Authoritarian Vs. Permissive Parenting

The psychologist Diana Baumrind identified three categories of parenting styles and linked them to children’s behaviors. “Authoritative” parents is one example, parents that have strong control when necessary, but they explain why and allow them to have their own opinion.

Parenting styles have been described as the collection of parents’ behaviors which create an atmosphere of parent-child interaction across situation (Mize and Petit, 1997). Darling and Steinberg (1993) defined parenting style as “a constellation of attitudes toward the child that are communicated to the child and that, taken together, create an emotional climate in which the parents’ behaviors have expressed.” Despite these challenges, researchers have uncovered convincing links between parenting styles and the effects these styles have on children. There are different styles of parenting: authoritative, authoritarian and permissive.

Over time, many studies have achieved a common objective; to group parenting behaviors into related clusters called parenting styles. Parenting styles, according to a 2007 article in the “Journal of Education and Human Development,” are a mixture of demandingness and responsiveness. Authoritarian parents are

The four primary parenting styles are Authoritarian, Permissive, Authoritative, and Uninvolved parenting styles. Authoritarian parents are very controlling and strict with their children. They expect obedience form their children and don’t tolerate expressions of disagreement. In contrast, Permissive parents are more relaxed and provide inconsistent feedback. They require little of their children and don’t see themselves as responsible for their children’s behavior. They also don’t set limits or control over their children. Authoritative parents are firm and set clear and consistent limits for their children. While they tend to be strict they show love and emotional support for them as well. These parents tend to reason with their child as to why they should behave a certain way. These parenting styles also encourage the child to be independent. The fourth parenting style is uninvolved parenting style. These parents show interest in their children and display indifferent or rejecting behavior towards them. They detach emotionally and only see themselves as providers of materials goods such as shelter, food, and clothing.

A parent’s parenting styles are as diverse as the world we live in today. Nowadays, parents only want what is best for their children and their parenting styles plays a crucial role in the development of children which will in the long run, not only effect the child’s childhood years, but later prolong into their adult life as well.

Children do not come with guidelines or instructions. What they do come with is a crucial set of physical and emotional needs that need to be met. To raise children properly, parents duties are not limited to just food, shelter and protection. Parents are largely responsible for their children’s success in life. Parents are required to teach and educate children. They have to shape knowledge and character into their children to prepare them to face the real world. To be successful with this, parents must provide self esteem needs, teach moral and values and provide discipline that is both effective and appropriate. As the generations have changed, many parenting styles have evolved, as well.

Parents play the largest role in the overall development of children. During the early 1960’s, psychologist Diana Baumrind conducted experiments that were designed to identify and understand the different types of parenting. As a result of these studies, Baumrind concluded that there are four main styles of parenting, one of them being the authoritarian parenting style. In the studies, Baumrind claims that an authoritarian parent is defined as a parent who, “attempts to shape, control, and evaluate the behavior and attitudes of their children in accordance with a set standard of conduct, usually an absolute standard, theologically motivated or formulated by a higher secular authority” (Baumrind 127). Authoritarian

There are three main types of parenting styles: authoritative, permissive, and authoritarian. There have been many studies conducted in an attempt to gain insight on the efficacy of the parenting styles aforementioned. Studies have found each of the respective types has varying parenting philosophies and effects on the children they are used on. Authoritative parenting is often regarded as the best parenting style and it is characterized as high in warmth and high in control. Authoritarian tends to produce negative results in children, as it is characterized as being low in warmth and high in demand (Sartaj & Aslam, 2010). Permissive parenting yields the worst effect for the outcome of children, characterized by high in warmth and low in control (Aldhafri, 2011). Factors such as culture and child behavior can affect parenting styles but parenting styles influence factors such as academic self-efficacy, behavior and social skills in children, so it is important for parents to be mindful of which style they use. Because of these factors my parents have taken on an authoritative parenting style, which has cultivated

As I was reading through our course textbook, “Psychology: An Exploration,” by Saundra K. Ciccarelli and J. Noland White and listening through class lectures over the course of the semester, I found the topic on parenting styles in chapter 8 to be very interesting. I found it to be interesting because I can think on many life situations as a child that applies to this concept very easily, which I never realized before. There are three different types of parenting styles. The first style is called authoritarian parenting. Authoritarian parenting is a style when the parent constantly demands rules on their children and nothing other than rules. In our textbook it is stated that, “this type of parent is stern, rigid, demanding perfection, controlling, uncompromising” (Ciccarelli, White, 2013). An authoritarian parent is one that expects their child to obey their rules or else they would get punished; as I would say this style of parenting is when the parent believes, “is either their way or the highway.” The second style of parenting is called permissive parenting. Permissive parenting is the complete opposite style of authoritarian parenting. They are parents that have absolutely no rules in their household. Permissive parents are normally portrayed as parents that could careless about the concept of parenting. Permissive parents believe that without given rules and demands to their children, their children will be the happiest. This style can also, indicate neglectfulness

Parents will treat their children the way they see fit. In the authoritarian parenting style, there is no room for freedom. In permissive parenting, there can be more freedom than the children know what to do with. Authoritative parenting combines the gist of both of the other styles and allows both freedom and structure. Both authoritarian and permissive styles have components that authoritarian parents see as productive methods if used properly.

We all have had parents or caregivers that raised us in ways in which they thought would make us into good people. Some parent’s were very strick with their children, while some were the complete opposite. However, according to Balswick and Balswick (2014), ”Children who grow up without adequate guidance become fertile ground for authoritarian leaders or cults that prey on neglected young people” (p. 113). Also, according to Wilson et al. (2011), maltreated children are in constant state of stress which can permanently damage their brains, speeding of slowing down emotional responses. So, how is a parent to raise a children so they are not preyed upon, abused nor neglected? Diana Baumrind, a clinical and developmental psychologist has tried to answer this question through her reserch. She studied children and thier parents and came up with four parenting styles. According to Berger (2014) those parenting styles are authoritarian, permissive and authoritative. Authoritarian parents shows little support for their children and are very controlling (Balswick & Balswick, 2014). They demand a kind of blind obedience from the children. Permissive parents are very supportive but have little control over their children (Balswick & Balswick, 2014). This type of parent is reluctant to impose rules and standards, preferring to let their children to regulate themselves. Authoritative parenting occupies a sort of middle ground between granting too much freedom and being

Were your parents always nice and lenient to your wants and needs or were they demanding and always had high expectations of you? Most people do not really think about what type of parent they are, it just happens naturally but after explaining two of the four parenting styles, it will certainly open a mom’s minds about which type of style they grew up with and which type of parent they are to their children. I am going to explain the similarities and differences between permissive and authoritative parents, this will help mothers identify which type of parent they are and explain the pros and cons of each parenting style.

Authoritarian is only one of three parenting styles that Baumrind details. The other two styles include authoritative and permissive. These two variations in parenting styles were seen in the way my relatives and friends’ parents approached parenting. I observed how the parents of my close friend handled parenting. They maintained control over aspects in my friend’s life like school and chores but allowed the freedom to make decisions in areas of social activities. The most striking difference between my parents and my friend’s is the use of reasoning and the expression of warmth. Her parents provided justification behind their commands and or punishments while maintaining a sense of love and affection. The bond and love that is evident between my friend and her parents is not as strong in the relationship between my parents and me. The style that her parents exhibit is known as authoritative because of their focus on some parental control, use of reasoning and warmth. While on the other hand, my cousins raised their children in a completely different manor using a permissive parenting style. While they provide obvious love and affection towards their children, they fail to exert control and regulations. They did not have any real sense of rules in their household. Their children tend to act and do whatever they wanted with little to no repercussions.

The primary focal point of the authoritarian style is on respect rather than parent-child relationships. Authoritarian parents are known for being strict. They lay out rules and expect their children to follow them without question, even if the child has a valid reason for questioning a decision. They establish many rules for the household and leave little or no room for negotiation on policies. Authoritarian parents also fail to explain why the rules exist because they believe that, as the parent, they are the authority on all decisions and shouldn’t be questioned.

“Baumrind (1967, 1971) identified three main styles of parenting”, explains Swartz, de la Rey, Duncan and Townsend (2011:65). The three main styles of parenting are authoritarian parenting, authoritative parenting and permissive parenting. Furthermore, each one of these parenting styles is associated with certain outcomes based on the behaviour of the child, the type of relationship that the child has with the parent and even the child’s self-esteem. However, according to a psychological expert Cherry (2015) “developmental psychologists have long been interested in how parents impact child development”. In brief, this might mean that, parents’ actions and behaviour have a huge impact on their child, which may cause the child to adopt the behaviour and make it a habit as they grow to be parents. So, as a parent you should always keep in mind that “your kids watch you for a living. It’s their job, it’s what they do. That’s why it’s so important to try your best to be a good role model”, declares Lehman (n.d.). I will now discuss the authoritarian