Parenting Styles And Social Relationships

Parenting Styles

Diana Baumrind (1966, 1967, 1971) revolutionized the field of parenting when she defined three types of maternal and paternal parenting based on differing levels of parental control and acceptance. The three categories of parenting styles that Baumrind (1966, 1967, 1971) identified were authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive. Maccoby and Martin (1983) later expanded upon this theory of parenting styles by adding another category of neglectful—or uninvolved—parenting, which is characterized by both low responsiveness and low care or demandingness (Maccoby et al., 1983). Permissive, authoritarian, and authoritative parenting styles became the basis of describing how parental figures exhibit adult control towards their children.

Permissive parents are caring and warm towards their children but are not demanding or firm with house rules or behavior. These parents talk to their children with reason but do not use their authority to control or to tell their children what to do. They are more of a resource instead of a controller of their children and are not regularly attempting to shape their child’s current or future behavior. This is because permissive parents permit lots of freedom, allowing their child to control their own behavior and activities (Baumrind, 1966).

Entirely contradictory to the permissive parenting style, authoritarian parents wholly emphasize obedience, restrictions, rules, and often appear to be detached from their child. Authoritarian parents believe in strictly limiting their child’s autonomy and strive to be in control of many aspects of their child’s life. Authoritarian parents tend to exhibit less warmth towards their children than other types of parents and tend to be less responsive to their child’s needs. Authoritarian parents are likely to believe that a child should listen to them the first time, never contradicting or talking back, and that a child should always accept what they tell them as the truth. Baumrind (1966) states that this form of parenting is less common than it was centuries ago when many American families wanted their children to follow the teachings and will of God, because it tends to be consistent with parents setting an absolute set of standards and behavior that is theologically driven.

Baumrind’s (1966) final type of parenting style is authoritative parenting. Authoritative parents are rational when interacting with their children. These parents implement discipline while also valuing their child’s autonomy and individuality. Although these parents are demanding and use firm control, they do not continuously limit what their child does, allowing them to be an individual who makes their own decisions. They do not use forms of psychological control and allow their children to have a voice that is both listened and responded to. They provide ample amounts of positive encouragement and warmth towards their child. Authoritative parents also value verbal collaboration, asking questions and listening to their child when there is a disagreement (Baumrind, 1966).

Measures for evaluating parenting style. Empirical research that discusses Baumrind’s (1966) parenting styles—as well as other types of parenting practices—use a variety of measures to assess parenting styles. Questionnaires are often filled out by either parents or caregivers, or the children and adolescent participants themselves, quantifying perceptions of parenting practices and styles. One of the most common measures that is used is the Parental Authority Questionnaire (Buri, 1999). This valid questionnaire was created to measure a subject’s perspective of their parent’s permissive, authoritarian or authoritative style of parenting. The Parental Authority Questionnaire consists of 30 items for each parent, which results in scores for each parenting style for both a mother and father. Another measure that has been used in empirical research is the General Child Management Scale (Spoth, Redmond, & Shin, 1998). Parts of this measure have been used for a variety of features, including a child’s positive conduct with their parents and harshness of discipline. A measure that is used that a mother or father would complete would be the Parenting Practice Report (Robinson, Mandleco, Olsen & Hart, 1995). Parents fill out items about their type of parenting regarding Baumrind’s (1966) three styles. Valid measures such as these are frequently used to identify parents’ style of parenting and allow those conducting empirical research to quantify and relate parenting to other factors in a child’s or adolescent’s life, such as attachment and social relationships.

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Other important aspects of parenting. Many of the studies examining the association between parenting and sibling or romantic relationship outcomes for children and adolescents also look at parenting styles that are referred to as “parenting practices.” Parenting practices encompasses a larger view of parenting outside of Baumrind’s (1966) three parenting styles, however they are certainly very closely related to the three styles of authoritative, authoritarian and permissive. This is because many of the parenting styles that are observed are some variation of levels of warmth and control. Some examples of these parenting practices would be parental warmth, parental supportive behavior, parental care, differential parental treatment, parental control, and parental psychological control used when parenting. Levels of warmth and control for example are extremely important when determining parenting styles defined by Baumrind (1966), and therefore these parenting practices are closely related and frequently exhibit the same explanations across different studies.

Parenting can also differ between multiple children within a family, and therefore parental differential treatment is also important to consider when looking at parenting styles and practices. It is vital to acknowledge that parenting may differ across multiple children within a family system because it could have important implications for the development of each individual child. The quality of other types of relationships is also frequently examined, such as marital relationship quality, levels of marital conflict, the closeness between a child and parent, parental conflict intervention, and the quality of the parent-child relationship. These parenting factors are important to consider when looking at how parenting can be associated with the future relationships of children.

Another feature of parenting that is important to recognize when discussing parenting practices is the family systems theory. Minuchin (1985) discusses family systems theory and explains how the family can be viewed as a system that is organized and structured by the individuals who live within it. Both individual family members and family relationship subsystems contribute to the family system by influencing each other while being independent of one another (Minuchin, 1985). Minuchin (1985) analyzes how this is relevant regarding the relationships of children within Baldwin’s (1906) discussion of how the judgement from notably important people in an individual’s life is important for the crafting of one’s self-image. It is possible that bidirectional influences within family systems could contribute to the future relationships of individuals within a family—such as the formation of an adolescent’s sibling and romantic relationships—and therefore it is important to recognize how each member can influence each other within the larger family system.

Parenting and Social Relationships

Human beings are social animals, and valuable relationships are important for well-being and health. Individuals who engage in a low quantity and low levels of involvement in social relationships has been shown to be predictive of higher mortality rates than in those who have higher levels of relationship involvement, and poor-quality relationships can also negatively impact mental well-being (House, Landis, & Umberson, 1988; Santini, Koyanagi, Tyrovolas, Mason, & Haro, 2015). Having greater involvement in relationships has also been linked to a lower chance of certain health conditions, such as recurrent dysregulation of the autonomic system and development of cardiovascular disease (Everson-Rose & Lewis, 2005; Uchino, 2006). It is extremely important to understand the potential impact of parenting styles on relationships because of how significant social relationships are.

Certain parenting styles could have negative effects on adolescent relationships, and the resulting poor social relations could have dire effects on adolescents’ future relationships and well-being. Parenting styles that might have a positive association to how children and adolescents look at and create relationships, might help families to be better able to understand how their actions form the social development of their children, and how they can adjust parenting to help better their children’s future relationships. Looking at the formation of a child’s perspective of their own relationships and possible factors that can influence a child’s future relationships, such as parenting, is vital for understanding the development and quality of an adolescent’s future relationships.

The importance of quality sibling relationships. Sibling relationships are an important aspect of an individual’s growth and life and are therefore important to examine in depth because of the implications the quality of a sibling relationship can have in the future. It has been demonstrated that positive and quality sibling relationships are associated with greater positive outcomes in an individual’s life, especially in social areas. Positive sibling relationships have been shown to be beneficial for children who have gone through stressful life events because they buffer the effects of internalized symptomatology (Gass, Jenkins, & Dunn, 2007).