Notes: 4 Types of Parenting Styles & Their Effects On The Child | Child Development and Pedagogy for CTET Preparation - CTET & State TET PDF Download

The 4 Types Of Parenting Styles

The 4 parenting styles commonly used in psychology today are authoritative parenting style, authoritarian parenting style, permissive parenting style, and neglectful parenting style. They are based on the work of psychologist Diana Baumrind, a developmental psychologist at the University of California at Berkeley, in the 1960s. Maccoby and Martin also contributed by refining the model in the 1980s.

Diana Baumrind’s Parenting Styles Theory 

Baumrind noticed that preschoolers exhibited distinctly different types of behavior. Each type of behavior was highly correlated to a specific kind of parenting.

Baumrind’s theory is that there is a close relationship between the type of parenting style and children’s behavior. Different styles of parenting can lead to different child development and child outcomes. 

Based on extensive observation, interviews, and analyses, Baumrind initially identified these three parenting styles: authoritative parenting, authoritarian parenting, and permissive parenting.

Although Diana Baumrind is known for her work on categorizing parenting styles, Maccoby and Martin (1983) were the ones who expanded this 3-parenting-styles model using a two-dimensional framework.

They expanded Baumrind’s permissive parenting style into two different types: permissive style (also known as indulgent parenting style) and neglectful parenting (also known as uninvolved parenting style).

These four parenting styles are sometimes called the Diana Baumrind parenting styles or Maccoby and Martin parenting styles.

The four types of parenting styles are:

• Authoritative
• Authoritarian (or Disciplinarian)
• Permissive (or Indulgent)
• Neglectful (or Uninvolved)

Parenting Styles Definition And Their Effects On Children’s Behavior

Parenting styles are categorized based on two dimensions of parenting behavior and styles:

• Demandingness refers to the extent to which parents control their child’s behavior or demand their maturity.
• Responsiveness refers to the degree to which parents are accepting and sensitive to their children’s emotional and developmental needs.

1.  Authoritative Parenting

High demandingness. High responsivenss.

Authoritative parents have high expectations for achievement and maturity, but they are also warm and responsive.
These parents set rules and enforce boundaries by having open discussions, providing guidance, and using reasoning.
These parents provide their kids with reasoning and explanation for their actions. Explanations allow children to have a sense of awareness and teach kids about values, morals, and goals.

Their disciplinary methods are confrontive, i.e. reasoned, negotiable, outcome-oriented, and concerned with regulating behaviors as oppose to coercive. 

Authoritative parents are affectionate and supportive. They respect their children’s autonomy, provide them with a lot of freedom and encourage independence. 

They also allow bidirectional communication. This style of parenting is also known as the democratic parenting style. 

Children of authoritative parents are cherished.

Based on Baumrind’s research on parenting styles, children of authoritative parents tend to

• Appear happy and content. 
• Are more independent 
• Are more active. 
• Achieve higher academic performance. 
• Develop good self-esteem. 
• Interact with peers using competent social skills. 
• Have better mental health — less depression, anxiety, suicide attempts, delinquency, alcohol and drug use. 
• Exhibit less violent tendencies. 
• Are securely attached.

2. Authoritarian Parenting

High demandingness. Low reponsiveness.

High levels of parental control and low levels of parental responsiveness are the two characteristics of the authoritarian style. 

Although authoritarian parenting and authoritative parenting styles have similar names, they have several important differences in parenting belief, demand, and approach. 

While both parental styles demand high standards, authoritarian parents demand blind obedience using reasons such as “because I said so“. They only allow one-way communication through strict rules and orders. Any attempts to reason with them are seen as backtalk.

These parents use stern discipline and often employ harsh punishment, such as corporal punishment, as a way to obtain behavioral control. Their disciplinary methods are coercive, i.e. arbitrary, peremptory, domineering, and concerned with marking status distinctions.

Authoritarian parents are unresponsive to their child’s needs and are generally not nurturing. They usually justify using mean treatment to toughen up their kids.

Children whose parents have an authoritarian parenting style tend to:

• Have an unhappy disposition. 
• Be less independent. 
• Appear insecure. 
• Possess low self-esteem. 
• Exhibit more behavioral problems or conduct issues. 
• More temper tantrums. 
• Perform worse academically. 
• Have poorer social competence. 
• Be more prone to internalizing behavior and mental issues. 
• Be more likely to have drug use problems.
• Have worse coping skills.

3. Permissive Parenting (Indulgent)

Low demandingness. High responsiveness

Permissive parents set very few rules and boundaries and they are reluctant to enforce rules.
These indulgent parents are warm and indulgent but they do not like to say no or disappoint their children. Children of permissive parents tend to have the worst outcomes: 

• Cannot follow rules. 
• Have worse self-control. 
• Possess egocentric tendencies. 
• Encounter more problems in relationships and social interactions.

4. Neglectful Parenting (Uninvolved)

Low demandingness. Low responsiveness.

Neglectful parents do not set firm boundaries or high standards.
They are indifferent to their children’s needs and uninvolved in their lives.
These uninvolved parents may have mental issues themselves such as depression, physical abuse, or child neglect when they were kids.
Children of neglectful parents:

• Are more impulsive.
• Cannot self-regulate emotion.
• Encounter more delinquent behavior and addictions problems.
• Have more mental issues — e.g. suicidal behavior in adolescents.