The Impact of Parenting Styles on Lifespan Development II
2008-09-03

by Quinn Hooks

Impact of Parenting Styles

All research indicates that parents and their impact on children last throughout the child’s life. The impact carries well into adulthood affecting such decisions as career choice, friendships, and marriage partners. Recent research reaffirms earlier findings that the most crucial time in the child’s development is the early years. Parenting styles have been linked to the child’s social development as well as emotional development. In the early childhood years, it is necessary for there to be responsiveness from the parent so that a mutually beneficial and responsive relationship may emerge between parent and child. This is necessary if a child is to be compliant and have a moral compass (”Introductory Concepts: Parenting Styles…”, 2007). This is true of children of authoritative parents. The results of an authoritative parenting are children who are secure in their love. They develop their strengths as they meet challenges and overcome obstacles. They learn to find satisfaction in goal achievement and job satisfaction. These children are not afraid of failure and are willing to meet challenges as they arise (Stein, Henry, 2008). Research has also indicated that children of authoritative parents have fewer behavioral issues and generally have fewer mental health issues. This parenting style has shown to promote positive self esteem. From Erikson’s stage theory of psychosocial development point of view, these children experience greater psychosocial success as they resolve the crisis they encounter in each development stage (Marsiglia, et al., 2007). Another benefit of the authoritative parenting style is that it seeks to lessen anger in the child by giving the child consistent rules and logical disciplinary actions. Discipline is seen as being a corrective action whereas punishment is controlling behavior. Consistency in discipline is achieved when the parent knows his convictions, communicates with child and spouse, holds emotions in check when administrating discipline, and be honest with the child. This transparency and consistency will have the impact of lessening the child’s anger (Cross, Roger, 2007).

The authoritarian parent style has been found to have many negative impacts upon childhood development. There are usually three responses from the child to authoritarian parenting. The first response may be called submission in which the child seeks to obey the parent and maintain the peace. This child never questions direction. The second response is open rebellion by the child resulting in open defiance. This child will verbally refuse to follow directions. The third response may be called dawdling in which the child is obedient in following directions but shows his rebellion by being slow to respond to the direction. In this response, the child is slow to complete tasks and achieve goals (Stein, Henry, 2008). These children were moderately successful in school with little or no behavioral problems but they had poor social skills, lower self esteem, higher levels of depression, more aggression among boys, less independence for the girls, greater discontentment, and lower intrinsic motivation (Marsiglia, et al., 2007).

As mentioned earlier, the permissive parenting style manifests itself in one of two ways. In the first manner, the permissive parent is over-indulgent. This results in a child who is bored and lacks drive. This child shows no or little initiative and spontaneity since he expects everything to be brought to him. His view of adults is skewed in that he sees them only as servants meant to provide for his pleasure. On the other hand, the over-submissive parents have children who are very demanding. When these demands are not met, these children will have tantrums to get their way. They are self-centered and have no sense of boundaries (Stein, Henry, 2008).

The uninvolved parent has children who lack the ability to form close relationships. These children usually consider themselves to be loners who see the world as being against them. Sadly, to compensate for the lack of parental responsiveness, these children have a tendency to create an idealized image of the parent that views him as a superhuman or deity. These children do not show self control and lack the ability to handle freedom (”Introductory Concepts: Parenting Styles…”, 2007).

As the child matures and enters in adolescence, these parenting styles impact the them. According to research, authoritative parents have children who are socially competent and able to make friends. They are successful in school and develop a healthy self image (”Introductory Concepts: Parenting Styles…”, 2007). This style gives the adolescent a healthy environment that is supportive and affectionate with the proper amount of parental control to guide the adolescent’s decisions as he encounters new challenges and crisis (Kopko, 2007).

Research indicates that the results for the other parenting styles in adolescents is not as glowing. The authoritarian parents have adolescents who have problems with low self-esteem and socialization. Complicating this socialization is the perception by others of them being moody and withdrawn. They have anxiety in dealing with new situations. Permissive parents produce adolescents who are creative but have problems with self control and rules. They perceive that their parents do not care about them or their behaviors. Uninvolved parents have adolescents who are at a higher risk for deviant behavior. Drug abuse is higher among this population (Horner, Becky, 2001). A far more disturbing development for these adolescents is that the parents use increased force to ensure compliance from the adolescence. In return, the adolescent responds in like manner towards the parents showing more aggressive behavior (”Introductory Concepts: Parenting Styles…”, 2007).

The impact of parenting styles continues into early adulthood. It is interesting that research shows that boys who were exposed to authoritarian parenting style are more aggressive while girls are less independent. Both genders are more likely to be extrinsically motivated. They have continued problems with social skills, are resistant to deadlines and guidelines. They may view sex and marriage as more of a duty to be carried out because that is what is expected of them (Stein, Henry, 2008).

The adult who experienced a permissive parenting style with over-indulgent tendencies show an attitude of expecting others to meet their needs and desires. Therefore, they seek partners who indulge their desires and fantasies. The over-submissive, on the other hand, seeks a servant to wait upon him. He is self-centered, inconsiderate, and rude. He expects high praise even for modest endeavors. Adults from permissive families have a higher incidence of problem behaviors and addicts. Their academic performance is lower but their self-esteem is higher, suffering lower levels of depression, and is better at socialization when compared to adults coming from authoritarian families (Marsiglia, et al., 2007).

Adults who come from an authoritative family are found to be well adjusted with social skills and high self-esteem. They exhibit the qualities being autonomous with the skills necessary for success in life. These adults are found to be well adjusted, well organized, deal with conflict positively, seek self improvement, seek a consensus on decisions, and are able to form friendships (Kerka, Sandra, 2004).

Controversies in the Research

With this research has come controversy about the methods used. Those who favor the nurture theories concerning the impact of parenting style have focused too much on the impact and outcome of the styles while neglecting the genetic component. However, those who argue the significance of nature are critized for focusing solely upon the genetic factors in the children while ignoring the home enviroment (Kopko, 2007).

Earlier research was critized for it lack of taking cultural influences into account. The authoritative parenting style is dominant among Whites, the same does not hold true among minority families. Research has shown that the authoritarian style is more common among minority parents (Kopko, 2007). Researchers have pointed out that authoritative parenting style is a Western European creation from the cultural expectations concerning parent-child interaction.

In Eastern cultures, this model does not hold true. For instance, Asian American parents place a high emphasis upon academic achievement and seek to accomplish this goal thorough a parenting style refered to as “training”. Researcher point out that where European Americans consider parent-child relations as a priority, Asian Americans “emphasize the importance of hard work, self-discipline, and obediance” (Chao, Ruth, 2001).

Recent studies have shown in some cases that the authoritative style was more beneficial for European American youth then Asian American youth. It was found that the authoritarian style more effective for the Asian American youth. It seems that parenting style results are not consistent factor in academic success for Asian Americans. Other results from other studies were not conclusive. It can be argued that parenting style is a reflection of the society as it is a mirror of how family members are expected to interact in that society. In Chinese culture, hard work is prized more than affectionate displays. Self discipline is expected more than verbal affirmations of affection. In a study done in 2001, it was shown that Chinese American youth who had authoritative parents did not fare better in school than those who had authoritarian parents whereas European American youth in authoritative settings did much better than those who were in authoritarian settings (Chao, Ruth, 2001). A criticism of this groundbreaking research was that it failed to take into account the individual student’s attitude towards school and teachers. It has been shown many times that the comfort level of students with teachers and the educational setting impacts academic results (Ang, R.P. & Goh, D.H., 2006).

It is interesting to note recent research that studied the effects cross over cultural barriers to affect all children the same way though not to the same degree. Research into parenting styles has been prone to the nature versus nurture debate. However, researchers in each camp have put too much emphasis on one aspect to the detriment of the other (Kopko, 2007). With this in mind, the University of Illinois recently completed a study of 806 American and Chinese children living in authoritarian homes. The results were astounding. They found that the authoritarian parenting style had the same damaging effects on both American and Chinese children (Yates, 2007).

A study was done of 1456 Spanish adolescents of whom 54.3% were female. Their parents were classified according to their parenting style. The teens were appraised based on their self-transcendence and self-esteem. It was found that teens with permissive parents were found to have a higher self-esteem than authoritarian households. The goal of parental socialization is for the adolescent not only to learn the values of the parents but the internalization of those values as well as the development of the adolescent’s self-esteem. Self-esteem must be a goal as low self-esteem will hamper the internalization of parental values. In the end, this study showed that Spanish adolescents in permissive homes had high self esteem (Martinez, Isabel, & Garcia, Jose Fernando, 2007).

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