Neglectful Child Rearing Style

Diana Braumind, a clinical and developmental psychologist, was known for her research of parental styles in the late 1960s. In her study, she and her research team followed more than 100 children of preschool-age. Baumrind 's primary research methods were interviews and observation. With her results, she was able to categorize three different types of parenting styles: Authoritarian, Authoritative, and Permissive. Elaborating on the work of Braumind, two researchers named Eleanor Maccoby and John Martin later added the classification of “neglecting” parenting.

An example of this parenting style would be a parent who wishes to be their child’s friend. Then there is the permissive-indifferent which is described as insensitive and not controlling. This would allow much lenience for the children. An example of this would be a parent neglecting their children. The last parenting style that Baumrind has researched is the authoritative parenting style.

“Over the years, my mom kicked and beat me, throttled me, threw me down the stairs and pushed me into a scalding hot bath. She once held my head under the water and another time she shoved a full bar of soap in my mouth. There are too many incidents to recount” (NCPCC). These words came directly from a child who experienced physical abuse from his own mother. Maltreatment of children has multiple forms including neglect, physical abuse, as well as sexual abuse which all produce a variety of negative effects; effects that not only harm the child as he or she grows but can also be found in adulthood.

The topic I chose was neglectful parenting. My reasoning for choosing this topic is because I feel like too many parents today have fallen into this type of parenting style. The development of children is greatly being affected by this parenting style and the effects could last all of the children's’ lives. Since my ideal career is to do something in the matters of helping children, researching and learning more about this topic could potentially help me understand this issue and how it affects children. In my career, I could use this information to explain why a child has developed into certain bad behaviors and then a strategy could be found to help the child break the behavior. Not only is the topic important to me because it relates to the career I wish to pursue, but also because I seen the effects of neglectful parenting on several children who I adore and by learning more about this issue, I could be able to help them.

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

The last parenting style is uninvolved style. This is when the parent is cold and not strict. The parent is not involved with their children. They don’t have time for their children. Children with these parents end up acquiring many problems. “poor emotional self regulation, school achievement difficulties and frequent antisocial acts…” (Berk 389). As it mentions in Infants, Children and Adolescents, when this becomes extreme, this parenting style can be categorizes as neglect.

This parenting style is called Neglectful, this is when a parent has a bad relationship and doesn’t pay attention to the child. If I was a parent I don’t think I could ever treat my own child like they don’t mean anything to me. And as child I would be scared of my parents, going home and doing something wrong. Some characteristics of being a neglectful parent are emotionally distant from your child, so you never talk about feelings going through their minds which can be very damaging to a child. One could have little to no supervision, have zero to one expectations for the child and don’t support the child with anything they do like attending school events or sporting events. Anything you do to a child has an effect like if the parents doesn’t do anything cook that child has to learn how to provide for themselves. Also the child can built fears, anxiety, or stress due to the lack of support from their parents.

Now a day, the majority of teens have low-self esteem, misbehavior, and use drugs. The consequences of parenting styles is a significant problem that affects parents, children, and the community. Studies show that the benefit of authoritarian parenting and the disadvantage of uninvolved parenting are evident as early as the preschool years and continue throughout adolescence and into early adulthood. A recent study of 1,000 teens, for instance, by the Nacional Center on Addiction and Substance abuse evaluate a “hand-on” (roughly equivalent to the authoritarian or authoritative styles) approach versus a “hand-off” (akin to the permissive and uninvolved styles)

Child-rearing practices are derived from cultural influences on parents. For much of history, parenting practices were passed down from family or based on religious beliefs. However, during the late nineteenth and twentieth century, the way children were raised started to drastically change. Parents began seeking scientific advice from researchers instead of clergymen. The systematic study of child development prompted the emergence of child-rearing experts and parental advice literature, which would fundamentally change the way American children were raised.

Permissive Child Rearing Style-warm and excepting, rather than being involved, however, permissive parents are either overindulgent or inattentive.

Hirshi (1969) expressed that the bond between parent and child had a large factor into the child’s delinquency; Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) also believed that poor parental management leads to low self-control in children which would also lead to delinquency. In 1960 Diana Baumrind had identified 3 dimensions of parenting by conducting a study on over 100 preschool children by interviewing parents and observing the children’s actions by using four aspects: disciplinary strategies, warmth and nurturance, communication styles and expectations or maturity and control. As a result Baumrind came up with three styles. Authoritarian (demanding and responding), Authoritative (Demanding and unresponsive) and indulgent (undemanding and responsive. In 1983 Maccoby and Martine developed a fourth style, Neglectful (undemanding and unresponsive). Thompson’s mother was a violent alcoholic when Venables’ mother didn’t seem to play much role

Furthermore, there are other ways—besides a daughter’s perception of her father—that parenting styles can affect the development of eating disorders in females (Jones, Leung, & Harris, 2006). The research of Jones, Leung, and Harris dove deeper into the different paternal rearing behaviors and core beliefs and their influence in the development of disordered eating behaviors in females rather than simply looking at perception alone, and they found some similar themes. Their research discovered that core beliefs i.e. abandonment, vulnerability to harm, etc. mediated the relationship between different paternal behaviors and the factors that can directly cause eating psychopathology. Individuals with disordered eating tended to have more negative memories of paternal rearing and higher levels of three core beliefs: abandonment, defectiveness/shame, and vulnerability to harm. This research also found that the daughter perceiving their father as overprotective was predictive of a drive for thinness. This data shows that paternal rearing behaviors are related to daughters developing and maintaining eating disorders. Therefore, fathers are pertinent when considering how body image issues/eating disorders may develop and be maintained.

Children are the future of the world and need to be nurtured and educated in the best conditions. Thus, parenting is one of the most challenging and admirable responsibilities that people can experience. Parenting plays important roles in the development of children’s characteristics. Some people nurture children depending on their own ways. Others get advice from friends or books. Parenting can be divided into three groups: authoritative, permissive, and democratic parenting.

The reason I decided to write this paper on neglectful parenting is because in my opinion out of the other three parenting styles (Authoritarian, Authoritative, and Permissive) this one seems to negatively affect the child the most. With the other parenting types there are at least pros and cons for each kind but this one is simply all cons. There are not pros to neglecting a child. Another reason I chose this parenting style is because one of my long time friend’s mother is a neglectful parent, so I am able to use my personal experiences for this essay.

You learn that the father had custody of the children and the mother in incarcerated for mistreating her three small elementary age children.