Parent-child Relationships

The Typological Approach

One of the most influential theories was proposed by Diana Baumrind, who distinguished among three types of parental childrearing approaches. Authoritative parenting is characterized as warm, responsive, and involved, yet unin-trusive. Authoritative parents set reasonable limits and expect appropriately mature behavior from their children. Authoritarian parenting is harsh, unresponsive, and rigid. These parents tend to use power-assertive methods of control with their children. Permissive parenting is lax. Permissive parents exercise inconsistent discipline and allow their children to express their impulses freely. Research has found that authoritative but not authoritarian or overly permissive parenting fosters positive emotional, social, and cognitive development in children. Longitudinal studies indicate that authoritative parenting is associated with positive outcomes for both younger children and adolescents, and that responsive, firm parent-child relationships were especially important in the development of competence in sons. Moreover, authoritarian childrearing had more negative long-term outcomes for boys than for girls. Sons of authoritarian parents were low in both cognitive and social competence. Their academic and intellectual performance was poor. In addition, they were unfriendly and lacking in initiative, leadership, and self-confidence in their relations with peers. Children of permissive or laissez-faire parents were often impulsive, aggressive, and bossy, and they were low in independence and achievement.

Later, a fourth parenting style was recognized—namely, uninvolved parenting, which is parenting that is indifferent and neglectful. Uninvolved parents focus on their own needs rather than the needs of their child. Uninvolved parenting has been associated with disruptions in attachment for infants and impulsivity, aggression, noncompliance, mood-iness, and low self-esteem in older children.

More recently, Brian Barber further distinguished types of control that are not fully captured by Baumrind's four-cell typology. He distinguished behavioral control (regulation of the child's behavior through firm but appropriate discipline and monitoring) from psychological control (regulation of the child's activities by modifying his or her emotional state by using guilt or shame induction, love withdrawal, and parental intrusiveness). High levels of psychological control or high use of both behavioral and psychological control is associated with internalizing problems such as anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, loneliness, and self-derogation.

One concern with the typological approach is whether the identified types and their consequences are universal. Recent studies have questioned the generalizability of these styles across SES and ethnic/cultural groups. For example, research has found lower SES parents are more likely to use an authoritarian style, but this style is often an adaptation to the ecological conditions such as increased danger and threat that may characterize the environments of poor families. Moreover, the use of authoritarian strategies under these circumstances has been linked with more positive outcomes for children. A second challenge to the presumed universal advantage ofauthoritativechildrearingstylescomesfrom [Page 1200]cross-ethnic studies. Accumul ating evidence underscores the nonuniversality of these stylistic distinctions and suggests the importance of developing concepts that are based on an indigenous appreciation of the culture in question.

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