Parenting Styles and development outcomes

Parenting Styles and development outcomes

Introduction

Adolescent state is an imperative period which requires parents and teenagers to renegotiate their interactions. Parenting style predicts the wellbeing of a child in a number of ways such as performance, social skills and their behavior  (Shute, Maud, & Mclachlan, 2019). Study has shown that parenting styles are closely related to the various qualities that a parent possesses. Parenting styles are vital family context aspects which leads to aren’t adolescent relationship. Therefore, parenting style is defined a way in which parents’ attitude and behaviors are expressed towards the children. In Baumrind’s approach, parenting styles are classified into four categories based on demanding ness and responsiveness. Using naturalistic observation and interviewing parents, Baumrind suggested that most parents displayed the following parenting styles; authoritarian, authoritative, permissive and uninvolved parenting. Consequently, the main of this paper will be to investigate the how various parenting styles affects the growth and development of children and adolescents.

The authoritarian parents are controlling and very strict. The parents believe that it is mandatory for the kids to follow their rules without an exception. In most cases, they are rarely interested in negotiating with their kids but focuses on obedience. They do not give kids the opportunity to engage in problem solving opportunities. Instead, if the kids are not well behaved, then the parents end up punishing them swiftly and severely. The parents are very demanding and not responsive(Baumrind, 2012). This is regarded as the old way of parenting where the rules are very strict and don’t give space for interpretation. According to Baumrind, If a parent finds himself or herself saying because I said so, then one has the authoritarian approach of parenting. Moreover, the abusive parents often fall into this category. For this reason, children growing up with this style of parenting often follow rules most of the places and have esteem issues.

Authoritative parents have rules while govern their home and breaking these rules means there are consequences (Shute, Maud, & Mclachlan, 2019). The parents make the children understand that adults are in charge. The parents also use the positive discipline approaches such as awarding and praising good behaviors. Study has shown that there is a high probability of children become responsible adults as a result of good parenting(Baumrind, 2012). In most cases, children raised by authoritative parents often are happy and successful. The children are also good at making their own decisions and evaluate various risks at hand. Baumrind stated that the parents monitor and put in place standards for their children’s behavior. Combination of such skills helps the children to develop skills such as self-regulation, self-control and independent.

Baumrind identified the permissive parents to be more responsive than demanding. The parents are less demanding and rarely discipline their kids as they have low expectations and self-control. They are often lenient, often avoid confrontation and do not require mature behavior(Baumrind, 2012). In most cases, the parents’ step in when there is a serious case to handle. They are always forgiving and have a tendency of saying that kids will be kids. They often give the privileges back if the child begs or if he promises to do good. The parents often take the role of being a friend more than being a parent. However, they do not often discourage the chooses from making bad decision or when they behave in a barbaric way. The kids who grow with permissive parents are more likely to get bad grades(Baumrind, 2012). The children do not respect authorities thus leading to behavioral problems. Study has shown that they have low esteem issues and often report lots of sadness.

Uninvolved parents have a tendency of having knowledge of how their kids are doing. They do not devote their time to provide the kid with the basic needs. The parents are said to be neglectful but it is not intentional. At times, the parents are involved with other problems such as work or even managing the households(Baumrind, 2012). Study has shown that the kids with uninvolved parents often perform poorly in school and struggle with self-esteem issues. Baumrind ranked the kids to have low levels of happiness and seems to battle with depression. Moreover, they isolate themselves from the society.

Parenting styles are related to various child outcome and the authoritative style if linked to positive behaviors such as self-esteem and self-competence. Aggressive behavior is predicted by conflict other than parenting dimension such as control or monitoring (Shute, Maud, & Mclachlan, 2019). In most cases, aggression is as a result of disturbance from uninvolved parents. The authoritarian parenting style result to obedient and proficient kids. The children rank lower in terms of happiness and social competence. On the other hand, the permissive children often experience problems with the authority and are very stubborn. In the case of uninvolved parenting style, children lack self-esteem are depressed and often seek isolation as a way of consolation.

Some cognitive theorists have suggested that parent to child relation is vital towards structuring the cognitive abilities of the child monitoring (Shute, Maud, & Mclachlan, 2019). For instance, the parents that monitor the cognitive ability of the kid provides optimal environment for the child to learn. Therefore, the child become highly motivated and willing to perform better in school compared to the those who are neglected. At puberty stage, parents are often encouraged to shape the aspiration and motivations of the kids by acting as a role model monitoring (Shute, Maud, & Mclachlan, 2019). In authoritative parenting, kids are considered as kids and adults act as role model compared to neglectful parenting where the kids is on its own. Therefore, research has shown that authoritative parenting is associated with higher performance in school compared to the other three styles of parenting.

The developmental outcomes vary largely depending on the parenting styles and across various cultural context. According to Pong, & Gardner, (2005) there are differences by Hispanic student and Americans in forms of social capital ad parenting styles. the family economic status also plays a major role accounting for the gap between foreign born Hispanic and the Americans. However, this study also states that the family influences does not determine the grades that each student gets in school. The reason behind this is that the recent immigration system to the united states has changed the ethnicity landscape thus changing the parenting outcome. The study showed that the parents exercised coercive authority to benefit the children (Camras, Sun, Fraumeni, & Li, 2017). In both cultures, the children who were brought up using authoritative parenting style ended up being depressed. For instance, for the American behavior, the children brought up under authoritative parenting had antisocial behavior same as the Chinese students. The Chinese and American parents mean well for their kids and often misguide them when they used the authoritative parenting style.

In conclusion, authoritative parenting has more advantages as compared to the other. The reason is that the authoritative parents are considered to be reasonable., fair to their children and comply with request made by their kids. Moreover, the style of parenting s good as the parents provide rules an explanation to their kids. Providing an explanation to the rules implies that the child will internalize the rules and become reasonable. For this reason, the children know why the rules exists, understand that they are just and adhere by the rules. Since most parents are uninvolved in today’s society, practicing authoritative parenting will mold the child’s behavior and help them become responsible adults in future.

References

Camras, L., Sun, K., Fraumeni, B., & Li, Y. (2017). Interpretations of Parenting by Mainland Chinese and U.S. American Children. Parenting, 17(4), 262-28

Baumrind, D. (2012). Differentiating between Confrontive and Coercive Kinds of Parental Power-Assertive Disciplinary Practices. Human Development, 55(2), 35-51

Pong, S., Hao, L., & Gardner, E. (2005). The Roles of Parenting Styles and Social Capital in the School Performance of Immigrant Asian and Hispanic Adolescents *. Social Science Quarterly, 86(4), 928-950

Shute, R., Maud, M., & Mclachlan, A. (2019). The relationship of recalled adverse parenting styles with maladaptive schemas, trait anger, and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Journal of Affective Disorders, 259, 337-348.