Comparing Parenting Styles

Everyone has an attachment style from which they developed in the first two years of their life. This attachment style tends to stay consistent with each person throughout their lifetime and affects their social-emotional development, and thus relationships with other people. Attachment styles greatly affect the choice one makes in life partners, and how they parent their own children. It is important for everyone to gain insight on their own attachment style if they are to know their emotional limits and how to strengthen their flaws in order to develop a better-self and stronger relationships with other people (Norcross, 2011). It is even more so important for caregivers to be aware of their attachment style and how sensitively available they are to the children in their lives. How the primary caregiver responds to the child’s needs, determines the attachment style the child will acquire. To develop a secure attachment the child needs to establish confidence in a reliable caregiver. In this paper I will be talking about the behaviors and interactions that I observed while watching the film “Babies”, and what attachment styles may be formed as a result of those interactions.

Those with Anxious-Ambivalent attachment styles did not have supportive father figures, and those with Avoidant attachment styles did not have a consistent level of care from their caregiver (Girme et al., 2015). This study also provided evidence that a high level of clear and purposeful care from a partner can be helpful to individuals with an avoidant attachment style (Girme et al., 2015). This information can be helpful to Chris and Sam, with Sam having an avoidant attachment style, she would benefit if Chris was able to provide the required level and clarity of support to Sam. Communication could be the main factor which could assist the pair in continuing the relationship (Reference

Parenting styles were developed by Diana Baumrind in 1966 at the University of California at Berkeley (Diana Divecha Ph.D, 2015). Baumrind used a model of demands and responsiveness to determine three types of parenting styles. These styles were authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive parenting. Because permissive parenting lacks in demand and discipline, it will not be discussed in this essay. In Baumrind’s model, demands refers to the amount of control parents exert onto and expect from their children. Responsiveness refers to how a parent nurtures and empathizes with their child. Parents with high demands and high responsiveness follow the authoritative parenting style. On

This qualitative research was conducted to ascertain if the attachment style a person has as an adult is created or influenced by his/her interactions with early childhood experiences. The research was carried out by means of a thematic analysis of an interview of a married middle-aged couple. The interviews bought the themes of Work, Childhood and Relationships to the foreground and these were analysed to establish if there is a connection in our childhood attachments and those we make as adults. It can be seen that there are similarities to the attachment types of infants compared to those that

De Schipper, J. C., Tavecchio, L. C., & Van IJzendoorn, M. H. (2008). Children's attachment relationships with day care caregivers: Associations with positive caregiving and the child's temperament. Social Development, 17(3), 454-470. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9507.2007.00448.x

According to Cowan, Cohn, Cowan, and Pearson (1996) studies focusing on attachment theory have shown significant relationships among the working model’s of early attachment histories in adults, their parenting behavior, and the attachment or diagnostic status of their children. Studies focusing on a family systems approach have shown relationships between the marital conflicts of parents, their parenting style, and the internalizing and externalizing problems of their children. Cowan et al. (1996) combined the ideas from attachment and family systems theories in a longitudinal study of nonclinical families in order to better understand possible links among parents’ attachment histories and the problematic behavior of their children in kindergarten. Attachment theorists use categories instead of continuous scales when looking at the variation in children’s adaptation and family functioning, minimizing the possible benefits of using continuous ratings to understand the variation in a child’s adaptation of family functioning.

The lectures, discussions in class, and chapter readings highlighted the importance of one of the characteristics of human nature, which is relationships and attachment. The course materials emphasized the critical role of relationship and attachment to the development of the children. The internship site also provided an opportunity for me to visualize different attachments and relationships between parent and child in action. As the chapter readings from the textbook explore different perspectives of relationship and attachment proposed by various theorists, the class discussions and lectures furthered my understanding and knowledge of parent-child relationships.

Past literature has emphasized the importance of secure attachment bonds in childhood and their impact on social (Bohlin, Hahekull, & Rydell, 2000) emotional (Waters, Virmani, Thompson, Meyer, & Jochem, 2010) and cognitive (Bernier, Beauchamp, Carlson, & Lalonde, 2015) functioning. High-quality caregiver-infant relationships are critical for development and protect against later psychopathology. As mentioned by Bowlby (1969/1982), early infant interactions with caregivers become internalized and serve as internal models for later relationships. These working models influence thoughts, feelings, and behaviours and determine whether a child will develop a secure or insecure attachment style. Maternal sensitivity is seen as central to secure attachment (Ainsworth, Blehar, Water, & Wall, 1978). Attachment figures who display high levels of sensitivity and responsiveness (i.e., appropriately responding to and attending to their children’s cues) promotes secure attachment. The construct of emotional availability successfully captures these important parental qualities and reflects the dyadic nature of caregiver-child relationships.

The styles that Dr. Baumrind recognized were based on two aspects of parenting; parental responsiveness and parental expectation (demandingness). The aspects are determined by the parent’s characteristics on the actions towards the children. Too much or too little of either aspect of parenting can conflict with the child’s learning and behavior. A single selection of the four parenting styles is approached after determining the degree of each of the two aspects. Although there is not a perfect match for any parent, most will tend to push towards a

O’Byrne, Haddock, Poston, and Mid America Heart Institute (2002) investigated whether parenting style was a risk factor of smoking initiation and experimentation among adolescents and whether there was a relationship between parenting style and readiness to quit, and nicotine dependence among smokers. O’Byrne et al. (2002) defined current smokers as those who smoke regularly, experimenters as individuals who have smoked on one or two occasions, but have not smoked in the past month. Initiated smokers were considered both current smokers and individuals who smoked regularly in the past and then quit. Readiness to quit was categorized into four stages: precontemplation, for those who had no intent on quitting, contemplation, for those who may quit but not within the next 6 months, preparation, for those who will quit within the next 6 months and action, for those who will quit next month. Parenting style was measure by the Family of Origin Scale (FOS) which measured family intimacy and autonomy. This scale

Parenting styles have been widely defined by Baumrind into three categories, authoritative, authoritarian and permissive. Parenting styles can be defined as a pattern of attitudes in how parents choose to express and communicate with their children. These styles are categorized based on the level of nurturance, parental control and level of responsiveness (Dwairy, 2004). Authoritative style exhibits high levels of demand, responsiveness and nurturance; authoritarian style exhibits high levels of demand but low levels of responsiveness, permissive style exhibits low levels of demand but high in responsiveness and nurturance (Dwairy, 2004). These parenting styles have been proposed to have a significant impact on a child’s

My parents, my father specifically, believed that children should obey their elders without question and without hesitation. This outlook on parenting stems from their cultural background as Vietnamese immigrants. In my culture, family is structured

Diane Baumrind’s typology has two major dimensions. The first dimension is responsiveness. In the text it mentions that responsiveness “refers to the extent in which parents respond to and meet the needs of their children.” (Knox 364). This is when parents support, encourage, and foster their children’s needs. The second dimension is demandingness which is “the matter in which parents place demands on children in regard to expectations and discipline.” (Knox 364). This is about how strict a parent is and how much control these use on their children.

However, the position being mother or father, as primary or moderator, showed parallel results in the outcome. In other words, one secure relationship in infancy may be sufficient in buffering behavioral problems in a child. The research conducted did have its limitations in ethnic diversity and in the modest size of the group studied. By the convergence of multiple attachment relationships, along with culture, that has changed dramatically; this study was successful, informative and answered the researcher’s

Many research studies reveal positive correlations between parenting styles and the development of individuals. Therefore, the focus of this study is to explore a potential association between parenting styles and emotional intelligence in older adults raised by these styles. Previous research explores emotional intelligence among children, adolescents, and younger adults. However, there seems to be a lack of research on older adults, especially within the retirement years. Since research shows that certain parenting styles affect children earlier and later on in life though, it seems that these styles may influence emotional intelligence into older adulthood. It may be beneficial focusing on effects of older adults to further promote positive