /rɪˈzɪl.i.ənt/ US  /rɪˈzɪl.jənt/

able to be happy, successful, etc. again after something difficult or bad has happened

• Upbringing: noun [ C usually singular ] UK /ˈʌpˌbrɪŋ.ɪŋ/ US  /ˈʌpˌbrɪŋ.ɪŋ/

the way in which you are treated and educated when young, especially by your parents, especially in relation to the effect that this has on how you behave and make moral decisions

• Prevalent: adjective UK /ˈprev.əl.ənt/ US  /ˈprev.əl.ənt/

existing very commonly or happening often

• Intervention: noun UK /ˌɪn.təˈven.ʃən/ US  /ˌɪn.t̬ɚˈven.ʃən/

the action of becoming intentionally involved in a difficult situation, in order to improve it or prevent it from getting worse

Selected and Edited by: Mahdis Ramezanpour

Javidan Language Centre

www.rashtielts.ir

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