Parenting Styles

Parenting style refers to the behaviors and relationship that parents display in a relatively constant manner as they interact with their offspring throughout their development. Although a parent’s behavior can fluctuate according to the situation, researchers have identified and measured some consistencies that characterize a particular parent and differentiate one parent from another. These consistencies can be termed the parenting style. Studies have related these to developmental outcomes of children and adolescents such as delinquency, self-esteem, substance abuse, and academic achievement.

In the 1960s, Diana Baumrind conceptualized parenting style according to two dimensions: the amount of control exerted and responsiveness to the child. Three types of parenting style were identified using these dimensions: authoritarian (high control and low responsiveness), authoritative (high control and high responsiveness), and permissive (low control and high responsiveness). Later researchers added the category of neglectful (low control and low responsiveness).

Although the original research was based on interviews and observation of mothers with their children, later researchers have developed questionnaires with which parenting style can be reported and measured. Data from the questionnaires can be analyzed either as parenting style categories or can be converted into continuous scales by which one or all parenting styles can be examined. Using these parenting style categories, many researchers have reported that an authoritative parenting style is most often related to positive outcomes.

Some psychologists have advocated training to help parents employ authoritative parenting. However, the characteristics of the children have a great influence on the type of parenting that their parents employ. Children with behavioral difficulties or achievement problems may require or elicit particular types of parenting. Also children being raised in at-risk settings may benefit from particular styles of parenting.

Cross-cultural research has challenged the accounts of parenting style effects that have been based on both theoretical models and data gained from American families. In some cultures, especially East Asian cultures, authoritarian parenting has been shown to be more prevalent and also often related to desired outcomes. Alternative conceptualizations of parenting style have been published that reflect non-Western values and [Page 1207]practices. These show that loving care for a child can be shown by a variety of parent behaviors. Because of this, teachers and other practitioners have been advised to avoid recommending a particular parenting style as desirable for all children.

Modifications of the concept and measurement of parenting style have been made. For example, the specific parenting behaviors that a parent might employ in a particular context have been distinguished from a parenting style that conveys the more general and enduring manner in which those behaviors are displayed.

See also Cross-Cultural Research; Multicultural Validity