How Authoritative Parenting Helps Promote Children’s Positive Outcomes
Parenting practices have significant impacts on a child's development. Diana Baumrind (1971) discovered three parenting styles namely Authoritarian, Permissive, and Authoritative parenting. Each style is characterized with different approaches that the parents take on raising their child. Each could also lead to different impacts on their child’s development. However, among the three styles, Authoritative parenting style has been found to be the most effective to help promote children’s positive outcomes.
Authoritarian parents tend to implement rigid parenting practices which emphasizes control and obedience. They have high expectations toward their child, expect their child to follow strict rules without giving explanations or reasons behind them, and give almost no room for negotiations. Parents are also more likely to use harsh punishments as a way to discipline their child who failed to follow their standards. Consequently, the child becomes more disconnected, withdrawn, and distrustful in the future. They also tend to develop low self-esteem and aggressive behavior as well as inability to make decisions as parents are the one who always tell them what to do.
Permissive parents are the opposite of authoritarian parents in which parents allow children to have the freedom of choosing and monitoring their own activities. They emphasize self-regulation and self-expression as they tend to make few demands, set only limited rules, and rarely punish. Parents are also warm, supportive, and uncontrolling toward their child’s behavior. Nevertheless, children who have permissive parents often to be immature, impulsive, and lack self-reliance. Permissive parents tend to not set standards for appropriate behavior which allow children to behave in any way they wish. In consequence, children may grow unprepared to cope effectively with problems that arise in daily life.
On the other hand, authoritative parents combine the authoritarian and permissive parenting approaches which balances the responsiveness and demandingness aspects of parenting. Authoritative parents are often characterized as:
- Supportive, responsive, and warm to their child but also set firm limits and reasonable expectations at the same time.
- Encourage their child’s independence and individuality by respecting their child’s point of view and decisions.
- Implement punishments only when necessary and done within the context of a warm and supportive relationship.
- Explain rules, have discussions, as well as reasoning with their child.
- Give clear demands and understanding of the consequences of behavior.
- Facilitate verbal give-and-take.
Children reared by authoritative parents tend to:
- Develop a high level of self-esteem, self-reliance, self-control, and self-regulation.
- Have a closer and more open relationship with their parents.
- Have better academic performance.
- Less likely to experience both internalizing behaviors (anxiety, depression) and externalizing behaviors (antisocial behavior, substance abuse).
- Socially responsible, competent, self-assured, adaptive, creative, curious, independent, assertive, friendly, and said to be generally happy.
As parental upbringings play a huge role in a child’s life, authoritative parents help their children to develop positive skills by giving them the necessary controls yet still granting appropriate amounts of autonomy. Setting boundaries and expectations are important and recommended in raising a child, but authoritative parents keep them reasonable and combine with warmth, support, and responsiveness to the child’s needs.
By: Salma Safira Sukma Ikhsani, S.Psi. dari BehaviorPALS Center
References:
American Psychology Association. (n.d.). Parenting Styles. https://www.apa.org/act/resources/fact-sheets/parenting-styles
Baumrind, D. (1971). Current patterns of parental authority. Developmental psychology monograph, 4(1), 1-103. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0030372
Dalimonte-Merckling, D., & Williams, J. M. (2019). Parenting Styles and Their Effects. Reference Module in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-809324-5.23611-0
Masud, H., Ahmad, M. S., Cho K. W., & Fakhr, Z. (2019). Parenting Styles and Aggression Among Young Adolescents: A Systematic Review of Literature. Community Mental Health Journal, 55(6), 1015-1030. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-019-00400-0
Papalia, D. E. & Feldman, R. D. (2012). Experience Human Development. New York: McGraw-Hill.
parents, parenting, authoritative, child, child development
Children 4 Years - 6 Years / 4 Tahun - 6 Tahun / Parenting / Pola Asuh / Family / Keluarga / How Authoritative Parenting Helps Promote Children’s Positive Outcomes
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Personalized book to trigger the imagination and curiosity to discover the wonders of our wonderful Indonesia. The food, music, fashion, language, landscape and the culture. They all never fail to amaze us. What better legacy can we pass on for Indonesia than by instilling nationalism to the future generation of this part of the planet called heaven on earth.
