Parenting Styles

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.