Types of Parenting Styles

 

In terms of demanding and responsiveness, parenting styles are distributed in four types- authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and neglectful. (Baumrind, 1991). Each parenting style can help in nurturing qualities that other styles may not. Some merits and demerits of each parenting style that are observed through some studies are recorded below.

Authoritarian Parenting

Children reared from authoritative parents give importance to tradition and cultures and their values inherited from their parents. These children are usually obedient, stay committed to their rules, and are accomplished and skilled. However, they fear failing because of high demands and expectations, as Gerald D. Bell (1963) observed “Violation of these rules frequently engenders feelings of guilt, sin, and unworthiness.”  Authoritative parenting lack warmth and anatomy, characterized by low responsiveness. This discourages children and makes them unresponsive and incurious. They cannot make decisions and rely on some authority to guide them and are more likely to befriend bullies.

Authoritative Parenting

Parents who demand high and in return give high responses, warmth, and attention raise children who are confident, have high self-esteem, and are better at all domains of development. They are less likely to involve in school misconduct and are often more positive than their peers. They are cooperative and value social relationships and responsibility.

Permissive Parenting

Parenting with very high responsiveness and low demands is a shift of authority from parents to children or same-age peers. Parents give precedence to children’s opinions and choices than their own and therefore create kids who are disrespectful, aimless, self-centered, and impulsive. They are confident and loving at times but tend to boss around and act immaturely. They always rely on adults to solve their problems and hence are not persistent on their task and lack self-control and emotional regulation.

Neglectful Parenting

Children with no parental care in the early stages of life show immaturity in social, emotional as well as physical development. They look for other people to form attachments. They are aggressive and cry and throw frequent temper tantrums at age 3. They become antisocial teens and engage in misconduct. As adults they still struggle to form attachments, they get jealous easily and most of their marriages end up in divorce.