parenting styles hypothesis

Baumrind’s Parenting Styles

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Elizabeth Levin 3

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Child-rearing ; Discipline ; Family structure ; Parenting styles

Parenting styles refer to the typical ways parents think, feel and behave in terms of child-rearing.

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The most widely known categories of parenting styles are based on the work of Diana Baumrind [ 1 , 2 ]. Most of her research has focused on two dimensions of parenting style: authority and affection [ 1 , 2 ]. Authority or demandingness refers to the degree to which parents try to control their children’s behavior by setting rational standards for behavior. Affection or responsiveness refers to the amount and way love is expressed to the child and acceptance of the child’s points of view. Based on these dimensions, Baumrind identified three categories of parenting styles [ 1 ].

The Authoritative parent shows high levels of control, coupled with high levels of warmth. Authoritative parents exercise significant authority over their children’s behavior but at the same time they do this with warmth and...

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Baumrind, D. (1971). Current patterns of parental authority. Developmental Psychology, 4 , 1–103.

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Kuczynski, L., & Lollis, S. (2002). Four foundations for a dynamic model of parenting. In J. Gerris (Ed.), Dynamics of parenting . Hillsdale, New Jersey: Erlbaum.

Steinberg, L., Lamborn, S., Darling, N., Mounts, S., & Dornbusch, S. (1994). Overtime changes in adjustment and competence among adolescents from authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent and neglectful families. Child Development, 65 , 754–770.

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Levin, E. (2011). Baumrind’s Parenting Styles. In: Goldstein, S., Naglieri, J.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_293

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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Parenting Styles

Introduction, historical context of parenting styles research.

The Introduction of the Parenting Styles Typology
The Revised Parenting Styles Typology
At Different Developmental Stages
Cross-Cultural Comparisons of Parenting Styles
Tiger Mother
Parenting Styles and Child Narcissism

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Parenting Styles by Michelle Givertz LAST REVIEWED: 26 May 2021 LAST MODIFIED: 26 May 2021 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199828340-0289

Parenting styles reflect variations in the attitudes and practices of parents, and comprise discrete parenting behaviors. “Parenting style” refers to a cluster of parental practices that produce relatively stable and identifiable patterns in child adjustment outcomes. Parental authority is a key concept within parenting styles research, and refers to the type and extent of discipline used by parents in carrying out parental authority (i.e., behavioral control versus psychological control). Research on parenting evolved out of an increased interest in leadership styles, and particularly authoritarian personality, that emerged following World War II. The dimensions underlying leadership styles could be applied to parenting, and several researchers were simultaneously engaged in examining the dimensions underlying parenting behaviors. It was not until Diana Baumrind introduced her parenting styles typology in 1966 that research on parenting styles coalesced. Baumrind’s typology borrowed the terms authoritarian and permissive parenting from the leadership literature, and introduced the concept of authoritative parenting to the parenting research lexicon. Since its introduction, the parenting styles typology has expanded to specify two underlying dimensions of parenting that combine in various ways to result in four rather than three original types, as well as to identify a series of subtypes reflecting moderate levels of the two dimensions. This change in the typology increased its external validity, and led to an interest in examining the applicability of the typology in diverse socioeconomic, racial/ethnic, and cultural groups. The typology has also been used to understand a relatively new trend in parenting, commonly referred to as helicopter parenting , and to examine its consequences for children at a variety of developmental stages, particularly during emergent adulthood. One consequence of parenting styles that has received a lot of research attention is narcissism. Baumrind’s typology continues to serve as the classic nomenclature within parenting styles research, and has dominated the parent-child research agenda, appearing in some capacity in most parenting studies to this day.

The aftermath of World War II brought with it an interest in examining the impact of various leadership styles on group process, resulting in the application of leadership concepts to parenting research ( Givertz 2016 ). Prior to Baumrind’s application of group dynamics theory to parenting, Baldwin 1949 studied the effects on children of democratic, authoritarian, and laissez-faire parenting, concluding that democratic parenting was maximally conducive to child development. Other research focused on the dimensions underlying parents’ socialization of children. Symonds 1939 examines the dimensions of acceptance/rejection and dominance/submission. Baldwin 1955 examines emotional warmth/hostility and detachment/involvement. Schaefer 1959 and Schaefer 1965 consider three parent dimensions: acceptance/rejection, firm/lax behavioral control, and psychological autonomy/psychological control. Becker 1964 examines warmth (acceptance)/hostility (rejection) and restrictiveness/permissiveness. There was remarkable similarity in the important dimensions of parenting identified by these researchers, as well as widespread agreement as to their impact on child outcomes. This body of research laid the groundwork for the development of Baumrind’s parenting styles typology, and made its introduction in 1966 very timely.

Baldwin, A. L. 1949. The effect of home environment on nursery school behavior. Child Development 20:49–62.

DOI: 10.2307/1125606

Examines effects on children of democratic, authoritarian, and laissez-faire parenting.

Baldwin, A. L. 1955. Behavior and development in children . New York: Dryden.

Examines parental emotional warmth/hostility and detachment/involvement.

Becker, W. C. 1964. Consequences of different kinds of parental discipline. In Review of child development research . Vol. 1. Edited by M. L. Hoffman and L. W. Hoffman, 169–208. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

Discusses the dimensions of parental warmth/hostility and restrictiveness/permissiveness.

Givertz, M. 2016. Parenting styles/discipline. In International encyclopedia of interpersonal communication . Edited by C. R. Berger and M. E. Roloff, 1–9. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell.

DOI: 10.1002/9781118540190.wbeic0037

Provides an overview of the development and evolution of the parenting styles typology.

Schaefer, E. S. 1959. A circumplex model for maternal behavior. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 59:226–235.

DOI: 10.1037/h0041114

Examines dimensions of parenting in maternal behavior.

Schaefer, E. S. 1965. A configurational analysis of children’s reports of parent behavior. Journal of Consulting Psychology 29:552–557.

DOI: 10.1037/h0022702

Examines dimensions of parenting in maternal and paternal behavior.

Symonds, P. M. 1939. The psychology of parent-child relationships . New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

Examines the dimensions of acceptance/rejection and dominance/submission in parenting behavior.

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Baumrind’s Parenting Styles

Joel A Muraco; Wendy Ruiz; Rebecca Laff; Ross Thompson; and Diana Lang

Diana Baumrind’s Parenting Styles

The parenting style used to rear a child will likely impact that child’s future success in romantic, peer and parenting relationships. Diana Baumrind, a clinical and developmental psychologist, coined the following parenting styles: authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive/indulgent, Later, Maccoby and Martin added the uninvolved/neglectful style. [1]

It is beneficial to evaluate the support and demandingness of a caregiver in order to determine which style is being used and how to effectively use it. Support refers to the amount of affection, acceptance, and warmth a parent provides to a child. Demandingness refers to the degree a parent controls a child’s behavior.

Authoritative Parenting

In general, children tend to develop greater competence and self-confidence when parents have high-but reasonable and consistent- expectations for children’s behavior, communicate well with them, are warm and responsive, and use reasoning rather than coercion to guide children’s behaviors. This kind of parenting style has been described as authoritative . [2] Parents who use this style are supportive and show interest in their kids’ activities but are not overbearing and allow children to make constructive mistakes. This “tender teacher” approach deemed the most optimal parenting style to use in western cultures. Children whose parents use the authoritative style are generally happy, capable, and successful. [3]

Authoritarian Parenting

Parents using the authoritarian (“rigid ruler”) approach are low in support and high in demandingness. These parents expect and demand obedience because they are “in charge” and they do not provide any explanations for their orders. [4] Parents also provide well-ordered and structured environments with clearly stated rules.

Many would conclude that this is the parenting style used by Harry Potter’s harsh aunt and uncle, and Cinderella’s vindictive stepmother. Children reared in environments using the authoritarian approach are more likely to be obedient and proficient, but score lower in happiness, social competence, and self-esteem.

Permissive Parenting

Parents who are high in support and low in demandingness are likely using the permissive- also called the indulgent-style. Their children tend to rank low in happiness and self-regulation, and are more likely to have problems with authority. Parents using this approach are lenient, do not expect their children to adhere to boundaries or rules, and avoid confrontation. [5]

Uninvolved Parenting

Children reared by parents who are low in both support and demandingness tend to rank lowest across all life domains, lack self-control, have low self-esteem, and are less competent than their peers. Parents using the uninvolved (or sometimes referred to as indifferent or neglectful) approach are neglectful or rejecting of their children and do not provide most, if any, necessary parenting responsibilities.

Video Example

Watch this video about Baumrind’s parenting styles.

Parenting Styles and Outcomes for Children

Parenting style has been found to predict child well-being in the domains of social competence, academic performance, psychosocial development, and problem behavior. Research in the United States, based on parent interviews, child reports, and parent observations consistently finds:

Children and adolescents whose parents use the authoritative style typically rate themselves and are rated by objective measures as more socially and instrumentally competent than those whose parents do not use the authoritative style. [6] [7] [8]
Children and adolescents whose parents are uninvolved typically perform most poorly in all domains.

In general, parental responsiveness tends to predict social competence and psychosocial functioning, while parental demandingness is typically associated with instrumental competence and behavioral control (e.g., academic performance and deviance). These findings indicate:

Children and adolescents reared in households using the authoritarian style (high in demandingness, but low in responsiveness) tend to perform moderately well in school and be uninvolved in problem behavior, but tend to have poorer social skills, lower self-esteem, and higher levels of depression when compared to their peers who are reared in households using the authoritative approach.
Children and adolescents reared in homes using the indulgent style (high in responsiveness, low in demandingness) tend to be more involved in problem behavior and perform less well in school, but they have been shown to have higher self-esteem, better social skills, and lower levels of depression when compared to their peers who are not reared using the indulgent style. [9]

In reviewing the literature on parenting styles, it is apparent that using the authoritative parenting style is associated with both instrumental and social competence and lower levels of problem behavior at all developmental stages for youth in the United States. The benefits of using the authoritative parenting style and the detrimental effects of the uninvolved parenting style are evident as early as the preschool years and continue throughout adolescence and into early adulthood.

Support for Baumrind’s Authoritative Parenting

Support for the benefits of authoritative parenting has been found in countries as diverse as the Czech Republic, [10] India, [11] China, [12] Israel, [13] and Palestine. [14] In fact, authoritative parenting appears to be superior in Western, individualistic societies—so much so that some people have argued that there is no longer a need to study it. [15]

Other researchers are less certain about authoritative parenting and point to differences in cultural values and beliefs. For example, while many children reared in European-American cultures fare poorly with too much strictness (authoritarian parenting), children reared in Chinese cultures often perform well, especially academically. The reason for this likely stems from Chinese culture viewing strictness in parenting as related to training, which is not central to American parenting beliefs. [16]

As children mature, parent-child relationships should naturally adapt to accommodate developmental changes. Parent-child relationships that do not adapt to a child’s abilities can lead to high parent-child conflict and ultimately a reduced parent-child relationship quality. [17]

Key Takeaways

The authoritative (the “tender teacher”) approach is the most optimal style for use in the U.S.
The ways in which parents rear children can have lifelong impacts on children’s development.
Baumrind's Parenting Styles is an adaptation of Child, Family, and Community ( Chapter 6: A Closer Look at Parenting ) by Laff & Ruiz (2019), licensed CC BY 4.0 and Social and Personality Development in Childhood by Ross Thompson, licensed CC BY NC SA . ↵
Baumrind, D. (2013). Authoritative parenting revisited: History and current status. In R. E. Larzelere, A. Sheffield, & A. W. Harrist (Eds.), Authoritative parenting: Synthesizing nurturance and discipline for optimal child development . Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. ↵
Maccoby, E. E. (1992). The role of parents in the socialization of children: An historical overview. Developmental Psychology, 28 (6), 1006–1017. ↵
Baumrind, D. (1991). Parenting styles and adolescent development. In J. Brooks-Gunn, R. M. Lerner, & A. C. Petersen (Eds.), The encyclopedia on adolescence (pp. 746-758). New York: Garland Publishing. ↵
Baumrind, D. (1991). Parenting styles and adolescent development. In J. Brooks-Gunn, R. M. Lerner, & A. C. Petersen (Eds.), The Encyclopedia on Adolescence (pp. 746-758). New York: Garland Publishing. ↵
Baumrind, D. (1991). The influence of parenting style on adolescent competence and substance use. Journal of Early Adolescence, 11 (1), 56-95. ↵
Weiss, L. H., & Schwarz, J. C. (1996). The relationship between parenting types and older adolescents' personality, academic achievement, adjustment, and substance use. Child Development, 67 (5), 2101-2114. EJ 539 840. ↵
Miller, N. B., Cowan, P. A., Cowan, C. P., & Hetherington, E. M. (1993). Externalizing in preschoolers and early adolescents: A cross-study replication of a family model. Developmental Psychology, 29 (1), 3-18. EJ 461 700. ↵
Darling, N. (1999). Parenting style and its correlates. ERIC digest. Retrieved from https://www.ericdigests.org/1999-4/parenting.htm ↵
Dmitrieva, J., Chen, C., Greenberger, E., & Gil-Rivas, V. (2004). Family relationships and adolescent psychosocial outcomes: Converging findings from Eastern and Western cultures. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 14 , 425-447. ↵
Carson, D., Chowdhurry, A., Perry, C., & Pati, C. (1999). Family characteristics and adolescent competence in India: Investigation of youth in southern Orissa. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 28, 211-233. ↵
Pilgrim, C., Luo, Q., Urberg, K.A., & Fang, X. (1999). Influence of peers, parents, and individual characteristics on adolescent drug use in two cultures. Merril-Palmer Quarterly, 45 , 85-107. ↵
Mayseless, O., Scharf, M., & Sholt, M. (2003). From authoritative parenting practices to an authoritarian context: Exploring the person-environment fit. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 17 , 23-50. ↵
Punamaki, R., Qouta, S., & Sarraj, E. (1997). Models of traumatic experiences and children’s psychological adjustment: The roles of perceived parenting and the children’s own resources and activity. Child Development, 68 , 718-728. ↵
Steinberg, L. (2001). We know some things: Adolescent-parent relationships in retrospect and prospect. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 11 , 1-19. ↵
Chao, R. K. (1994). Beyond parental control and authoritarian parenting style: Understanding Chinese parenting through the cultural notion of training. Child Development, 65 , 1111-1119. ↵
Support for Baumrind's Authoritative Parenting is taken from The Family by Joel A Muraco, licensed CC BY NC SA . ↵

Baumrind's Parenting Styles Copyright © 2020 by Joel A Muraco; Wendy Ruiz; Rebecca Laff; Ross Thompson; and Diana Lang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Parenting Styles

Reviewed by Psychology Today Staff

It is a stereotype that, in therapy, all of a person’s problems will be blamed on their parents. That is not the case. But decades of psychological research have suggested that the approach to parenting generally followed by an individual’s mother and/or father can influence the way they approach relationships, challenges, and opportunities. That doesn’t mean that an adult can’t change, of course, especially once they understand what may be influencing their behavior. And parents who become aware of the pitfalls of their own style and how it may affect their kids can also change.

For more on dysfunctional parenting, click here .

What are the four major parenting styles?
How can a parent’s style predict a child’s future relationships?
How can mothers and fathers tell what their parenting style is?
How can parents become more authoritative?
What is supportive parenting?
What is attachment parenting?
How can mothers and fathers transition away from attachment parenting?

Research begun by developmental psychologist Diana Baumrind in the 1960s identified three main parenting styles —authoritarian, indulgent, and authoritative. Later studies added a fourth—neglectful. Every parent does not neatly fit into one of these four categories but they describe the approaches of many.

An authoritarian parent seeks to maintain a high level of control over their children. They may set and adhere to a strict set of rules, and are more likely to support and take part in corporal punishment such as spanking. Children of highly authoritarian parents may struggle socially and may be likely to become authoritarian parents themselves.
Neglectful parents (also known as uninvolved or disengaged) take on a limited parenting role. They may not spend as much time as other parents in conversation, play, or other activities, and may not bother to set many house rules. Some children of neglectful parents may resist rules outside of the home and struggle with self-control.
Indulgent (or permissive) parents may be attentive and warm, but may not set many rules for their children. They may prioritize being their child’s friend over being their parent. Research suggests that the children of permissive parents may show higher levels of creativity but may also feel entitled, and be more interested in taking rather than giving in their own relationships.
Authoritative parents follow what is widely understood as the preferred approach. Such parents are more pragmatic and flexible. They set clear boundaries but also encourage children’s independence within those limits. Discipline in such families may be more supportive than punitive, and as children get older, their independence increases. Children of authoritative parents may have more highly developed self-control and self-reliance.

Recent research suggests that, in some families, a parent’s style, especially as it relates to maintaining control over their children, could leave their kids vulnerable to emotional abuse from future partners, employers, and and others. Researchers found that people raised with a parent who maintained strict psychological control over them grew to be especially vulnerable to emotionally abusive partners. The effect appeared to be offset, though, by experiencing emotional warmth from the other parent. Research continues to explore the effect of differing parenting styles in the same family, and whether it matters if a mother or father is the authoritarian.

Much research of parenting styles has examined how the styles affect children as they grow up, and how negative effects could be tempered. But other studies have focused on helping parents become more self-aware and change their styles to develop healthier relationships with their kids . Some researchers have developed analytical scales in which parents indicate how they would respond to certain scenarios with an eye toward helping them shift, perhaps through therapy, to a more moderate approach.

In practical terms, most parents do not think of themselves as authoritarian, authoritative, or otherwise, and many mothers and fathers are self-aware enough to know that they may not be consistent with their kids at all times. Experts suggest that attention to some general guidelines can help parents develop a healthier style—for example, being consciously warm and loving toward children, setting age-appropriate limits, actively listening to children’s concerns, gently but firmly asking to be treated with respect, and “catching” kids being good , while making sure they know they’ve been seen and acknowledged.

Supportive parenting describes an approach to authoritative parenting in which mothers and fathers are conscious of how often they say no to children (as they often must, especially when kids are young) so that they can seek more opportunities to say yes to them in encouraging ways that help kids develop confidence and self-esteem. When children are mostly told what they cannot do, they can feel rejected by a parent, even a well-meaning one, with potentially negative emotional outcomes. Being consciously supportive and selfless with children can help them internalize belief in themselves.

Attachment parenting , a term coined by pediatrician William Sears, describes an approach to parenting in which mothers and fathers are physically and emotionally close to their children, especially at an early age, and is characterized in practice by extended periods of breastfeeding and co-sleeping. Sears referred to it as “what mothers and fathers would do instinctively if they were raising their baby on a desert island.” There is little evidence, however, that this approach leads to more positive psychological outcomes for children and many experts reject attachment parenting as unnecessarily demanding of parents and potentially creating conflict and division between new parents.

Parents who commit themselves to attachment parenting and have the time and temperament to maintain the approach throughout early childhood may then be faced with the challenge of weaning their children from the approach. These mothers and fathers may need to consciously practice “ detachment parenting ” so that children entering early adolescence can develop independence and healthy friendships, while resisting feeling rejected themselves as kids begin to resist a parent’s efforts to hold onto their previous level of connection.

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4.1: Baumrind's Parenting Styles

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Diana Baumrind’s Parenting Styles

Authoritative Parenting

Authoritarian Parenting

Permissive Parenting

Uninvolved Parenting

Video Example

Watch this video about Baumrind’s parenting styles.

Parenting Styles and Outcomes for Children

Children and adolescents whose parents use the authoritative style typically rate themselves and are rated by objective measures as more socially and instrumentally competent than those whose parents do not use the authoritative style (Baumrind, 1991; Weiss & Schwarz, 1996; Miller et al., 1993).
Children and adolescents whose parents are uninvolved typically perform most poorly in all domains.

Children and adolescents reared in households using the authoritarian style (high in demandingness, but low in responsiveness) tend to perform moderately well in school and be uninvolved in problem behavior, but tend to have poorer social skills, lower self-esteem, and higher levels of depression when compared to their peers who are reared in households using the authoritative approach.
Children and adolescents reared in homes using the indulgent style (high in responsiveness, low in demandingness) tend to be more involved in problem behavior and perform less well in school, but they have been shown to have higher self-esteem, better social skills, and lower levels of depression when compared to their peers who are not reared using the indulgent style. [6]

Support for Baumrind’s Authoritative Parenting

Support for the benefits of authoritative parenting has been found in countries as diverse as the Czech Republic, [7] India, [8] China, [9] Israel, [10] and Palestine. [11] In fact, authoritative parenting appears to be superior in Western, individualistic societies—so much so that some people have argued that there is no longer a need to study it. [12]

Key Takeaways

The authoritative (the “tender teacher”) approach is the most optimal style for use in the U.S.
The ways in which parents rear children can have lifelong impacts on children’s development.
Baumrind's Parenting Styles is an adaptation of Child, Family, and Community ( Chapter 6: A Closer Look at Parenting ) by Laff & Ruiz (2019), licensed CC BY 4.0 and Social and Personality Development in Childhood by Ross Thompson, licensed CC BY NC SA . ↵
Baumrind, D. (2013). Authoritative parenting revisited: History and current status. In R. E. Larzelere, A. Sheffield, & A. W. Harrist (Eds.), Authoritative parenting: Synthesizing nurturance and discipline for optimal child development . Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. ↵
Maccoby, E. E. (1992). The role of parents in the socialization of children: An historical overview. Developmental Psychology, 28 (6), 1006–1017. ↵
Baumrind, D. (1991). Parenting styles and adolescent development. In J. Brooks-Gunn, R. M. Lerner, & A. C. Petersen (Eds.), The encyclopedia on adolescence (pp. 746-758). New York: Garland Publishing. ↵
Baumrind, D. (1991). Parenting styles and adolescent development. In J. Brooks-Gunn, R. M. Lerner, & A. C. Petersen (Eds.), The Encyclopedia on Adolescence (pp. 746-758). New York: Garland Publishing. ↵
Darling, N. (1999). Parenting style and its correlates. ERIC digest. Retrieved from https://www.ericdigests.org/1999-4/parenting.htm ↵
Dmitrieva, J., Chen, C., Greenberger, E., & Gil-Rivas, V. (2004). Family relationships and adolescent psychosocial outcomes: Converging findings from Eastern and Western cultures. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 14 , 425-447. ↵
Carson, D., Chowdhurry, A., Perry, C., & Pati, C. (1999). Family characteristics and adolescent competence in India: Investigation of youth in southern Orissa. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 28, 211-233. ↵
Pilgrim, C., Luo, Q., Urberg, K.A., & Fang, X. (1999). Influence of peers, parents, and individual characteristics on adolescent drug use in two cultures. Merril-Palmer Quarterly, 45 , 85-107. ↵
Mayseless, O., Scharf, M., & Sholt, M. (2003). From authoritative parenting practices to an authoritarian context: Exploring the person-environment fit. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 17 , 23-50. ↵
Punamaki, R., Qouta, S., & Sarraj, E. (1997). Models of traumatic experiences and children’s psychological adjustment: The roles of perceived parenting and the children’s own resources and activity. Child Development, 68 , 718-728. ↵
Steinberg, L. (2001). We know some things: Adolescent-parent relationships in retrospect and prospect. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 11 , 1-19. ↵
Chao, R. K. (1994). Beyond parental control and authoritarian parenting style: Understanding Chinese parenting through the cultural notion of training. Child Development, 65 , 1111-1119. ↵
Support for Baumrind's Authoritative Parenting is taken from The Family by Joel A Muraco, licensed CC BY NC SA . ↵

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Baumrind's Parenting Styles by Joel A. Muraco, Wendy Ruiz, Rebecca Laff, Ross Thompson, and Diana Lang is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Why Parenting Styles Matter When Raising Children

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Amy Morin, LCSW, is a psychotherapist and international bestselling author. Her books, including "13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do," have been translated into more than 40 languages. Her TEDx talk, "The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong," is one of the most viewed talks of all time.

Verywell / Laura Porter

The Four Parenting Styles

Impact of Parenting Style

Advantages of Authoritative Parenting

Can you change your parenting style.

Limitations and Criticism

Parenting styles are constructs used to describe the different strategies parents tend to utilize when raising children. These styles encompass parents' behaviors and attitudes and the emotional environment in which they raise their children.

Developmental psychologists have long been interested in how parents affect child development. However, finding actual cause-and-effect links between specific actions of parents and later behavior of children is very difficult.

Some children raised in dramatically different environments can later grow up to have remarkably similar personalities . Conversely, children who share a home and are raised in the same environment can grow up to have very different personalities.

Despite these challenges, researchers have posited that there are links between parenting styles and the effects these styles have on children. And some suggest these effects carry over into adult behavior.

In the 1960s, psychologist Diana Baumrind conducted a study on more than 100 preschool-age children. Using naturalistic observation , parental interviews, and other research methods , she identified some important dimensions of parenting.

These dimensions include disciplinary strategies, warmth and nurturing, communication styles, and expectations of maturity and control. Based on these dimensions, Baumrind suggested that the majority of parents display one of three different parenting styles. Later research by Maccoby and Martin suggested adding a fourth parenting style. Each of these has different effects on children's behavior.

The four parenting styles that have been identify by Baumrind and other researchers are:

The authoritarian parenting style
The authoritative parenting style
The permissive parenting style
The uninvolved parenting style

What's Your Parenting Style?

This fast and free parenting styles quiz can help you analyze the methods you're using to parent your kids and whether or not it may be a good idea to learn some new parenting behaviors:

Authoritarian Parenting

In this style of parenting, children are expected to follow the strict rules established by the parents. Failure to follow such rules usually results in punishment.

Authoritarian parents don't explain the reasoning behind these rules. If asked to explain, the parent might simply reply, "Because I said so."

Other common characteristics:

While these parents have high demands, they are not very responsive to their children.
They expect their children to behave exceptionally and not make errors, yet they provide little direction about what they should do or avoid in the future.
Mistakes are punished, often quite harshly, yet their children are often left wondering exactly what they did wrong.

Baumrind says these parents "are obedience- and status-oriented, and expect their orders to be obeyed without explanation." They are often described as domineering and dictatorial. Their approach is "spare the rod, spoil the child." They expect children to obey without question.

Effects of Authoritarian Parenting

Authoritarian parenting styles generally lead to obedient and proficient children, but they rank lower in happiness, social competence, and self-esteem . They may also be more likely to lie to avoid punishment.

Authoritative Parenting

Like authoritarian parents, those with an authoritative parenting style establish rules and guidelines that their children are expected to follow. However, this parenting style is much more democratic.

Common characteristics of the authoritative parenting style:

Authoritative parents are responsive to their children and willing to listen to questions.
These parents expect a lot of their children, but they provide warmth, feedback, and adequate support.
When children fail to meet expectations, these parents are more nurturing and forgiving than punishing.

According to Baumrind, authoritarive parents are good at setting standards and monitoring their children's behavior. Their disciplinary methods are assertive and supportive rather than intrusive, restrictive, or punitive.

For authoritative parents, the goal is to raise children who are socially responsible, cooperative, and self-regulated. The combination of expectation and support helps children of authoritative parents develop skills such as independence, self-control, and self-regulation.

Effects of Authoritative Parenting

Authoritative parenting styles tend to result in happy, capable, and successful children.

Permissive Parenting

Permissive parents , sometimes referred to as indulgent parents, make very few demands of their children. These parents rarely discipline their children because they have relatively low expectations of maturity and self-control.

Other common characteristics of permissive parenting:
Permissive parents prioritize being their child's friend rather than being a parent.
They are warm and attentive but tend to set few rules, rarely enforce rules, and have few expectations.
They allow their children to make their own decisions.

According to Baumrind, permissive parents are responsive to their children but not demanding. Because they do not expect mature behavior from their children, kids may struggle to set limits for themselves. On the positive side, this can help kids become more self-sufficient and independent. On the downside, it can contribute to poor self-regulation.

Permissive parents are generally nurturing and communicative with their children, often taking on the status of a friend more than a parent.

Effects of Permissive Parenting

Permissive parenting often results in children who rank low in happiness and self-regulation. These children are more likely to experience problems with authority and tend to perform poorly in school.

Uninvolved Parenting

In addition to the three major styles introduced by Baumrind, psychologists Eleanor Maccoby and John Martin proposed a fourth style: uninvolved or neglectful parenting.

An uninvolved parenting style is characterized by few demands, low responsiveness, and very little communication.

Other characteristics of the uninvolved parenting style:

While these parents fulfill the child's basic needs, they are generally detached from their child's life.
They might ensure that their kids are fed and have shelter but offer little to nothing in the way of guidance, structure, rules, or even support.
These parents may seem indifferent, unresponsive, and dismissive.
In some cases, these parents may reject or neglect the needs of their children. They may also be physically or emotionally abusive.

A 2019 study found that children raised by neglectful parents tend to struggle in school, experience more depression, have worse social relationships, have difficulty controlling their emotions, and experience more anxiety.

Effects of Uninvolved Parenting

Uninvolved parenting styles rank lowest across all life domains. These children tend to lack self-control, have low self-esteem, and are less competent than their peers.

The Impact of Parenting Styles

Research suggests that parenting styles can have a range of effects on children. Some of the areas of a child's life that may be affected in the present and in the future include:

Academics : Parenting styles can play a part in academic achievement and motivation.
Mental health : Parenting styles can also influence children's mental well-being. Kids raised by authoritarian, permissive, or uninvolved parents tend to experience more anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems.
Self-esteem : Kids raised by parents with an authoritative style tend to have strong self-esteem than kids raised by parents with other styles,
Social relationships : Parenting styles can impact how kids relate to other people. For example, kids raised by permissive parents are more likely to be bullied, while kids raised by authoritarian parents are more likely to bully others.
Adult relationships : Researchers have also found that kids raised by strict, authoritarian parents may be more likely to experience emotional abuse in adult romantic relationships.

Because authoritative parents are more likely to be viewed as reasonable, fair, and just, their children are more likely to comply with their parents' requests. Also, because these parents provide rules as well as explanations for these rules, children are much more likely to internalize these lessons.

Rather than simply following the rules because they fear punishment (as they might with authoritarian parents), the children of authoritative parents are able to see why the rules exist, understand that they are fair and acceptable, and strive to follow these rules to meet their own internalized sense of what is right and wrong.

Mixing Parenting Styles

The parenting styles of individual parents also combine to create a unique blend in each family. For example, the mother may display an authoritative style, while the father favors a more permissive approach.

This can sometimes lead to mixed signals. To create a cohesive approach to parenting, parents must learn to cooperate and combine their unique parenting styles.

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If you notice that you tend to be more authoritarian, permissive, or uninvolved, there are steps you can take to adopt a more authoritative parenting style. Strategies that may help include:

Listen : Spending time listening to what your child has to say. Let them share their opinions, ideas, and worries with you.
Establish rules : Create a clear set of rules for your household and communicate your expectations to your child. In addition to telling your child what the rules are, be sure to explain why these rules exist.
Consider your child's input : Authoritative parents set the rules but are also willing to listen to their child's feelings and consider them when making decisions.
Be consistent : Enforce rules consistently, but be sure to provide consequences that are fair, proportionate, and educational.

Developing a more authoritative parenting style takes time. With practice and consistent effort, however, you will find that your approach to parenting gradually shifts to a more supportive, involved approach that can lead to better developmental outcomes.

Limitations of Parenting Style Research

Links between parenting styles and behavior are based on correlational research , which is helpful for finding relationships between variables . However, such research cannot establish definitive cause-and-effect relationships.

While there is evidence that a particular parenting style is linked to a specific pattern of behavior, other variables, such as a child's temperament, can also play a significant role.

Children May Affect Their Parents' Styles

There is also evidence that a child's behavior can impact parenting styles. One study found that the parents of children who exhibited difficult behavior began to exhibit less parental control over time. Such results suggest that kids might misbehave not because their parents were too permissive but because the parents of difficult or aggressive children gave up on trying to control their kids.

Outcomes Vary

Some researchers have also noted that the correlations between parenting styles and behaviors are sometimes weak. In many cases, the expected child outcomes do not materialize. For example, parents with authoritative styles may have children who are defiant or who engage in delinquent behavior. Parents with permissive styles may have self-confident and academically successful children.

Cultural Factors Play a Role

Cultural factors also play a significant role in parenting styles and child outcomes. There isn't a universal style of parenting that is always best. For example, while authoritative parenting is linked to better results in European and American cultures, research has also found that this style is not linked to better school performance Black and Asian youth.

Parenting styles are associated with different child outcomes, and the authoritative style is generally linked to positive behaviors such as strong self-esteem and self-competence. However, other important factors, including culture, children's temperament, children's perceptions of parental treatment, and social influences, also play an important role in children's behavior.

A Word From Verywell

Understanding more about your own parenting style can help you explore different approaches to parenting your children. If you notice that you tend to have a more strict, indulgent, or dismissive approach, there are steps that you can take to become more involved and authoritative in how you relate to your children.

Baumrind D. Child care practices anteceding three patterns of preschool behavior . Genet Psychol Monogr. 1967;75(1):43-88.

Durrant J, Ensom R. Physical punishment of children: lessons from 20 years of research . CMAJ . 2012;184(12):1373-7. doi:10.1503/cmaj.101314

Power TG. Parenting dimensions and styles: a brief history and recommendations for future research . Child Obes . 2013;9 Suppl(Suppl 1):S14–S21. doi:10.1089/chi.2013.0034

Kuppens S, Ceulemans E. Parenting styles: A closer look at a well-known concept . J Child Fam Stud . 2019;28(1):168-181. doi:10.1007/s10826-018-1242-x

Alizadeh Maralani F, Mirnasab M, Hashemi T. The predictive role of maternal parenting and stress on pupils' bullying involvement . J Interpers Violence . 2019;34(17):3691-3710. doi:10.1177/0886260516672053

Beyarslan SD, Uzer T. Psychological control and indulgent parenting predict emotional-abuse victimization in romantic relationships . Curr Psychol . 2022;41(8):5532-5545. doi:10.1007/s12144-020-01072-w

Bi X, Yang Y, Li H, Wang M, Zhang W, Deater-deckard K. Parenting styles and parent-adolescent relationships: the mediating roles of behavioral autonomy and parental authority . Front Psychol . 2018;9:2187. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02187

Huh D, Tristan J, Wade E, Stice E. Does problem behavior elicit poor parenting?: A prospective study of adolescent girls . J Adolesc Res . 2006;21(2):185-204. doi:10.1177/0743558405285462

Bernstein DA. Essentials of Psychology . Cengage Learning; 2013.

Benson, JB, Marshall, MH. Social and Emotional Development in Infancy and Early Childhood . Academic Press, 2009.

Macklem, GL. Practitioner's Guide to Emotion Regulation in School-Aged Children . Springer, 2008.

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Parenting styles and parent–adolescent relationships: the mediating roles of behavioral autonomy and parental authority.

$\r\nXinwen Bi$

1 Department of Psychology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, China
2 Department of Business, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, China
3 Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, United States

The parent–adolescent relationship has been a classic research topic, and researchers have found that parenting styles (e.g., authoritative, authoritarian) are closely related to various qualities of parent-adolescent relationships (e.g., cohesion, conflict). However, little empirical work has addressed how these variables correlate with each other in mainland China, nor has prior research addressed internal psychological mechanisms. The present study investigated the associations between parenting styles and parent–adolescent relationship factors, examined the mediating effects of adolescents’ expectations of behavioral autonomy and beliefs about parental authority, and explored whether adolescent gender moderated these effects. Results from a sample of 633 Chinese adolescents (7th grade: M age = 13.50 ± 0.62 years, 9th grade: M age = 15.45 ± 0.67 years, 11th grade: M age = 17.30 ± 0.75 years) suggested similar levels of parent–adolescent conflict frequency for all parenting styles. However, for parent–adolescent conflict intensity, youth of neglectful and authoritarian parents reported higher levels compared to those with indulgent parents. The highest levels of cohesion with both parents were reported by adolescents with authoritative parents, followed by indulgent, authoritarian and neglect parenting styles. Cohesion with mothers for youth with authoritative or indulgent mothers was higher for girls than boys. Adolescents’ expectation for behavioral autonomy mediated the links between parenting style and conflict, whereas adolescents’ beliefs about the legitimacy of parental authority mediated the links between parenting style and cohesion; some of these mediating effects differed by gender. Findings highlight the importance of studying potential effects of adolescents’ values and attitudes within the family system in specific cultural contexts.

Introduction

Variations in parenting styles and parent–child relationship qualities are long-standing research topics in developmental and family psychology. Previous research has shown that parenting styles are critical family context factors which are closely related to parent–adolescent relationships ( Shek, 2002 ). Despite the large number of studies on the associations between parenting styles and parent–adolescent relationships, existing research mainly has focused on the direct effects of parenting styles on parent-adolescent relationships, while the underlying mechanisms through which parenting styles are associated with parent–adolescent relationships have seldom been examined. The present study examined the possible mediating effects of adolescents’ expectations for behavioral autonomy and beliefs in the legitimacy of parental authority, on the link between parenting style differences and variability in relationship conflict and cohesion, in a sample of youth from mainland China. We also tested whether the direct and mediated effects differed for girls and boys.

Parenting Styles and Parent–Adolescent Relationships

Parenting style is defined as a constellation of parents’ attitudes and behaviors toward children and an emotional climate in which the parents’ behaviors are expressed ( Darling and Steinberg, 1993 ). In the field of parenting, Maccoby and Martin’s (1983) and Baumrind’s (1991) typological approach of conceptualizing parenting has had a tremendous impact. They classified parenting into four types based on responsiveness and demandingness ( Maccoby and Martin, 1983 ; Baumrind, 1991 ). Authoritative parenting style is characterized as high in responsiveness and demandingness. Authoritative parents provide not only support and warmth, but also clearly defined rules and consistent discipline ( Baumrind, 1991 ). Authoritarian parenting style is characterized as low in responsiveness but high in demandingness. Parents of this style tend to use hostile control or harsh punishment in an arbitrary way to gain compliance, but they seldom provide explanation or allow verbal give-and-take. Indulgent parenting style is characterized as low in demandingness but high in responsiveness. Indulgent parents are responsive to their children and satisfy children’s needs, but they fail to set proper disciplinary, exhibit behavioral control, or make demands for mature behaviors. Finally, neglectful parenting style is characterized as low in responsiveness and demandingness. Neglectful parents are parent-centered and they are seldom engaged in child rearing practices. They neither provide warmth nor set rules for their children.

Adolescence is a critical developmental period that requires parents and youth to renegotiate their relationships ( Laursen and Collins, 2009 ). Existing research has shown that variation in parenting styles is related to differences in parent-adolescent relationship features. Overall, most studies with Western samples have consistently found that authoritative parenting style is associated with higher levels of parent–adolescent cohesion ( Nelson et al., 2011 ) and lower levels of conflict frequency ( Smetana, 1995 ), conflict intensity ( Smetana, 1995 ), and total conflict ( McKinney and Renk, 2011 ). In contrast, an authoritarian parenting style is associated with lower cohesion ( McKinney and Renk, 2011 ) and higher conflict frequency ( Smetana, 1995 ; Sorkhabi and Middaugh, 2014 ), intensity ( Smetana, 1995 ), and total conflict ( McKinney and Renk, 2011 ). For instance, in a sample of American adolescents, Smetana (1995) found that more frequent and intense conflicts were predicted by more authoritarian parenting and less authoritative parenting. Similarly, Sorkhabi and Middaugh (2014) analyzed data from American adolescents who had Asian, Latino, Arab, European or other ethnic background. They found that adolescents of authoritative parents reported less conflict than those with authoritarian parents.

Most previous research on the associations between parenting styles and parent-adolescent conflict and cohesion focused on one or the other (e.g., Smetana, 1995 ; Nelson et al., 2011 ; Sorkhabi and Middaugh, 2014 ). However, conflict is not the opposite of cohesion, nor are increases over time in one necessarily associated with decreases in the other ( Zhang et al., 2006 ). To comprehensively understand the links between parenting styles and these two aspects of the parent-adolescent relationship, both should be examined. Also, most previous research seldom distinguished conflict frequency and intensity or examined them simultaneously. Conflict frequency refers to how often conflict occurs, whereas conflict intensity refers to the magnitude of emotional arousal that occurs during conflict. Prior research on these two aspects of conflict has yielded mixed results. For example, Smetana (1995) found that parenting styles’ links with conflict frequency and intensity were very similar. In contrast, Assadi et al. (2011) reported that frequency was lower for authoritative parents and higher for authoritarian parents—but only authoritative parenting was linked to intensity. Thus, conflict intensity and frequency both should be examined.

Another major gap in the literature is that few of the relevant prior studies examined all four parenting styles. We know of only one American study (of adolescent substance abusers) that examined conflict, cohesion, and all four parenting styles ( Smith and Hall, 2008 ). Actually, it’s also important to explore the relationships between indulgent and neglectful parenting style and parent–adolescent conflict and cohesion. Especially, neglectful parenting style which is characterized as disengaged from child rearing process may be destructive to parent–adolescent relationships. Thus, in light of the gaps in literature identified above, our first major aim was to explore the associations between all four parenting styles and parent–adolescent conflict (frequency and intensity) and cohesion. Based on prior evidence, we hypothesized that conflict (frequency and intensity) would be highest, and cohesion lowest, for youth with authoritarian parents—and conflict lowest and cohesion highest for adolescents with authoritative parents.

Adolescent Autonomy and Beliefs About Parental Authority

In spite of the numerous prior studies of the link between parenting style and parent–adolescent relationship features, there are surprisingly few that have tested mechanisms that might account for the link. We also addressed this gap in the current study. According to Darling and Steinberg’s (1993) integrative model, parenting styles affect adolescents’ outcomes by changing the degree to which adolescents accept their parents’ attempts to socialize them. When parents use specific styles to rear children, adolescents are not just passive social beings, but play an active role in shaping the parent–adolescent relationship and in interpreting parenting behavior, in ways that influence their own outcomes. Particularly important to this psychological process are adolescents’ attitudes about behavioral autonomy and the legitimacy of parental authority ( Darling et al., 2007 ).

Adolescents’ Expectation for Behavioral Autonomy

Autonomy, in contrast to forced behavior, reflects actions that arise from the agency of the self rather than others ( Chen et al., 2013 ). Variations in parenting style are associated with individual differences in adolescents’ autonomy beliefs. Authoritative parenting has been shown to be the most beneficial to youth, with regard to fostering healthy normative development of autonomy ( Baumrind, 1991 ). In contrast, authoritarian parents provided too much strictness and supervision for their children, while indulgent and neglectful parents provided insufficient monitoring and guidance. Adolescents with non-authoritative parents are more likely to desire for more behavioral autonomy which is not satisfied in an appropriate way ( Bush and Peterson, 2013 ). It is important to note, however, that not all studies find authoritative parenting to be optimal for youth autonomy—differences in findings that may be due to the sample characteristics or measures being used (e.g., Darling et al., 2005 ; Chan and Chan, 2009 ).

The development of adolescents’ autonomy, in turn, can have effects on parent–adolescent relationship features. Parents and adolescents expect increasing autonomy with age, but adolescents typically demand autonomy earlier than their parents are ready to grant it ( Jensen and Dost-Gözkan, 2015 ; Pérez et al., 2016 ). Adolescents’ desire for more autonomy than their parents wish to grant them prompts youth to exert more control of their own affairs, and to be more critical of their parents’ control behaviors—a pattern that causes conflict and reduces cohesion ( Fuligni, 1998 ; Zhang and Fuligni, 2006 ).

Adolescents’ Beliefs About Parental Authority

In addition to developmental changes in autonomy, adolescence also is a period of youths’ changes in attitudes about parental authority—specifically, the extent to which parental assertion of control is seen as an appropriate extension of their role ( Darling et al., 2008 ). Compared to other parenting styles, authoritative parents have children and adolescents who are more likely to endorse the legitimacy of parental authority ( Smetana, 1995 ; Darling et al., 2005 ; Trinkner et al., 2012 ). In contrast, authoritarian parents tend to define issues as falling into parental jurisdiction too rigidly, and indulgent and neglectful parents define these too permissively ( Smetana, 1995 ; Baumrind, 2005 ). In those cases, adolescents and parents may be deprived of opportunities to debate and negotiate appropriate boundaries, which in turn can lead youth to question and doubt the legitimacy of parental authority.

Attitudes about legitimacy of authority are also linked with parent–adolescent relationship features. Adolescents’ endorsement of parental authority is associated with greater cohesion and less conflict with parents ( Zhang et al., 2006 ; Jensen and Dost-Gözkan, 2015 )—in one study, a pattern found in Mexican, Chinese, Filipino, and European background families ( Fuligni, 1998 ).

In sum, there are well-established links between parenting style, adolescents’ beliefs (specifically, about autonomy and parental authority), and parent-adolescent relationship qualities. However, these different constructs have not been examined all together in one study. In addition, although previous studies have examined the associations between parenting styles and parent-adolescent relationships, there was no research that examined whether adolescents’ expectation for behavioral autonomy and endorsement of parental authority mediated these associations. Thus, our second aim was to test the hypothesis that expectations for behavioral autonomy and beliefs in the legitimacy of parental authority both would mediate the link between parenting styles and parent-adolescent conflict and cohesion.

The Role of Adolescent Gender

The third and final aim of the current study was to examine potential gender differences in the relationships between parenting styles, parent-adolescent conflict and cohesion, adolescents’ expectation for behavioral autonomy and endorsement of parental authority. There is reason to expect differences to be found, although results may differ depending on the parenting styles and parent-adolescent relationship features in question. For instance, Shek (2002) reported an association between parental negativity and greater parent-adolescent conflict, only for girls. These differences may reflect distinct socialization goals for boys and girls, with girls oriented more toward family relationships and compliance, and boys oriented toward autonomy and self-reliance ( Shek, 2002 ; Zhang et al., 2006 ). Based on previous research, we expected to find stronger associations between parenting style and parent–adolescent relationship features for girls compared to boys. However, given the lack of prior research on beliefs about autonomy and parental authority as mediators, we had no hypotheses regarding gender as moderator of those mediating effects.

Chinese Cultural Context

As a final point, another rationale for the current study was to address the dearth of research on mainland Chinese families published in the international literature. The existing evidence is almost completely dominated by studies of families from Western industrial nations, even though mainland China has the single largest population of children and adolescents in the world—in 2016, 13% or nearly one in eight of the globe’s 0–14-year-olds ( World Bank, 2017 ). We know of only one relevant published study of parenting styles and parent–adolescent relationships, which found that authoritative mothers exhibited the highest levels, and authoritarian mothers the lowest levels, of mother-adolescent cohesion ( Zhang et al., 2017 ). Adding to the literature base to include evidence from non-Western nations such as China, serves to extend and deepen knowledge of parent-adolescent relationship processes.

Studying mainland Chinese families also offers a unique opportunity for examining family processes because its culture is so distinct from Western contexts. Two features in particular stand out. First, China has been unique in the world in its “one child policy” implemented by the government from 1979 until 2016. This led to a significant change in the family, often described as the “4-2-1” family structure (four grandparents, two parents, and one child). In this context, the relationships between parenting styles and parent–adolescent conflict and cohesion in China may be different from those in Western cultures. Second, Chinese culture is rooted in Confucianism, which emphasizes collectivist values such as conforming to social norms, submission to authority, establishing strong relationships with others, and avoiding confrontation ( Peterson et al., 2005 ). In this strict hierarchical framework, individuals’ requests for autonomy and any behaviors that potentially threaten group harmony are discouraged, whereas great respect for parental authority is highly valued ( Fuligni, 1998 ). Furthermore, some research has shown that autonomy and authority beliefs among adolescents covary with family relationship features in different ways depending on cultural context. For example, one study reported that conflict intensity with mothers was greater for adolescents with lower respect for parental authority in African American and Latina, but not European American, families ( Dixon et al., 2008 ). Thus, there is a need to broaden the diversity of samples in this literature, to better understand which aspects of the relevant family processes operate similarity, or differently, in distinct cultural contexts.

In sum, the current study addressed three aims in a mainland China sample of families: (1) to explore the links between four parenting styles and parent-adolescent relationship conflict (frequency and intensity) and cohesion, including testing the hypothesis that conflict would be highest and cohesion lowest for authoritarian parents, conflict lowest and cohesion highest for authoritative parents; (2) to test the hypothesis that the links between parenting style and parent–adolescent relationship features would be statistically mediated by adolescents’ autonomy expectations and beliefs regarding parental authority; and (3) to test the hypothesis that the links between parenting style and relationship features (explored in Aim 1) would be stronger for girls than for boys—and to also explore gender differences in the mediating effects (hypothesized in Aim 2).

Materials and Methods

Participants and procedure.

A total of 633 students (48.5% females, in line with the proportion found in the Chinese population) in the 7th ( M age = 13.50 ± 0.62 years), 9th ( M age = 15.45 ± 0.67 years) and 11th ( M age = 17.30 ± 0.75 years) grades of four schools in Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province in Middle Eastern China, completed self-report questionnaires. Because of the implementation of one child policy in mainland China, 90 percent of them were only children.

Surveys were completed in class through group administration; students were asked not to communicate with each other while completing the survey. Research staff members administered the surveys to the class by introducing the purpose of this study and the voluntary nature of participation, reading instructions and answering any questions that arose during the data collection period. All participants gave written informed consent. Additionally, all parents of participants were notified about the research and were given the opportunity to withdraw their children from study participation. All parents gave written informed consent to allow their children to participate in this study. The Institutional Review Board of Shandong Normal University approved this study procedures.

Parenting Styles

Parenting styles were assessed using the Chinese version of Steinberg et al.’s (1994) parenting styles questionnaire ( Long et al., 2012 ). Two subscales comprise the measure of parenting: acceptance/involvement and strictness/supervision. The acceptance/involvement subscale (α = 0.84) was the average of 15 items that were used to assess responsive, loving and involved parenting (e.g., “I can count on my parents to help me out if I have some kind of problem.”). The strictness/supervision subscale (α = 0.78) was the average of 12 items that was used to assess monitoring and supervision (e.g., “How much do your parents try to know where you go out at night”). The adolescents were required to indicate the strength of endorsement using a 5-point scale ranging from 1 ( completely disagree ) to 5 ( completely agree ) for each item. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the measurement of parenting styles (as well as endorsement of parental authority, expectations for behavioral autonomy and parent-adolescent conflict and cohesion) had acceptable construct validity and strong measurement invariance across gender (see Online Supplementary Materials and Supplementary Table S1 ).

Endorsement of Parental Authority

Adolescents’ beliefs about the legitimacy of parental authority were assessed using Chinese version of Smetana’s (1988) questionnaire ( Zhang and Fuligni, 2006 ). Students were presented with a list of 13 topics as individual items such as curfew, choosing clothes, and choosing friends, and were asked whether father or mother could make a rule about each topic. Responses for each topic/item were coded on a 4-point scale ranging from 1 ( It’s not OK ) to 4 ( It’s completely OK ). These were averaged separately for mother (α = 0.84) and father (α = 0.86).

Expectations for Behavioral Autonomy

Adolescents’ expectation for behavioral autonomy was measured based on the questionnaire from Fuligni (1998) . Students were presented with a list of 12 behaviors (e.g., “watch as much TV as you want”). Adolescents then indicated the degree of expectation for each item using a 4-point scale ranging from 1 ( expect heavily ) and 4 ( not expect at all ) (α = 0.86). In order to achieve consistency across all instruments so that a high score would reflect a high level of the variable being measured, these entries were reversed score so that 1 was recoded as 4, 2 as 3, 3 as 2, and 4 as 1.

Parent–Adolescent Conflict

Adolescents’ perceptions of the incidence and intensity of conflict with their mothers and fathers were measured by the Chinese version of Issues Checklist ( Prinz et al., 1979 ; Zhang and Fuligni, 2006 ). Students indicated whether the 16 specific topics (e.g., chores, cursing) were discussed or not with their parents within the past 2 weeks (using a binary scale, yes or no ). Then, for each endorsed topic of discussion, adolescents reported the conflict intensity of the discussion of each topic, using a 5-point scale that varied from 1 ( very calm ) to 5 ( very angry ). To be consistent with previous research (e.g., Fuligni, 1998 ), conflict frequency was computed by summing the number of discussions rated as containing anger (2 or greater on the 5-point scale). Conflict intensity was obtained by averaging adolescents’ rating on those items that were discussed (mother: α = 0.72, father: α = 0.73).

Parent–Adolescent Cohesion

Adolescents completed the cohesion subscale of the Chinese version of Family Adaptation and Cohesion Evaluation Scales (FACES) II inventory separately for each parent ( Olson et al., 1979 ; Zhang and Fuligni, 2006 ). This scale included 10 items (e.g., “My mother [father] and I feel very close to each other”). Students’ perception of cohesion with parents was rated on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 ( almost never ) to 5 ( almost always ), separately for mother (α = 0.82) and father (α = 0.79).

Controlled Variables

Grade and socioeconomic status (SES) were controlled for this study. The SES score was computed by averaging the standardized education and occupation of both parents. Parents’ education was coded as 1 = equal to or below primary school, 2 = junior high school, 3 = senior high school, 4 = some college or above. The occupation was coded as 1 = peasant or jobless, 2 = blue collar, 3 = professional or semiprofessional. In terms of parents’ educational level, approximately 0.8% of the mothers and 0.3% of fathers had completed primary school education or less, and 38.5% of mothers and 57.1% of fathers had a college or university degree. The remainder had either a junior high school education (7.6% of mothers and 5.5% of fathers) or a senior high school education (48.2% of mothers and 31.5% of fathers). The occupational status of mothers and fathers, respectively, was as follows: 6.2 and 2.7% were peasants or jobless, 28.4 and 23.4% had blue collar position, and 64.9 and 73.6% held a professional or semiprofessional occupation.

Descriptive Statistics

We used Harman’s single factor test to check the common method bias. The results showed that 30 factors emerged with eigenvalues greater than 1.0 and the first factor accounted for only 16.53% of total variance. Since more than one factor emerged and the first factor did not account for the majority of the variance ( Podsakoff and Organ, 1986 ), common method bias was not a serious concern in the present study.

Cluster analysis with K-means method was used to identify the four parenting styles. Instead of defining parentings styles a priori based on subjective cut-off scores ( Steinberg et al., 1994 ), in cluster analysis families are grouped according to their scores on various parenting characteristics ( Henry et al., 2005 ). To validate the cluster solution, we reanalyzed the data with a different cluster method — a hierarchical cluster analysis ( Henry et al., 2005 ; Hoeve et al., 2007 ). We repeated the hierarchical cluster analysis ten times, applying the standardized Euclidian Distance method as a distance measure and using Ward’s algorithm. The cross validation procedure ( Mandara, 2003 ) result in moderate agreements ( k = 0.71, range: 0.67–0.75).

To label the four groups, we examined the parenting styles by computing a one-way ANOVA on the standardized scores of parenting dimensions with the clusters serving as the factors. The result revealed that the clustering variables significantly differed between the parenting dimensions [acceptance/involvement: F (3,608) = 472.58, p < 0.001, η 2 = 0.70; strictness/supervision: F (3,608) = 280.35, p < 0.001, η 2 = 0.58]. Authoritative parents were those who scored high on both dimensions (acceptance/involvement: z = 0.95, strictness/supervision: z = 0.76), whereas neglectful parents scored low on both dimensions (acceptance/involvement: z = -1.45, strictness/supervision: z = -1.06). Authoritarian parents scored low on acceptance/involvement ( z = -0.61) but high on strictness/supervision dimension ( z = 0.50), whereas indulgent parents scored high on acceptance/involvement ( z = 0.15) but low on strictness/supervision dimension ( z = -0.77).

Descriptive statistics for study variables are presented in Table 1 , and bivariate correlations are presented in Table 2 . Regarding descriptives, the following frequencies were found for the four parenting styles: 152 (24.0% of total sample) authoritarian; 200 (31.6%) authoritative; 83 (13.1%) neglectful; and 177 (28.0%) indulgent. The average scores of beliefs in parents’ authority and expectation for behavioral autonomy ranged from 2 to 3, which implied that adolescents reported medium level of endorsement of parental authority and autonomy expectations. The average scores of conflict frequency ranged from 2 to 4 and the average scores of conflict intensity ranged from 1 to 2, which suggested that adolescents reported low level of conflict frequency and intensity. Since the cohesion scored larger than 3 (except girls with neglectful parents), adolescents reported medium-high level of cohesion with parents.

TABLE 1. Means and standard deviations of all study variables except parenting styles.

TABLE 2. Correlations for all study variables except parenting styles.

Turning to correlations, although with a few exceptions, overall the adolescents’ higher expectation for behavioral autonomy was associated with greater frequency and intensity of conflict, and less cohesion. Adolescents’ stronger endorsement of the legitimacy of parental authority was associated with greater cohesion, but less frequent and intense conflict.

Links With Parenting Styles

A series of 4 (parenting styles) × 2 (child gender) analyses of covariance was conducted to explore the links between four parenting styles and parent–adolescent relationships. At the same time, we also explored if adolescents’ expectation for behavior autonomy and endorsement of parental authority differed as a function of adolescents’ gender and parenting styles. SES and grade served as covariables.

For adolescents’ expectation for behavior autonomy, the main effect of parenting styles was significant [ F (3,597) = 8.74, p < 0.001]. Bonferroni post hoc t -tests indicated that adolescents of authoritative parents reported the lower level of expectation for behavioral autonomy ( M = 2.18, SD = 0.60) than adolescents of neglectful [ M = 2.70, SD = 0.64, t (278) = 4.66, p < 0.001], indulgent [ M = 2.48, SD = 0.62, t (371) = 3.75, p < 0.01] and authoritarian parents [ M = 2.43, SD = 0.66, t (344) = 2.79, p < 0.05].

For legitimacy of parental authority, the main effect of parenting styles was significant [mother: F (3,597) = 30.26, father: F (3,597) = 29.62, p s < 0.001]. Adolescents of authoritative parents reported the highest endorsement of parental authority (mother: M = 2.73, SD = 0.53; father: M = 2.71, SD = 0.56), whereas adolescents of neglectful parents reported the lowest endorsement of parental authority (mother: M = 2.06, SD = 0.47; father: M = 1.98, SD = 0.54). Adolescents raised by authoritarian (mother: M = 2.42, SD = 0.59; father: M = 2.38, SD = 0.62) and indulgent parents (mother: M = 2.26, SD = 0.51; father: M = 2.25, SD = 0.55) reported endorsements of parental authority that were between the other two groups (mother: t > 2.86, p < 0.05; father: t > 3.52, p < 0.01). The interaction between gender and parenting styles also was significant [mother: F (3,597) = 2.53, p = 0.056; father: F (3,597) = 3.03, p < 0.05]. Post hoc probing revealed no gender difference for youth with authoritative, authoritarian and neglectful parents. In contrast, for youth with indulgent parents, boys reported greater endorsement of parental authority (mother: M = 2.37, SD = 0.56; father: M = 2.39, SD = 0.60) than did girls [mother: M = 2.16, SD = 0.44, t (171) = 2.62, p < 0.01; father: M = 2.12, SD = 0.46, t (171) = 3.52, p < 0.01].

Turning to intensity of conflict with parents, the main effect of parenting styles was significant [mother: F (3,595) = 7.49, p < 0.001; father: F (3,583) = 3.90, p < 0.01]. Adolescents of neglectful [mother: M = 1.74, SD = 0.62, t (253) = 3.99, p < 0.001; father: M = 1.73, SD = 0.81, t (245) = 2.58, p = 0.06] and authoritarian parents [mother: M = 1.63, SD = 0.54, t (320) = 3.01, p < 0.05; father: M = 1.63, SD = 0.75, t (313) = 2.49, p = 0.08] reported more intense conflict than those of indulgent parents (mother: M = 1.46, SD = 0.43; father: M = 1.45, SD = 0.46). In addition, adolescents of neglectful parenting also reported more intense conflict with mothers than those of authoritative parenting [ M = 1.49, SD = 0.47, t (276) = 3.61, p < 0.01]. As for the frequency of conflict with parents, none of the effects was significant.

For cohesion, gender was significantly related to mother–child cohesion [ F (1,597) = 9.07, p < 0.01], with greater cohesion found for daughters than sons (girls: M = 3.70, SD = 0.66; boys: M = 3.42, SD = 0.59). For mothers and fathers alike, there was a main effect of parenting styles [mother: F (3,597) = 37.53, father: F (3,597) = 26.49, p s < 0.001]. Adolescents of authoritative parents reported the highest level of cohesion (mother: M = 3.85, SD = 0.58; father: M = 3.77, SD = 0.63), followed by indulgent [mother: M = 3.59, SD = 0.52, t (371) = 4.20, p < 0.001; father: M = 3.55, SD = 0.63, t (371) = 3.15, p < 0.05], authoritarian [mother: M = 3.41, SD = 0.60, t (320) = 2.62, p = 0.05; father: M = 3.29, SD = 0.72, t (320) = 3.33, p < 0.01] and neglectful parents [mother: M = 3.05, SD = 0.67, t (227) = 4.78, p < 0.001; father: M = 3.02, SD = 0.75, t (227) = 2.94, p < 0.05]. Finally, the parenting style main effect for mothers was moderated by child gender [ F (3,597) = 1.34, p < 0.01]. Cohesion was higher for girls than boys, only in authoritative [girls: M = 4.03, SD = 0.55; boys: M = 3.64, SD = 0.56, t (195) = 4.77, p < 0.001] and indulgent homes [girls: M = 3.70, SD = 0.50; boys: M = 3.48, SD = 0.50, t (171) = 2.61, p < 0.01].

Mediating Effects

To test our second hypothesis that expectations for behavioral autonomy and beliefs in the legitimacy of parental authority would mediate the links between parenting style and parent-adolescent conflict and cohesion, we used structural equation modeling in Mplus 7.4 (Figures 1 – 3 , for the analyses of conflict frequency, conflict intensity, and cohesion, respectively). SES and grade were included as covariables. The categorical parenting style variable was represented as three dummy-coded variables with authoritative parenting as the reference category. Because the autonomy expectations scale had many items, we used a common parceling technique to estimate a highly reliable latent construct for that variable by randomly assigning items into four nearly equal-sized sets of indicators ( Little et al., 2002 ). Finally, latent variables were constructed (using mother and father scales as indicators) for the conflict and cohesion variables, as well as the attitudes about legitimate parental authority variable. All models showed good fit with the data [conflict frequency: χ 2 = 160.99, df = 56, CFI = 0.96, TLI = 0.95, RMSEA = 0.055; conflict intensity: χ 2 = 167.23, df = 56, CFI = 0.96, TLI = 0.94, RMSEA = 0.058; cohesion: χ 2 = 192.55, df = 56, CFI = 0.95, TLI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.063).

FIGURE 1. Adolescents’ expectation for autonomy and beliefs about parental authority as mediators between parenting styles and the frequency of parent-adolescent conflict. Standardized path coefficients are presented in the model. ∗ p < 0.05; ∗∗ p < 0.01; ∗∗∗ p < 0.001.

In all three models, adolescents raised in neglectful, indulgent and authoritarian homes (compared to authoritative) reported lower level of beliefs about parental authority and higher expectations for behavior autonomy. Regarding frequency (Figure 1 ) and intensity (Figure 2 ) of conflict, greater expectation of autonomy was linked with more frequent and intense conflict, whereas regarding parent–adolescent cohesion (Figure 3 ), greater endorsement of authority was linked with greater relationship cohesion. Also, conflict intensity was lower for youth with indulgent parents and cohesion was lower for youth with neglectful, indulgent or authoritarian (compared to authoritative) parents.

FIGURE 2. Adolescents’ expectation for autonomy and beliefs about parental authority as mediators between parenting styles and the intensity of parent–adolescent conflict. Standardized path coefficients are presented in the model. ∗ p < 0.05; ∗∗ p < 0.01; ∗∗∗ p < 0.001.

FIGURE 3. Adolescents’ expectation for autonomy and beliefs about parental authority as mediators between parenting styles and parent-adolescent cohesion. Standardized path coefficients are presented in the model. ∗ p < 0.05; ∗∗ p < 0.01; ∗∗∗ p < 0.001.

Significance of indirect effects was computed using bootstrapping with 1000 resamples. A bias-corrected bootstrapped 95% confidence interval (CI) showed significant indirect effects from neglectful, indulgent and authoritarian parenting style to the frequency and the intensity of parent-adolescent conflict via adolescents’ expectation for behavior autonomy. For conflict frequency, 95% CIs were [0.033,0.126], [0.022,0.102], and [0.014,0.092] for neglectful, indulgent and authoritarian parents, respectively. For intensity of conflict, 95% CIs were [0.042,0.131] [0.027,0.105], and [0.019,0.097] for neglectful, indulgent and authoritarian parents, respectively. There also were significant indirect effects to cohesion via adolescents’ beliefs in the legitimacy of parental authority. The 95% CIs were [-0.202, -0.081], [-0.185, -0.071], and [-0.128, -0.0341] for neglectful, indulgent and authoritarian parents, respectively.

Moderating Effect of Adolescents’ Gender

Given possible gender differences in paths, we conducted multiple-group analyses. We had hypothesized that the links between parenting style and parent-adolescent conflict and cohesion would be stronger for girls than boys; we did not have hypotheses regarding the mediators however. Chi-square difference statistic (Δχ 2 ) were used to compare fit between models. All structural paths were constrained to be equal for boys and girls and the overall model fit was compared to a model without any constraint. For conflict frequency and intensity, the unconstrained and fully constrained models were not significantly different—suggesting no gender moderation [Δχ 2 (11) = 14.88, Δχ 2 (11) = 14.96, p s > 0.05]. In contrast, for cohesion, the unconstrained model provided a significantly better fit than the constrained model [Δχ 2 (11) = 23.45, p < 0.05]. To interpret this, we compared path coefficients for boys and girls one by one (see Figure 4 ). The negative prediction of cohesion from neglectful and authoritarian parenting (relative to authoritative parenting) was stronger for girls than boys; this was consistent with our hypothesis. As for the exploration of gender differences in the mediation paths, we found that the negative link between indulgent parenting style and parental authority was stronger for girls than boys, whereas the positive link between endorsement of parental authority and cohesion was stronger for boys than girls.

FIGURE 4. Results of multiple-group structural equation model evaluating the relationships of adolescents’ expectation for behavioral autonomy, their endorsement of parental authority and parent–adolescent cohesion across genders. Standardized path coefficients are presented in the model. Covariances, correlations and residuals are not shown. Solid lines indicate the pathway parameters are different between male sample and female sample. Dotted lines indicate the pathway parameters are similar between male sample and female sample. ∗ p < 0.05; ∗∗ p < 0.01; ∗∗∗ p < 0.001.

In the current study, we tested the associations between parenting styles and parent-adolescent relationships (Aim 1), examined the mediating effects of adolescents’ expectation for behavior autonomy and their endorsement of parental authority on these associations (Aim 2), and also explored the moderating effect of adolescents’ gender (Aim 3) in a sample of adolescents from mainland China.

Parenting Styles and Relationships With Adolescents

In studies of Western families, parenting styles are recognized as having predictable associations with parent-adolescent conflict and cohesion. Previous studies have reported that adolescents of authoritative parents have lower conflict frequency and intensity and higher cohesion than those of authoritarian parents ( Smetana, 1995 ; Assadi et al., 2011 ; Nelson et al., 2011 ; Sorkhabi and Middaugh, 2014 ). In contrast to previous research, the present study showed that adolescents reported similar levels of parent-adolescent conflict frequency regardless of parenting style. This result may be attributed to the traditional Chinese culture, which places emphasis on keeping harmonious relationships and avoiding confrontation ( Peterson et al., 2005 ). This unique cultural context may alleviate any links between parenting and frequency of conflict because Chinese adolescents may avoid conflict with their parents.

However, conflict intensity did show associations with parenting style. Compared with indulgent parenting styles, adolescents of neglectful and authoritarian parents experienced greater intensity of conflict. Indulgent parents place relatively few demands on the adolescents’ behavior, giving them high degree of freedom to act as they wish. In contrast, neglectful parents are characterized as lacking warmth and guidance, whereas authoritarian parents place a high value on obedience and conformity and allow less verbal give-and-take. Conflict may be more intense in neglectful parenting style because the adolescent is making demands on a parent who otherwise is withdrawn and minimizing of the youth’s needs. Also, adolescents may be dissatisfied with authoritarian parents’ setting broad rules without emotional support, which leads to more intense conflict when it occurs. Other variables might also explain the effect. For instance, adolescents with neglectful parents are more likely to engage in delinquent behaviors ( You and Lim, 2015 ), which itself may lead to more intense conflict.

In addition, the current study found that adolescents raised in authoritative and authoritarian parenting style reported similar levels of conflict intensity with parents. This is inconsistent with previous findings, which showed that Western adolescents raised in authoritarian parenting homes reported more intense parent–adolescent conflict than those raised in authoritative parenting homes ( Smetana, 1995 ). One explanation for this difference in results may be that in Chinese culture, similar to training and tiger parenting, the motivation and intention of authoritarian parenting is to supervise children and promote optimal development, instead of simply controlling them ( Chao, 1994 ; Kim et al., 2013 ). And Chinese adolescents may perceive positively the parents’ intention to supervise their development, resulting in no direct association between levels of parental control and conflict intensity.

With regard to parent–adolescent relationship cohesion, the current study showed that adolescents with authoritative parents reported the highest levels of cohesion. This result extends previously published work in various cultural groups showing greater cohesion for authoritative parenting (e.g., Nelson et al., 2011 ). Authoritative parenting is characterized by a high degree of warmth and acceptance as well as supervision, but also including the granting of adolescent autonomy ( Baumrind, 2005 ). In Chinese and Western cultures today, adolescents seek greater independence along with support (compared to children)—a balance of youth and parent goals that is best met in authoritative households that promote close relationships. In contrast, neglectful parents’ lack of warmth and supervision, which may be interpreted as irresponsibility, may hinder the establishment of cohesive relationships. Indulgent and authoritarian parents provided either limited guidelines or limited support for their children. All these characteristics were likely to reduce parent–adolescent cohesion.

Expectation for Behavioral Autonomy

Our second aim was, in part, to identify potential mediating effects of adolescents’ expectations for autonomy. Results showed that adolescents’ autonomy expectations mediated the links between parenting styles and both the frequency and intensity of parent–adolescent conflict. Specifically, compared to adolescents in authoritative homes, those in neglect, indulgent, and authoritarian homes reported stronger expectations for autonomy, which in turn were linked with more frequent and intense parent-adolescent conflict. This result was consistent with other studies which explored the relationships between parenting styles, adolescents’ expectation for behavioral autonomy and parent-adolescent conflict ( Baumrind, 1991 ; Bush and Peterson, 2013 ).

Adolescents in authoritative families reported the lowest expectation for behavioral autonomy. This result may be due to that adolescents with authoritative parents have achieved appropriate autonomy, therefore, their desire to acquire more autonomy is not so strong. The salutary effect of authoritative parenting style on adolescents’ behavioral autonomy likely reflects the successful attainment of a socialization goal among authoritative parents: to facilitate autonomy and promote self-reliance. This socialization goal is accomplished by respecting their children’s needs and recognizing that adolescents legitimately have the right to control some aspects of their lives ( Bush and Peterson, 2013 ).

Compared with authoritative parenting style, non-authoritative parenting styles have some characteristics that are thought to hinder the development of adolescents’ behavioral autonomy. Authoritarian parents are characterized as using hostile control or harsh punishment in an arbitrary manner to gain obedience and conformity ( Bush and Peterson, 2013 ). At the same time, authoritarian parents provide limited warmth and responsiveness. In that context, adolescents are more likely to seek greater behavioral autonomy because it is not available to them. Also, indulgent and neglect parents provide few if any rules or discipline. Without sufficient firm control in the form of parental monitoring and guidance, adolescents raised in indulgent and neglect parenting families are more likely to experience high levels of independence before they can manage it themselves ( Bush and Peterson, 2013 ). Also, adolescents in neglectful families lack parental supportiveness and those in indulgent homes are simply spoiled. Such adolescents may have high levels of autonomy, but it is not likely to have been developed through a healthy developmental process with their parents in a way that balances their growing self-determination and connectedness with their parents.

In agreement with previous research ( Laursen and Collins, 2009 ), the current results revealed that adolescents’ expectation for behavioral autonomy statistically predicted greater parent–adolescent conflict—perhaps because parents favor less autonomy than do their teenage children. This parent-youth discrepancy has been found in individualistic and collectivist cultural groups within the United States and in other countries ( Smetana, 1988 ; Pérez et al., 2016 ). Researchers have interpreted the discrepancy as a developmental phenomenon, in which adolescents’ need for autonomy exceeds parental concerns with maintaining order and protecting their children from harm ( Jensen and Dost-Gözkan, 2015 ).

Legitimacy of Parental Authority

The second mediating effect that was tested involved adolescents’ beliefs in the legitimacy of parental authority; results suggested some evidence for this effect. Compared with authoritative parenting, non-authoritative parenting was negatively associated with adolescents’ beliefs in the legitimacy of parental authority, which in turn were positively related to parent-adolescent cohesion. This finding is consistent with previous research ( Fuligni, 1998 ; Darling et al., 2005 ; Assadi et al., 2011 ; Trinkner et al., 2012 ). Our interpretation is that with increasingly adult-like social cognitions and relationships, adolescents increasing question parental authority as they shift from unquestioning compliance to rational assessment with conditional obedience. Compared to other types of parents, authoritative parents, are more successful with continually renegotiating parental authority as their children “grow up,” because they use reasoning and explanations and are responsive to adolescents’ perspectives. This ongoing negotiation provides a context for parents and children to articulate and discuss divergent perspectives, which helps legitimize the parents’ authority by rationally justifying the boundaries of adolescents’ personal jurisdiction.

In contrast, authoritarian parents exert strict and sometimes arbitrary punishment without explanation. Also, they construct the boundaries of parental authority much more broadly than authoritative parents, which promotes resistance in adolescence ( Smetana, 1995 ; Baumrind, 2005 ). In this context, adolescents struggle to internalize the legitimacy of parental authority. Also, in contrast to authoritative parents, indulgent and neglectful parents provide little information about boundaries or appropriate behavior. Such lax control can undermine parental authority, so that youth increasingly regard parents as not playing an authority role.

Parents who exercise their authority are satisfied when their adolescent children respect them, which helps maintain harmonious relationships in the family ( Zhang et al., 2006 ; Jensen and Dost-Gözkan, 2015 ). As child-rearing agents, providers of information and rules, and primary sources of support for their children, parents need to establish their authority to better play their parenting roles. However, this occurs in a relationship context with adolescent, and the teenager’s endorsement of parents’ authority helps the adults meet their psychological needs as well. In such families, parents and youth consider each other’s boundaries and areas of control through negotiation and mutual respect, which builds more cohesive relationships.

In the current study, although adolescents’ expectations for behavioral autonomy and beliefs in the legitimacy of parental authority are both critical attitude domains, their mediating effects were different: autonomy expectations mediated the effect of parenting style on parent-adolescent conflict, but authority legitimacy mediated the effect of parenting style on parent-adolescent cohesion. Certainly, although they are correlated, conflict and cohesion delineate different aspects of parent–adolescent relationships ( Zhang et al., 2006 )—and, each may be affected differently by levels of parental authority and adolescent autonomy. The distinction may be particularly strong in Chinese culture which emphasizes conformity and obedience ( Peterson et al., 2005 ). Parent-adolescent conflict was more likely to be linked with adolescents’ higher expectations for behavioral autonomy which runs against cultural norms, but cohesion was more likely to be linked with adolescents’ greater endorsement of parental authority which is consistent with cultural norms.

Adolescent Gender

Our final aim was to test the hypothesis that the direct link between parenting style and relationship qualities would be stronger for girls than boys—and, to also explore whether there were gender differences in the mediating effects via adolescent autonomy and authority attitudes. The results indicated only a few such effects. Briefly, girls in authoritative and indulgent homes reported more cohesion with mothers than boys, and girls of neglect and authoritarian parenting reported lower level of parent–adolescent cohesion than boys. This may be due to that girls are more responsive and sensitive to social bonds than boys, and that cohesion and parenting style both reflects emotional atmosphere. Therefore, the relationships between parenting styles and cohesion were stronger for girls. Besides, girls of indulgent parents were less likely to endorse parental authority than boys, while endorsement of parental authority had greater effect on parent-adolescent cohesion for boys than girls. To the extent that parents normally set more rules and expect greater obedience of parental authority for girls than boys ( Darling et al., 2005 ; Zhang and Fuligni, 2006 ), and consequently girls of indulgent parents may be more likely to feel that their parents did not shoulder the responsibility of cultivating them or establish the authority, given indulgent parents did not provide enough supervision and rules. Therefore, girls of indulgent parents endorsed lower level of parental authority. At the same time, since parents expected less conformity and obedience for boys, their endorsement of parental authority was more likely to live up to parents’ expectation, which may improve relationships with parents.

Although gender moderated a few paths in the direct and mediating models, overall, the majority of paths were not significantly different for boys and girls across all of the models that were tested. This may be due to that, with the implementation of the one child policy, Chinese parenting styles and socialization practices are becoming increasingly similar for their sole children ( Lu and Chang, 2013 ), resulting in more similar associations between parenting styles and parent–adolescent relationships and also the mediating effects of autonomy and authority for these relationships for boys and girls.

Limitations and Conclusions

Several limitations of this study should be noted. First, the participants were urban adolescents in mainland China which is characterized as collectivist culture, so generalizing the results to other cultures or groups should be done with caution. Second, the correlational design does not permit causal inferences. Longitudinal experimental data are necessary to identify causal relationships among the variables. Finally, we relied on adolescents’ self-reports. Previous research found that there were discrepancies between parents’ and youth’s perceptions on these variables (e.g., Jensen and Dost-Gözkan, 2015 ), so our findings may not represent what would be found using parents’ reports or observers’ ratings.

Despite these limitations, the current study has important implications. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the mediating effects of adolescents’ expectations for behavioral autonomy and beliefs in the legitimacy of parental authority, on the links between parenting styles and parent-adolescent conflict and cohesion. The findings of this study extend existing research and suggest that prevention and intervention efforts are needed to primarily target the reduction of non-authoritative parenting styles, and the promotion of acquiring appropriate levels of autonomy expectations and endorsement of parental authority. Future research should examine other possible mediating paths and sample a wider range of cultural contexts to explore adolescent development and family functioning.

Ethics Statement

This study was carried out in accordance with the recommendations of the Institutional Review Board of Shandong Normal University. All subjects gave written informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Shandong Normal University.

Author Contributions

XB conducted the analysis and drafted the manuscript. YY and HL helped in performing the statistical analysis. MW coordinated the data collection and helped in the statistical analysis. WZ conceived and coordinated the study and helped to draft the manuscript. KD-D helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript and the byline order of authors.

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31671156).

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Supplementary Material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02187/full#supplementary-material

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Keywords : parenting style, parent–adolescent relationship, behavioral autonomy, parental authority, gender

Citation: Bi X, Yang Y, Li H, Wang M, Zhang W and Deater-Deckard K (2018) Parenting Styles and Parent–Adolescent Relationships: The Mediating Roles of Behavioral Autonomy and Parental Authority. Front. Psychol. 9:2187. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02187

Received: 08 August 2018; Accepted: 23 October 2018; Published: 13 November 2018.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2018 Bi, Yang, Li, Wang, Zhang and Deater-Deckard. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Wenxin Zhang, [email protected]

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The Psychology Behind Different Types of Parenting Styles

Deciding how to raise their child is a challenge all parents face. Whether child rearing alone, or with a partner, we all want to do what’s best for our kids, and that can lead to a lot of anxiety when choosing a parenting style to follow. Parenting styles vary from person to person, but a few main categories have been identified by researchers over the years.

In the 1960s, psychologist Diana Baumrind identified three main styles of parenting: authoritarian, authoritative and permissive. A fourth style, neglectful, was later added in the 1980s by Stanford researchers Eleanor Maccoby and John Martin. Baumrind later wrote an entire book on the authoritative parenting style, which she believed to be the most beneficial, but all four categories remain in place today. Below are the different parenting styles.

The Four Types of Parenting Styles

The effects of parenting styles on the development as children, and how those effects manifest themselves in adulthood, is still a subject of heavy discussion in the psychology community. It’s hard to measure as those affects are hard to quantify, but there are several generally agreed-upon consequences of each parenting style. We’ll explore the four parenting styles in more detail here and discuss their potential consequences on children raised under them.

Authoritarian

First in the 4 parenting styles is Authoritarian. This style is often described as dictatorial and overbearing. These parents respond to any question with, “Because I said so!” and expect to be obeyed without giving a reason. Rules are strict, with no room for interpretation, compromise, or discussion. Punishments for violating rules are severe. In this kind of household, children are rarely given a say in their own lives and are expected instead to obey whatever they’re told to do without question. Punishments are often used to ensure obedience, and affection is given sparingly if at all. This approach can have damaging consequences to a child that can follow them into adulthood. According to therapist and author Alyson Schafer, those consequences include:

Developing a “follower” mentality where these children have trouble deciding things for themselves
Difficulty discerning right from wrong on their own
Low self-esteem and seeking confirmation of their worth from outside authority figures

In addition to the above, authoritarian parenting doesn’t appear to instill lasting lessons; as soon as the parent leaves, the child will often act out. They’ll also often seek guidance from someone other than their parent.

Authoritative

Perhaps the most beneficial of Diana Baumrind’s parenting styles is Authoritative. This is generally regarded to be the best parenting style as it provides a balance between structure and independence, allowing a child to grow within reasonable boundaries and explore their abilities. Parents using this style will set strict standard which they expect their children to abide but also support them by providing an emotionally caring environment that fosters trust. This style can be described as “tough but fair” or “firm but nurturing.” A child has room to make mistakes and the freedom to make them without judgement within a structure that provides guidance. Baumrind described authoritative parents like this:

They are assertive, but not intrusive and restrictive. Their disciplinary methods are supportive, rather than punitive. They want their children to be assertive as well as socially responsible and self-regulated as well as cooperative.

This style can help children:

Gain self-assurance
Handle responsibility
Figure out how to overcome difficulties
Become confident in their own judgement

Third in the 4 types of parenting styles is Permissive. The extreme opposite of the authoritarian parenting style, permissive parents let their children do what they want and don’t implement rules or structure that might make disappoint or upset the child. Descriptions of this style often have the parent trying to act more as a peer or friend to their child, giving in to their wants almost immediately. This can be the result of that parent growing up with an authoritarian parenting style in their own household and not wanting to put their child through it. Being responsive to your child’s needs is great, but the lack of structure and limits can have negative affects long-term. “You end up with either a child who’s entitled or incredibly anxious because there’s no one running the ship,” Schafer said.

Other negative consequences of overly permissive parenting can include:

Developing poor emotional control
Being overly rebellious and defiant when the child doesn’t get their way
Giving up when faced with challenges
Engaging in harmful antisocial behavior, like drug and alcohol abuse

Last of the 4 parenting styles is Neglectful. The types of parents who are neglectful, as the category would imply, do not interact much with their children at all. The children are given no rules, structure, or affection and are left largely to fend for themselves. This parenting style, especially when taken to the extreme, can put children in danger and lead to them being removed from the home. This style can also be called “ uninvolved parenting .”

Neglectful parents don’t converse or interact with their children much, don’t attend their children’s activities or events and don’t strive for any kind of emotional connection. Even if not physically damaging, the psychological aftermath of this parenting style is serious and can lead to children:

Becoming depressed
Struggling to form close relationships
Having failed relationships
Lashing out through delinquent or hostile behavior
Cutting themselves off from others

“Neglectful parents . . . raise kids who have attachment difficulties because the bond between child and parent is so fleeting,” said Fran Walfish, a child, parenting and relationship psychotherapist.

Getting Involved

If psychology fascinates you and you have a desire to help others, then maybe it’s time to consider earning a degree from Jessup. Both our on-campus Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and our fully online Bachelor of Arts in Psychology program can give you the training and skills you need to help others as a therapist or counselor while balancing your already busy schedule.

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v.4(3); 2016 Jul

The influence of parenting style on academic achievement and career path

Zahra zahed zahedani.

1 Khorasgan (Isfahan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran;

RITA REZAEE

2 Education Development Center, Quality Improvement in Clinical Education Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran;

ZAHRA YAZDANI

3 Department of Educational Management, College of Education Science, Khorasgan (Isfahan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran

SINA BAGHERI

4 Student Research Committee, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

PARISA NABEIEI

Introduction.

Several factors affect the academic performance of college students and parenting style is one significant factor. The current study has been done with the purpose of investigating the relationship between parenting styles, academic achievement and career path of students at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences.

This is a correlation study carried out at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Among 1600 students, 310 students were selected randomly as the sample. Baumrind’s Parenting Style and Moqimi’s Career Path questionnaires were used and the obtained scores were correlated with the students' transcripts. To study the relation between variables Pearson correlation coefficient was used.

There was a significant relationship between authoritarian parenting style and educational success (p=0.03). Also findings showed a significant relationship between firm parenting style and Career Path of the students, authoritarian parenting style and Career Path of the students, educational success and Career Path of the students (p=0.001).

Parents have an important role in identifying children’s talent and guiding them. Mutual understanding and close relationship between parents and children are recommended. Therefore, it is recommended that the methods of correct interaction of parents and children be more valued and parents familiarize their children with roles of businesses in society and the need for employment in legitimate businesses and this important affair should be more emphasized through mass media and family training classes.

Family is the fundamental and important structure of the society that has an important role in one's life and in the society. The importance of the family as a social structure is something unmistakable. Although affected by society and peers, children are more influenced by the family. The influence of the family on the child and its roles in the creativity, cultural, social, and moral aspects are very great and important. Correct and balanced relationship between parents and their children is one of the factors influencing both their physical and mental health. Research has shown that interaction between children and parents and how parents communicate with children are considered to be the most important and fundamental factors among the various factors that affect children’s fostering and healthy character ( 1 ).

The relationship of parents with children or parenting style serves multiple purposes. Moral and psychological training, identification, growth and development of children's talents, skills, familiarizing with the rules and norms of the society from the perspective of parents are among these purposes. "Parsons also consider two basic functions for the family, i.e. socialization and prosperity of the child's personality." So it seems that parents’ parenting styles are likely to affect children's personality traits ( 2 ).

Parenting styles can be defined as a set or a system of behaviors that describes the parent and child interactions over a wide range of situations and creates an effective interaction atmosphere ( 3 ). Parenting style is a determining and effective factor that plays an important role in children’s psychopathology and growth ( 4 ). In the present study, ponderable points in parenting styles, physical presence of parents at home, i.e. the time to be with the children and cultural spaces of the family are considered.

Educational achievement means the fulfillment of expected level of education, and an education organization approaches its predetermined goals. Educational achievement means increase of learning, increase of the level of good scores and admission of students in the courses and educational grades ( 5 , 6 ).

Traditionally, career success is defined for those who receive good salaries for their jobs or have high positions and positions with more favorable responsibilities, motivation, adequate distinction, and progress. The Employees and managers are expected alike to have a commitment to the organization. It is assumed that if the employees have appropriate jobs which they are loyal to, the management offers them the rewards such as promotion, fringe benefits, job security and more respect and even work authority. Thus, the labor force of the organization will feel dignity ( 7 , 8 ).

Offering more job and education information and helping each student with self-image during the education can give him the logical principles to make a correct decision. Many people make decisions about their careers by observing the world around and try to match themselves with it. This is something contrary to what should be really done. The best career path is a process that begins within (a kind of evolution of self-consciousness). Individuals have to be aware of their skills, talents, abilities, capabilities and unique features because this self-consciousness is a cycle which leads the individual towards a satisfactory job. Choosing a profession proportionate to individual’s interests and abilities is one of the most important stages of life for all people ( 7 ).

In fact, all of us, not only earn money from our chosen career, but also determine our social status. Therefore, we can expect that, by choosing our profession, we determine our social status and self-respect in addition to the income level. As noted, people entering the world of work and organizations are seeking growth and progress, thus, they choose the path that has been designed by the manager’s discretion. The task of management is to determine career progress path, establish compatibility between needs, potential abilities of the people on the one hand and, on the other hand, professional needs of the organization and determine career progress path of each individual during his career. Management of career path development is one of the activities of human resources that lead each individual to ideal perfection through finding his/her progress path in the working life. This fact leads to job satisfaction and professional tenure and higher effectiveness ( 7 ).

But, the question that comes to mind is that whether the educational success relates to parents’ parenting styles. And secondly, what is the relationship of parenting styles with students' career path?

No quite similar studies on the subject of the present study have been done so far. Therefore, this study seeks to examine the relationship between parents’ parenting styles and educational success and career path of the students of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in the academic year 2014. In this study, we intended to find out whether there is a relationship between parenting styles and students’ academic achievement and career path? The results of the previous researches suggest this relationship.

According to Sanaee (2008) career choice is one of the most important events in life that affects every aspect of human existence. In the theories of career choice, factors affecting career choice are studied and help the individual to choose an appropriate job which leads to personal satisfaction and increase of the efficiency. The results of the study showed that there was a significant relationship between self-concept and job satisfaction, as well as career self-concept and job satisfaction ( 9 ).

Mehrafza (2005) in a study examined the relationship between parenting styles and creativity and academic achievement of the students of grade three of high school and showed that there was a significantly positive relationship between the emotional atmosphere of the family, declining to the principles of democracy, and creativity. Furthermore, there was a significantly negative relationship between the creativity and dictatorship principles and there was no statistically significant relationship between the emotional atmosphere of the family, declining to absolute freedom, and creativity ( 10 ).

Abedi et al. (2005) in a study examined the relationship between motivations of educational achievement of high school students of Isfahan and their family characteristics. The results showed that from among family factors associated with educational achievement, motivation, parents’ expectations of children's success (0.28), authoritarian parenting style (0.26) and family structure (modern natural family) (0.16) explain educational achievement motivation ( 11 ).

Biabangard (2005) in a study examined the relationship of self-esteem and motivation with educational achievement among students of grade three of high school in Tehran. The researcher found that there was a significant correlation between self-esteem, achievement motivation, and educational achievement, between self-esteem and achievement motivation, between self-esteem and educational achievement, and between achievement motivation and educational achievement. There was no significant difference between self-esteem, achievement motivation, and educational achievement of both groups of male and female students of the fields of the Humanities and Experimental Sciences ( 12 ).

Kefayat (1994) conducted a study titled "Examination of the relationship of parenting styles and attitudes with creativity and its relationship with intelligence, educational achievement and progressivist behaviors of students of the first grade of high school in Ahvaz" and concluded that there was a negative correlation between the various parenting styles and creativity ( 13 ).

This is a correlation study which is done at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Among 1600 students, 310 students were selected randomly as the sample. Baumrind’s Parenting Style and Moqimi’s Career Path questionnaires were used and also to explain the relationship between the three variables, students' transcripts were used to determine the level of educational success. Regarding the study population, stratified random sampling method was used. Library, the Internet, local and foreign papers and studying the theoretical principles of the subject were used for access to the records. In this study, the following questionnaires were used:

Baumrind parenting style questionnaire
Moqimi career path questionnaire

The GPAs of senior students of various fields of study in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in the academic year 2014 were used to determine the educational success.

To determine the face and content validities of the questionnaires, the primary questionnaires were given to 3 professors and experts and after getting their opinions, the necessary changes were applied on the questionnaire, thus, the items of the questionnaires were modified and confirmed considering professors’ opinions. A test is reliable if it is given to the same group of people for several times in a short time, and the results are consistent. After analyzing the data from the questionnaires, their reliability coefficient (Cronbach's Alpha) was approved. Regarding the Parenting Styles Questionnaire: for permissive style, authoritarian style, and firm style, the reliability coefficients were respectively 0.72, 0.80, and 0.85 and for the Career Path Questionnaire: α = 0.82.

310 students participated in the study, 194 were male and 116 were female. In fact, the majority of subjects were male students, i.e. 62.6%, and female 37.4%. The majority of subjects were 21 to 25 years old (46.1%), the students under 20 years: (29%), those from 26 to 30 years: 18.1% and finally students over 30 years of age: 6.8%. More than half of the subjects were studying at B.S. level (61%), 21.3% at A.S. level, and 17.7% at M.S. level or higher.

The correlation matrix between the studied variables is presented in the following table that shows the correlation coefficients between all variables ( Table 1 ). According to the table, there is a positive and significant relationship between firm and reassuring parenting style and educational success and career path at the significance level of 0.01, while the authoritarian parenting style has a negative and significant relationship with educational success and career path at 0.05. There is no significant relationship between permissive parenting style and these two variables.

Correlation coefficients between parenting styles and educational success and career path of the students

**significant at p<0.01

*significant at p<0.05

The correlation coefficient between firm and reassuring parenting styles and educational success is 0.62 with the significance level of 0.001, which is less than 0.05. In other words, this result shows that there is a significant relationship between the parents’ firm parenting style and the students’ educational success and this relationship is positive and direct. The correlation coefficient obtained shows that the relationship between these two variables is relatively high.

The results of correlation between authoritarian parenting style and educational success show that there is a significantly negative relationship between the parents’ authoritarian parenting style and the students’ educational success (p=0.03).

The results of the examination of the relationship between permissive parenting style and students’ educational success, show that this relationship is not statistically significant (p=0.36).

The results of correlation between firm parenting and career path show that there is a significantly positive relationship between parents’ firm parenting style and students’ career path. This means that when the score of the firm and reassuring parenting style increases, the score of career path increases, too, and vice versa.

Other results show that there is a significantly negative relationship between parents’ authoritarian parenting style and students’ career path. This means that the more the score of authoritarian parenting styles of parents, the less the students’ score of career path will be, and vice versa.

The result of the examination of the relationship between permissive parenting styles and students’ career paths shows that this relationship is not statistically significant since the significance level is 0.08 which is greater than 0.05.

The correlation coefficient between educational success and career path is 0.47 and the significance level is 0.001; therefore, the research hypothesis is confirmed and we can say that the relationship between educational success and students’ career path is statistically significant. The correlation coefficient, i.e. 0.47, also suggests moderate relationship.

The results show that autonomy, parental involvement and warmth are significant predictors for academic achievement. Also there is a positive significant relationship between firm parenting style and student’s academic achievement.

Other results indicate that the high success in education is strongly associated with parenting styles. It has been found that very successful students at school with high scores had parents with firm styles. Those students with authoritative parents had the least scores and it has an acceptable conformity with the results of this study. The findings of this study also have conformity with Mehrafza’s ( 10 , 14 ).

Mehrafza (2005) in a study examined the relationship between parenting styles and creativity and educational achievement of the students of grade three of high school and found that there was a significantly positive relationship between the emotional atmosphere of the family, declining to the principles of democracy, and creativity. Furthermore, there was a significantly negative relationship between the creativity and dictatorship principles and there was no statistically significant relationship between the emotional atmosphere of the family, declining to absolute freedom, and creativity which is in an acceptable conformity with the results of this study ( 10 ).

The results showed that there was a significantly positive relationship between parents’ firm parenting style and students’ career path. This means that when the score of the firm and reassuring parenting style increases, the score of career path increases, too, and vice versa. The correlation coefficients obtained shows that the relationship between these two variables is relatively high.

Other studies have also investigated the relationship between the economic status of students' families and their educational tendencies so that the students with better economic status were more willing to have university education. Also, the children of more educated families were more willing to have university education and related occupations. In addition, family members have a more determining role in all of student’s educational-occupational aspects than the other groups. Other than families, students consult school authorities and their friends for the educational and occupational affairs ( 15 - 17 ).

Children’s choice of a future career depends on many factors including the parenting styles and their education. If the child's mind is active during his development about his future career through career counseling programs, in the secondary school the child gains the necessary knowledge and information about himself, jobs and his cognitive world is organized about businesses and in high school, he learns the job search process, along with the skills thereof and has a practical relevance with the world of businesses and also continues this process at the university and also begins useful work experience at this time. So selecting a successful career proportionate to the needs and talent and personality of the person will not be inaccessible.

Recommendations

Since the research sample is limited to the students, it is likely that factors such as age, education, culture, social situation, workplace, etc., influence educational achievement; therefore, it is recommended to consider these factors in the same future studies.
Present direct and indirect training of parenting styles for parents to support students’ progress and responsibility and consequently career path.

Conflict of interests: None declared.

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Parenting Styles: A Closer Look at a Well-Known Concept
Although parenting styles constitute a well-known concept in parenting research, two issues have largely been overlooked in existing studies. In particular, the psychological control dimension has rarely been explicitly modelled and there is limited insight into joint parenting styles that simultaneously characterize maternal and paternal practices and their impact on child development.
Parenting Styles
Research begun by developmental psychologist Diana Baumrind in the 1960s identified three main parenting styles —authoritarian, indulgent, and authoritative. Later studies added a fourth ...
PDF Current research on parenting styles, dimensions, and beliefs
Dimensional approaches. In response to the cultural critiques of parenting styles, current research focuses on discrete dimensions of par-enting, providing greater specificity in understanding parenting effects. For instance, behavioral control has been distinguished from psychological control and paren-tal knowledge.
Exploring Parenting Styles Patterns and Children's Socio-Emotional
Parenting style is a collection of parents' attitudes, behaviors, and emotions . Therefore, ... that it was not determinant for profile affiliation in combination with high authoritative and low authoritarian styles. Confirming Hypothesis 2, the present study demonstrated that the socio-emotional development in childhood and adolescence is ...
Types of Parenting Styles and Effects On Children
A child's morals, principles, and conduct are generally established through this bond. Researchers have grouped parenting styles into 3, 4, 5, or more psychological constructs. This topic's content will only focus on 4 parenting categories: authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and uninvolved. Every category employs a unique approach to how ...
Parenting styles: A closer look at a well-known concept.
Although parenting styles constitute a well-known concept in parenting research, two issues have largely been overlooked in existing studies. In particular, the psychological control dimension has rarely been explicitly modelled and there is limited insight into joint parenting styles that simultaneously characterize maternal and paternal practices and their impact on child development. Using ...
Baumrind's Parenting Styles
The most widely known categories of parenting styles are based on the work of Diana Baumrind [1, 2].Most of her research has focused on two dimensions of parenting style: authority and affection [1, 2].Authority or demandingness refers to the degree to which parents try to control their children's behavior by setting rational standards for behavior.
Parenting Styles
Historical Context of Parenting Styles Research. The aftermath of World War II brought with it an interest in examining the impact of various leadership styles on group process, resulting in the application of leadership concepts to parenting research (Givertz 2016).Prior to Baumrind's application of group dynamics theory to parenting, Baldwin 1949 studied the effects on children of ...
Parenting Styles
Each parenting style reflects different, naturally occurring patterns of parental behaviors, values, and practices, and suggests different relationships between parents and their children. An extensive body of research has relied on this approach and shows that each parenting style predicts outcomes for children in all realms of their lives ...
Parenting styles: An evidence-based, cross-cultural guide
At a glance, the 2×2 matrix reveals why so many people regard authoritative parenting as optimal. Being responsive is a good thing, and two styles - authoritative and permissive - meet this criterion.. Being demanding is also helpful for aspects of child development, and two styles - authoritative and authoritarian - display this feature.. But only one parenting style ...
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Maccoby and Martin: Demandingness and Responsiveness. In the 1980s, Maccoby and Martin attempted to bridge Baumrind's styles and parenting dimensions, focusing their research efforts primarily on the configuration of parenting styles.Based on the combination of two dimensions - demandingness and responsiveness - they defined four parenting styles: authoritative (i.e., high demandingness ...
Parenting styles
A parenting style is a pattern of behaviors, attitudes, and approaches that a parent uses when interacting with and raising their child. The study of parenting styles is based on the idea that parents differ in their patterns of parenting and that these patterns can have a significant impact on their children's development and well-being. Parenting styles are distinct from specific parenting ...
Baumrind's Parenting Styles
The parenting style used to rear a child will likely impact that child's future success in romantic, peer and parenting relationships. Diana Baumrind, a clinical and developmental psychologist, coined the following parenting styles: authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive/indulgent, Later, Maccoby and Martin added the uninvolved ...
Parenting Styles and Parent-Adolescent Relationships: The Mediating
Parenting Styles and Parent-Adolescent Relationships. Parenting style is defined as a constellation of parents' attitudes and behaviors toward children and an emotional climate in which the parents' behaviors are expressed (Darling and Steinberg, 1993).In the field of parenting, Maccoby and Martin's (1983) and Baumrind's (1991) typological approach of conceptualizing parenting has ...
Parenting Styles
Research begun by developmental psychologist Diana Baumrind in the 1960s identified three main parenting styles —authoritarian, indulgent, and authoritative. Later studies added a fourth ...
4.1: Baumrind's Parenting Styles
Diana Baumrind's Parenting Styles. The parenting style used to rear a child will likely impact that child's future success in romantic, peer and parenting relationships. Diana Baumrind, a clinical and developmental psychologist, coined the following parenting styles: authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive/indulgent, Later, Maccoby and ...
The 4 Types of Parenting Styles and Their Impact On Child Development
The 4 types of parenting styles are authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and neglectful parenting style. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics and psychologists worldwide, the authoritative parenting style is the best. The neglectful parenting style is linked to the worst outcomes in children.
Why Parenting Styles Matter When Raising Children
The parenting styles of individual parents also combine to create a unique blend in each family. For example, the mother may display an authoritative style, while the father favors a more permissive approach. This can sometimes lead to mixed signals. To create a cohesive approach to parenting, parents must learn to cooperate and combine their ...
Parenting Dimensions and Styles: A Brief History and Recommendations
The use of person-centered styles also allows one to test with very large samples the seldom tested hypothesis of Darling and Steinberg that the effects of different parenting practices can vary as a function of the larger parenting style. 60 Physical punishment, for example, might have very different effects when used by authoritarian versus ...
PDF THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON PARENTING or post, copy, Do
ment theory and behavioral theory. CLASSICAL THEORIES Attachment Theory If asked to identify the single most important quality of the parent-child relationship, most people would say "love." Understanding how love between a parent and child devel - ops and affects development is the focus of attachment theory. This theory has its roots in
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To test our second hypothesis that expectations for behavioral autonomy and beliefs in the legitimacy of parental authority would mediate the links between parenting style and parent-adolescent conflict and cohesion, we used structural equation modeling in Mplus 7.4 (Figures 1-3, for the analyses of conflict frequency, conflict intensity, and ...
The Psychology Behind Different Types of Parenting Styles
Parenting styles vary from person to person, but a few main categories have been identified by researchers over the years. In the 1960s, psychologist Diana Baumrind identified three main styles of parenting: authoritarian, authoritative and permissive. A fourth style, neglectful, was later added in the 1980s by Stanford researchers Eleanor ...
An Exploration of Parenting Practices Among Chinese Immigrant Families
Utilizing theses within IPARTheory, parenting styles framework, and the cultural normativeness hypothesis, this study examined relations between mothers' and adolescents' perceptions of guan and sh...
The influence of parenting style on academic achievement and career
Parenting styles can be defined as a set or a system of behaviors that describes the parent and child interactions over a wide range of situations and creates an effective interaction ... therefore, the research hypothesis is confirmed and we can say that the relationship between educational success and students' career path is statistically ...

Baumrind’s Parenting Styles

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Parenting Styles by Michelle Givertz LAST REVIEWED: 26 May 2021 LAST MODIFIED: 26 May 2021 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199828340-0289

Baumrind’s Parenting Styles

Diana Baumrind’s Parenting Styles

Authoritative Parenting

Authoritarian Parenting

Permissive Parenting

Uninvolved Parenting

Parenting Styles and Outcomes for Children

Support for Baumrind’s Authoritative Parenting

Parenting Styles

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4.1: Baumrind's Parenting Styles

Diana Baumrind’s Parenting Styles

Authoritative Parenting

Authoritarian Parenting

Permissive Parenting

Uninvolved Parenting

Parenting Styles and Outcomes for Children

Support for Baumrind’s Authoritative Parenting

Why Parenting Styles Matter When Raising Children

The Four Parenting Styles

Advantages of Authoritative Parenting

What's Your Parenting Style?

Authoritarian Parenting

Effects of Authoritarian Parenting

Authoritative Parenting

Effects of Authoritative Parenting

Permissive Parenting

Effects of Permissive Parenting

Uninvolved Parenting

Effects of Uninvolved Parenting

The Impact of Parenting Styles

Mixing Parenting Styles

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Limitations of Parenting Style Research

Children May Affect Their Parents' Styles

Outcomes Vary

Cultural Factors Play a Role

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Introduction

Parenting Styles and Parent–Adolescent Relationships

Adolescent Autonomy and Beliefs About Parental Authority

Adolescents’ Expectation for Behavioral Autonomy

Adolescents’ Beliefs About Parental Authority

The Role of Adolescent Gender

Chinese Cultural Context

Materials and Methods

Parenting Styles

Endorsement of Parental Authority

Expectations for Behavioral Autonomy

Parent–Adolescent Conflict

Parent–Adolescent Cohesion

Controlled Variables

Descriptive Statistics

Links With Parenting Styles

Mediating Effects

Moderating Effect of Adolescents’ Gender

Parenting Styles and Relationships With Adolescents

Expectation for Behavioral Autonomy

Legitimacy of Parental Authority

Adolescent Gender

Limitations and Conclusions

Ethics Statement