Essay on The Psychology of Parenting Styles

A parent’s parenting styles are as diverse as the world we live in today. Nowadays, parents only want what is best for their children and their parenting styles plays a crucial role in the development of children which will in the long run, not only effect the child’s childhood years, but later prolong into their adult life as well.

With over three hundred million Americans and over six billion people worldwide parenting skills are essential to maintain a healthy society. Parenting involves many aspects and requires many skills. It is a time to nurture, instruct, and correct to develop fundamental skills children will need to be mature, responsible, and contributing adults to a society. There are four commonly identified parenting styles; authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and uninvolved parenting. Of the four parenting styles, two remain on opposite ends of the parenting spectrum. These two styles; authoritarian, and permissive both have deleterious results that are often visible throughout different developmental stages, such as rebellious behavior. As well

The permissive parenting style is one in which the parents care for their child, yet they don’t set rules or discipline their child. This parenting style is high in nurturance and low in maturity demands, control, and communication. According to Joseph Sclafani, a child psychologist,:

Authoritarian parents normally do not interact with their children in positive ways and usually install fear into the child. Punishment is usually harsh and given without explanation. Children with authoritarian parents are often anxiety- ridden. Studies have shown that these children have lower self- esteem, show high aggressiveness and typically do less well in school. Permissive parenting consists of high nurture and acceptance, but these parents lack structure and control. These parents look at their children as “free spirits” who need space to learn and grow. Permissive parents are usually inconsistent with discipline. Children with permissive parents normally are impulsive and irresponsible. These children also lack any self- control since none was expected (Sclafani 47).

According to the New York Metro Parents, a website that combines nine regional print magazines in New York’s Metropolitan areas, several studies of babies left to cry in their rooms show that parents can’t love a child too much. Ferberized children tend to grow up to be extremely successful later in life. These children grow up to be tomorrow’s doctors, firefighters, and millionaires of Silicon Valley. (Hogan and Haskell, 2). Most of today’s kids have one of the following types of parents: Indulgent, Authoritative, Neglectful, Authoritarian*. These are generally regarded as the four main types of parenting. These four styles of parenting are the stereotypical parenting styles most people identify one or both of their parents as. Indulgent parents tend to coddle their children and protect them from disappointment. Authoritative parents are people who have reasonable demands and rules usually met by children who respond well and listen to them. Though they have high expectations, these parents’ children tend to meet or exceed the expectations due to the resources the parent’s provide. These parents are known by some children as the “golden guardians.” They are what every parent who has ever purchased a parenting book strives to become. Authoritarian parents have extremely high expectations that are almost impossible to meet and very strict rules that must be followed unconditionally. These adults are the origin of parental nicknames such as “Scary Gary” and “Evil

What is good parenting style and how should parents act? Good parenting style shapes a child’s character and helps the child become a decent person of good manners. It is found that in order for this to occur parents must

Research indicates that about one-third of all parents use authoritative style of parenting. Regardless of the preferred style, varying factors such as culture, the temperament of the child and parent, and parental status will influence the interactive process of that style. Most parents could benefit from knowledge and information of these style to improve their parenting skills.Parenting style is a pattern of behavior that influences child-rearing practices. Approaches vary based on several factors, ranging from how parents themselves were raised to the goals parents have for their children.

O’Byrne, Haddock, Poston, and Mid America Heart Institute (2002) investigated whether parenting style was a risk factor of smoking initiation and experimentation among adolescents and whether there was a relationship between parenting style and readiness to quit, and nicotine dependence among smokers. O’Byrne et al. (2002) defined current smokers as those who smoke regularly, experimenters as individuals who have smoked on one or two occasions, but have not smoked in the past month. Initiated smokers were considered both current smokers and individuals who smoked regularly in the past and then quit. Readiness to quit was categorized into four stages: precontemplation, for those who had no intent on quitting, contemplation, for those who may quit but not within the next 6 months, preparation, for those who will quit within the next 6 months and action, for those who will quit next month. Parenting style was measure by the Family of Origin Scale (FOS) which measured family intimacy and autonomy. This scale

The next parenting style is permissive parenting. These parents are warm. Although they are warm they are not involved with their children and their activities. They also don’t have control of the behavior of their children. These parents do not have many rules and allow their children to do what they want to do, whenever they want to do it. “Their children eat meals and go to bed when they feel like it and watch as much television as they want” (Berk 389). In the book Infants, Children and Adolescents it mentions that these children become disobedient. It mentions that they do poorly in school, have more antisocial behaviors, become dependent, and are rebellious.

Mr. and Mrs. Harsh­Heart believe in the importance of stern discipline and impose strict rules

Parenting style is a term used to describe parents’ attempts to control and socialize their children (Baumrind, 1991). Although the primary role of

In the early 1960s, psychologist Diana Baumrid conducted a research, analyzing child-parent behavior, seeking to identify parenting styles. The Baumrid study and other further studies identified four main styles of parenting (Miller, 2010): the authoritative parenting style was characterized by fair rules and consequences; The Authoritarian parenting style was characterized by strict rules and harsh punishment; the permissive parenting style was characterized by minimal rules with little or no consequences; the uninvolved parenting style was characterized by no rules, and parent presence was almost non-existent. In this paper, I’m going to look at the authoritarian style of parenting in an attempt to draw out its characteristics and its immediate and later impacts on children impact.

The second group is called permissive parenting. Permissive parents give up most control and rules to their children. In contrast of authoritative parents, they permit their children to do anything children like. These parents want to bring their children freedom. They want their children to develop in the free ways. They do not set any rules and routines in their children’s lives. While authoritative parents do not provide children with choices, permissive parents give children as many choices as possible, even when the children are not able to make good choices. These parents accept with all their children’s behavior, good or bad, and permit their children develop in the ways their children like. Permissive parents want to bring their children warmness and love, and they never scold or punish their children. However, like authoritative parenting, permissive parenting sometimes is not good for children. Children do things in the wrong ways and this can bring them danger; however, there is no advice from parents to put them in the right ways. These parenting style can bring children and people around them danger.

to the lack of discipline. On the other hand “Children from permissive homes…have good self-esteem and better social skills,” than that of children raised in an authoritarian

The family system and parents are generally regarded as one of the most powerful forces in shaping adolescents. Parents have a great influence in the development of adolescents. The relationship of the parents largely effect the development of adolescents and is an important factor when looking at development. Well-adjusted adolescents tend to have intact families that are supportive and create a warm and loving environment with constant monitoring of behavior. The review examines the current research on adolescent development and how it is effected by parenting styles. Taking into account the changes that occur over time to parents this review shows the fluidity of parenting styles and the stressors that cause those changes.