Parenting Style
Parenting style refers to the way in which parents choose to raise their
children (Boundless.com). Parents’ way of parenting is an important factor in
their children’s development. Baumrind identified three initial parenting styles:
authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive. Later Maccoby and Martin
expanded Baumrind’s work and added the uninvolved or neglectful parenting
style.
Authoritative parenting style. Authoritative parenting is generally
regarded as the most successful approach to parenting because of its high level
of involvement and balanced levels of control. Parents of authoritative
parenting set realistic expectations and consistent limits for their children.
They provide them with fair or natural consequences. Natural consequences
are those that occur as a natural result of the child's behavior with no
intervention required. In authoritative parenting, parents express warmth and
affection wherein they listen to their child's point of view. They provide
opportunities for independence. These parents set rules and explain the
reasons behind them. They are also flexible and willing to make exceptions to
the rules in certain cases. A study done by Weiss and Schwartz (as cited in
Terry, 2004), based on the four typologies, consistently yielded results
indicating that parenting styles can enhance or diminish acceptable behavioral
outcomes in children. In previous studies, authoritative parenting has been
autonomy, and selfesteem as well as better problem solving skills, better
academic performance, more selfreliance, less deviance, and better peer
relations.
Authoritarian parenting style. In authoritarian parenting style, parents
put a high value on conformity and obedience. They are often strict, tightly
monitor their children, and express little warmth. These parents exhibit a large
amount of control over their child's decisions and behavior. They set rigid rules
with firm consequences and they expect obedience at all times. In contrast to
authoritative parenting style, the authoritarian style has been linked with
negative behavioral outcomes including aggressive behavior, decreased
emotional functioning, depression and lower levels of selfconfidence (Terry,
2004).
Permissive parenting style. In permissive parenting, parents tends to
be warm and loving but lacks followthrough on setting limits or rules. They
tend to be overindulgent, make few demands, rarely use punishment, and
allow their children to make their own decisions, regardless of the
consequences. They tend to be very nurturing and loving and may play the role
of friend rather than parent. These parents might be caught up in their own
lives and therefore inattentive, although not neglectful, and exhibit little control
over their children.
Uninvolved or neglectful parenting style. In uninvolved or neglectful
do not respond to their child’s needs and make relatively few demands. This
could be because of severe depression, substance abuse, or other factors such
as the parents’ extreme focus on work. They may look to their children for
support and guidance, and these children often end up "parenting their
parents." These parents may provide for the child’s basic needs, but little else;
in more extreme forms of neglect, basic needs may not be cared for at all or
children may be placed in harmful situations. In uninvolved parenting style,
children tend to look for acceptance in other places and associate with peer
groups with similar family backgrounds. Also, if family environments fail to
provide structure, then child conduct problems are more likely to be
maintained or worsen (Terry, 2004). The neglectful parenting style has been
related to future delinquency and aggression. Poor supervision, neglect, and
indifference are all indulgent parental practices that play a crucial role in
engaging in future delinquency.
Many researchers have found a clear relationship between parenting
style and the behavioral outcomes of children, other studies have found that
there is no clear relationship between parenting style and child
psychopathology (Terry, 2004). Thus, it is important to note that the influence
of parenting style is often moderated by a number of variables such as
temperament, the age of the child, religiosity, and family structure or cohesion.
In most if not all cultures, parenting is seen as an integral social role
with great influence on the lives of children and of parents themselves (Ochoa
& Torre, n.d.). Although all parents influence their children through similar
avenues, the ultimate effect on the child differs on parenting style.
Research suggests that children raised by authoritarian parents tend to
become authoritarian themselves, both in their interpersonal relationships and
as parents (Murphy & Johnson, 2011). Authoritative parents give their children
increasing levels of independence as they mature and this leads to higher
leadership potential in the children. Their social skills, selfcontrol, and self
reliance are more highly developed. These qualities make them ideal
employees, leaders, and life partners. Permissive parenting style often leads to
higher levels of creativity in children, but there is little selfcontrol, few
boundaries, and a sense of entitlement. Children of neglectful parents often
have trouble following rules, because there has been few rules and little
adherence to rules in their upbringing. Children of neglectful parents can have
behavior problems due to lack of selfcontrol. Communication skills may also
not fully develop.
At one time, and in some cultures still, parents were advised to imposed
strict discipline along the lines of such adages as “Spare the rod and spoil the
child” and “Children should be seen and not heard” (Santrock, 2005). Though,
attitudes toward children and how best to parent them have changed to
provocative book, The Nurture Assumption (as cited in Santrock, 2005) Judith
Harris argues that parents do not make a difference in their children’s
behavior. Even parents spank them, hug them, read to them and ignore them;
she says it will not influence how they turn out. She argues that children learn
from many sources and that their learning is specific to certain context.
Although children imitate their parents to learn how to behave at home, they
imitate other people to learn how to behave outside the home. Not everyone
agrees with Harris’ view and say that she is wrong of saying that parents do not
matter. They argue that Harris ignored research studies documenting the
importance of parents in children’s development. For example, many studies
reveal that, when parents abuse their children, the children have problems in
regulating their emotions, in becoming securely attached to others, in
developing competent relations and in adapting to school. Such children
develop anxiety and depression disorders.
McFadyenKetchum, Bates, Dodge, and Pettit conducted longitudinal
studies on motherchild interactions and child aggressive or disruptive
behavior from kindergarten to third grade, in order to explore the predictors of
the intent and the levels of aggressive behaviors (as cited in Abu Al Rub, 2013).
They conducted observations of motherchild interactions for four hours; the
researcher asked the teachers and the peers to rate children’s aggressive
behaviors. The results showed that the propensity for aggressive behaviors in
warmth. Results also showed statistically significant gender differences in
terms of aggressive behaviors. Thus, boys who had high levels of mother’s
coercion and nonwarmth from parents tended to be aggressive over the years,
but girls who had high levels of mother’s coercion tended to decrease in levels
of aggression.
Parenting Style Practiced
Parents’ way of giving care and discipline has a big impact on how
children develop into adults and there significant implications for their future
success (Murphy & Johnson, 2011). Parents naturally exert an important
influence on their children’s development.
Parent educators seek to help individuals to become better parents. Most
parents learn parenting practices from their own parents (Santrock, 2008). The
task of husbands and wives may bring different parenting practices to the
marriage. They then, may struggle with each other about which is a better
practice to interact with a child. A study conducted by Tavassolie, Dudding,
Madigan, Thorvardarson, and Winsler (2016) focused on relations between
maternal and paternal perceived parenting style, marital conflict, and child
behavior outcomes. Child participants (N = 152) ranged in age from 3 to 9
years old. Reports from both parents on perceived parenting style, marital
conflict, and child behavior problems were collected. Results indicated that (a)
parenting styles of mothers and fathers were related, (b) mothers’ and fathers’
internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, (c) marital conflict was
significantly related to child behavior problems, (d) when mother and father
reported parenting styles differed, increased marital conflict was reported, (e)
increased differences between mothers and fathers in self and spouse
perceived permissiveness were related to increased child externalizing behavior
problems, and (f) the direction of the differences between parents (i.e. whether
a particular parent reported being more permissive than the other) was linked
with marital conflict and child behavior problems. Namely, marital and child
outcomes were poorer when mothers saw themselves as more authoritative
than fathers and when fathers were more authoritarian than mothers, and
outcomes were better when fathers saw themselves as more permissive than
mothers and when mothers were more authoritarian than fathers.
Chen, Dong, and Zhou conducted a study with 304 children in second
grade from Beijing, China. It was shown that authoritarian mothers were
positively correlated with children’s aggression and negatively correlated with
sociability, shyness, and inhibition; whereas, instances of authoritative
mothers was positively correlated with sociability for girls, but not statistically
significant for boys. Block conducted a survey to examine the differences of
socialization between sons and daughters. It was shown that mothers and
fathers emphasized achievement and competition for their sons rather than for
their daughters. Second, both parents encouraged their sons to express their
and punishment is more common of fathers than mothers towards sons.
Fourth, fathers show more authoritarian style towards their sons than their
daughters. Fifth, mothers encourage their sons more than their daughters to
be conforming and to create a better impression.
Parenting Style Received and Parenting Style Practiced
Parenting style used by parents will affect their child in their future life
(Alarcon, 1997). Parents often use the same parenting styles their parents used
to discipline their own child. Sometimes parents will decide to use a different
parenting style than their parents. Whichever parenting style a parent uses, it
is important to give one’s child autonomy, nurture, and show them
responsibility. For some parents, a combination of parenting styles work. The
parenting style they choose can depend on their culture and the child's
temperament.
Critzer’s research has shown that using values of authoritative parenting
is effective in raising a child. "Parents today have a variety of choices regarding
their parenting style" (as cited in Aralcon, 1997). Parental beliefs and values
influence childrearing practices. The parenting style that a parent uses will
affect a child throughout his life and is more prominent as they reach
adolescence into adulthood.
According to De Lisi, some parents believe that that obedience and
punishment are the basis for rearing children of strong character and
enduring beliefs in permissive child rearing styles could be that the primary
force driving parental behavior is not a focused on socializing the child but
beliefs that their role as parent should focus on achieving a happy child with
high selfesteem who has harmonious relationships with the parents and
others in the family. Such individuals might be more likely to become
permissive parents because they think this childrearing approach will achieve
these goals of producing a welladjusted child with positive family relations. In
addition, parents may believe that the path to a happy, welladjusted child lies
in creating and maintaining positive family relationships, rather than in an
authoritative approach that enhances development through the child’s success
in meeting challenges within a warm environment that supports the child’s
own efforts to address demands.
According to Jocano, the importance of parenting is particularly
highlighted in Philippine society, in which the family is generally seen as
central to one's social world (as cited in Berg, 2011). Researchers Chao, Tseng,
and Medina have described the Filipino family as characterized by
cohesiveness, respect for elders, deference to parental authority, and
fulfillment of mutual obligations (as cited in Berg, 2011). Many of the studies
relied on Baumrind's classification of parenting styles found authoritative
parenting styles to be the most commonly practiced among Filipino families.
Mothers' and fathers' parenting attitudes, goals, knowledge, and attributions
practices and the ways they interact with their children. However, most
investigations of parenting cognitions in the Philippines have tended to rely on
intuitive ways of describing culturally shared family values. In addition,
McGillicuddyDe Lisi and Sigel research on parent beliefs and parent
knowledge reveals that beliefs stem from multiple sources, including one’s own
history as a child, observations from everyday life, sociohistorical and socio
cultural factors, personal experiences as a parent, one’s own parenting goals,
and opinions presented in 17 popular literature (as cited in Berg 2011).
General support has been found for the idea that direct modeling of
parenting behaviors leads to the transfer of those behaviors from one
generation to the next (Serbin and Karp, 2003). However, these studies also
suggest that there is continuity of an aggressive behavioral style from
childhood to parenthood. In other words, adults’ style of parenting incorporates
both what they learned directly from parenting behavior that was modeled in
their childhood and their own behavioral style, which was already apparent
during childhood. Serbin and Karp (2003) study across a broad range of
research populations in several countries, suggest that problematic parenting
develops in part through learning the behavior modeled by one’s own parents.
In addition, problematic parenting seems to be an extension of an individual’s
early style of aggressive and problematic social behavior. Parents with a history
of childhood aggression, in particular, tend to have continuing social,
involvement, cognitive stimulation, warmth, and nurturance appear to have
important protective effects for offspring.
Serbina, L., and Karp, J. (2003). Intergenerational studies of parenting
and the transfer of risk from parent to child. Abstract retrieved on September
14, 2016 from http://www.psy.miami.edu/faculty/dmessinger/c_c/rsrcs/rdgs
/attach/Serbinetal.(Intergenerational).pdf
Tavassolie, T., Dudding, S., Madigan, A.L., Thorvardarson, E., and
Winsler, A. (2016). Differences in Perceived Parenting Style Between Mothers
and Fathers: Implications for Child Outcomes and Marital Conflict. Journal of
