Parenting Styles and Their Effectiveness

AFRICA NAZERENE UNIVERSITY
NAME:
MURAGU CHRISTINE NAMKURU
ID NO:
11MCPS201
UNIT NAME:
PSYCHOLOGY OF PARENTING
UNIT CODE:
BCP
TASK:
PARENTING STYLES AND THEIR EFFECTS ON ADOLESCENT BEHAVIOR
PRESENTED TO:
Dr. MURAYA

Contents AFRICA NAZERENE UNIVERSITY 1 PURPOSE 3 INTRODUCTION 3 BAUMRIND 'S GENERAL PARENTING STYLES 4 AUTHORITATIVE PARENTING 4 AUTHORITARIAN PARENTING 5 INDULGENT PARENTING 6 NEGLECTFUL PARENTING 7 CONCLUSION 8

PURPOSE
To explain how different parenting styles affect the behavior of the youths, therefore assisting students within the institution of Africa Nazarene University understand psychology of parenting and its necessity in the society.
INTRODUCTION
Parenting is all actions related to raising off springs. If not well done, if affects cognitive development, social and emotional behavior, physical health, neurobiological and relational development. For adolescents, they learn through guidance and counseling. Guidance is a systematic professional process of helping an individual through education and interpreting procedures to gain a better understanding of his or her own characteristics, potentialities to relate, satisfy social requirements and values. Good grounds for parenting are based on factors such as modeling, control and discipline, cognitive stimulation, affection, warmth, love, family rules among other factors. However, there are determinants of parenting that may include: family resources, social set up, parent’s characteristics etc.
A parenting style is a psychological construct representing standard strategies that parents use in their child rearing. Parental investment starts soon after birth. This includes the process of birth, breast-feeding, affirming the value of the baby’s cry as the parent. Parenting style is affected by both the parents ' and children 's temperaments, and is largely based on the influence of one’s own parents and culture.

BAUMRIND 'S GENERAL PARENTING STYLES
Diana Baumrind (1973) became particularly interested in the connection between the parental behavior and the development of instrumental competence, which refers to the ability to manipulate the environment to achieve ones goals. In her research, found what she considered to be the four basic elements that could help shape successful parenting: responsiveness vs. unresponsiveness and demanding vs. undemanding. From these, she identified three general parenting styles: authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive. Maccoby and Martin expanded the styles to four: authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent and neglectful. These four styles of parenting involve combinations of acceptance and responsiveness on the one hand and demand and control on the other.
AUTHORITATIVE PARENTING
The parent is demanding and responsive. When this style is systematically developed, it grows to fit the descriptions propagative parenting and concerted cultivation.Authoritative parenting, also called 'assertive democratic or 'balanced ' parenting, is characterized by a child-centered approach that holds high expectations of maturity. Authoritative parents can understand how their children are feeling and teach them how to regulate feelings. They often help their children to find appropriate outlets to solve problems. Authoritative parents encourage children to be independent but still places controls and limits on their actions. Extensive verbal give-and-take is not refused, and parents try to be warm and nurturing toward the child. Authoritative parents are not usually as controlling as authoritarian parents, allowing the child to explore more freely, thus having them make their own decisions based upon their own reasoning. Often, authoritative parents produce children who are more independent and self-reliant. An authoritative parenting style mainly results when there is high parental responsiveness and high parental demands.
Authoritative parents will set clear standards for their adolescents, monitor the limits that they set, and also allow adolescents to develop autonomy. They also expect mature, independent, and age-appropriate behavior of adolescents. Punishments for misbehavior are measured and consistent, not arbitrary or violent. Authoritative parents set limits and demand maturity, but when punishing a child, the parent will explain his or her motive for their punishment. They are attentive to their children’s needs and concerns, and will typically forgive and teach instead of punishing if a child falls short. This is supposed to result in children having a higher self esteem and independence because of the give-take nature of the authoritative parenting style. This is the most recommended style of parenting by child-rearing experts.
AUTHORITARIAN PARENTING
The parent is demanding but not responsive. Elaborate becomes totalitarian parenting. Authoritarian parenting, also called strict parenting, is characterized by high expectations of conformity and compliance to parental rules and directions, while allowing little open dialogue between parent and child. Authoritarian parenting is a restrictive, punitive parenting style in which parents make their adolescents to follow their directions and to respect their work and effort. Authoritarian parents expect much of their child but generally do not explain the reasoning for the rules or boundaries. Authoritarian parents are less responsive to their adolescent’s needs, and are more likely to ground their adolescent rather than discuss the problem. This is risky because adolescents tend to become rebellious. Authoritarian parenting deals with low parental responsiveness and high parental demand, the parents tend to demand obedience without explanation and focus on status. adolescents resulting from this type of parenting may have less social competence because the parent generally tells them what to do instead of allowing the them to choose by him or herself. Nonetheless, researchers have found that in some cultures and ethnic groups, aspects of authoritarian style may be associated with more positive child outcomes than Baumrind expects. If the demands are pushed too forcefully upon the child, the child may break down, rebel, or run away. It may even lead them to suicidal thoughts thinking that is their only way out.
INDULGENT PARENTING
The parent is responsive but not demanding. Indulgent parenting, also called permissive, nondirective or lenient, is characterized as having few behavioral expectations for the child. Indulgent parenting is a style of parenting in which parents are very involved with their children but place few demands or controls on them. Parents are nurturing and accepting, and are very responsive to the child 's needs and wishes. Indulgent parents do not require children to regulate themselves or behave appropriately. This may result in creating spoiled brats or "spoiled sweet" children depending on the behavior of the children. adolescents of permissive parents may tend to be more impulsive, and as adolescents, may engage more in misconduct, and in drug use. "Children never learn to control their own behavior and always expect to get their way." But in the better cases they are emotionally secure, independent and are willing to learn and accept defeat. They mature quickly and are able to live life without the help of someone else.
From a recent study, * The teens least prone to heavy drinking had parents who scored high on both accountability and warmth. * So-called 'indulgent ' parents, those low on accountability and high on warmth, nearly tripled the risk of their teen participating in heavy drinking. * 'Strict parents ' – high on accountability and low on warmth – more than doubled their teen’s risk of heavy drinking (Baumrind, D. 1991).
But as previously noted, the usefulness of these data are limited, as they are only correla tional and cannot rule out effects such as personality correlations (people with the personality that makes them become permissive parents, despite recommendations not to be, may also have the personality to encourage heavy drinking in some other way), heredity (permissive parents and their children share the personality to be hands-off and are likely to be less driven as their authoritarian counterparts), child-to-parent effects (unfocused and unmanageable children might discourage their parents from trying too hard), and local shared cultural values (that may not emphasize achievement).
NEGLECTFUL PARENTING
The parent is neither demanding nor responsive. Neglectful parenting is also called uninvolved, detached, dismissive or hands-off. The parents are low in warmth and control, are generally not involved in their adolescent 's life, are disengaged, undemanding, low in responsiveness, and do not set limits. Neglectful parenting can also mean dismissing the adolescent 's emotions and opinions. Parents are emotionally unsupportive of their children, but will still provide their basic needs. Provide basic needs meaning: food, housing, and toiletries or money for the prementioned. Neglectful parenting can stem from a variety of reasons; this includes the parent 's prioritizing themselves, lack of encouragement on the parent 's parts, financial stresses, lack of support and addiction to harmful substances. (Maccoby E.E ,1992).
Adolescents whose parents are neglectful develop the sense that other aspects of the parents’ lives are more important than they are. Many adolescents of this parenting style often attempt to provide for themselves or halt depending on the parent to get a feeling of being independent and mature beyond their years. Parents, and thus their children, often display contradictory behavior. adolescents become emotionally withdrawn from social situations. This disturbed attachment also impacts relationships later on in life. In adolescence, they may show patterns of truancy and delinquency.
CONCLUSION
A study done by Maccoby and Martin (1983) analyzed adolescents, aged 14- 18 in four areas: psychosocial development, school achievement, internalized distress, and problem behavior. The study found that those with neglectful parents scored the lowest on these tests, while those with authoritative parents scored the highest. The challenge with parenting is that, all parents cannot be the same or rather, authoritative because of some factors which may include: parents temperament, individual personality, parents characteristics, social status, education level among others.

REFERENCES
Baumrind, D. (1967). Child-care practices anteceding three patterns of preschool behavior: Genetic Psychology Monographs.
Baumrind, D. (1991). The influence of parenting style on adolescent competence and substance use. Journal of Early Adolescence
Maccoby, E. E., & Martin, J. A. (1983). Socialization in the context of the family: Parent–child interaction. In P. H. Mussen & E. M. Hetherington, Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 4. Socialization, personality, and social development (4th Ed.). New York: Wiley.
Maccoby, E.E. (1992). The role of parents in the socialization of children: An historical overview. Developmental Psychology

References: Baumrind, D. (1967). Child-care practices anteceding three patterns of preschool behavior: Genetic Psychology Monographs. Baumrind, D. (1991). The influence of parenting style on adolescent competence and substance use. Journal of Early Adolescence Maccoby, E. E., & Martin, J. A. (1983). Socialization in the context of the family: Parent–child interaction. In P. H. Mussen & E. M. Hetherington, Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 4. Socialization, personality, and social development (4th Ed.). New York: Wiley. Maccoby, E.E. (1992). The role of parents in the socialization of children: An historical overview. Developmental Psychology