How many parenting styles are there

Since authoritarian parents are often strict, their children may grow to become good liars in an effort to avoid punishment. If those statements sound familiar, you may be an authoritative parent. Authoritative parents have rules and they use consequences, but they also take their children's opinions into account.

They validate their children's feelings, while also making it clear that the adults are ultimately in charge. Authoritative parents invest time and energy into preventing behavior problems before they start.

They also use positive discipline strategies to reinforce positive behavior, like praise and reward systems. Researchers have found kids who have authoritative parents are most likely to become responsible adults who feel comfortable expressing their opinions.

Children raised with authoritative discipline tend to be happy and successful. They're also more likely to be good at making decisions and evaluating safety risks on their own.

If those statements sound familiar, you might be a permissive parent. Permissive parents are lenient. They often only step in when there's a serious problem.

They're quite forgiving and they adopt an attitude of "kids will be kids. They might give privileges back if a child begs or they may allow a child to get out of time-out early if he promises to be good. Permissive parents usually take on more of a friend role than a parent role.

They often encourage their children to talk with them about their problems, but they usually don't put much effort into discouraging poor choices or bad behavior.

They may exhibit more behavioral problems as they don't appreciate authority and rules. They often have low self-esteem and may report a lot of sadness. They're also at a higher risk for health problems, like obesity, because permissive parents struggle to limit junk food intake. They are even more likely to have dental cavities because permissive parents often don't enforce good habits, like ensuring a child brushes his teeth.

Do any of these statements sound familiar? If those statements sound familiar, you might be an uninvolved parent. Uninvolved parents tend to have little knowledge of what their children are doing. There tend to be few rules. Children may not receive much guidance, nurturing, and parental attention. Uninvolved parents expect children to raise themselves. They don't devote much time or energy into meeting children's basic needs.

Uninvolved parents may be neglectful but it's not always intentional. A parent with mental health issues or substance abuse problems, for example, may not be able to care for a child's physical or emotional needs on a consistent basis.

At other times, uninvolved parents lack knowledge about child development. And sometimes, they're simply overwhelmed with other problems, like work, paying bills, and managing a household.

Children with uninvolved parents are likely to struggle with self-esteem issues. They tend to perform poorly in school. In addition, these results are also not consistent across other types of outcomes, such as behavior or mental health. To this date, no study has conclusively disproved the benefits of authoritative parenting, while many others have consistently shown its advantages. Authoritative parenting is still the most encouraged parenting style in modern America as recommended by experts.

Another component that can impact the outcome is the distinction between parenting style and parenting practice.

Parenting style is the emotional climate and control in which parents raise their children. Parenting practices are specific actions that parents employ in their parenting. Even for parents with the same parenting style, they may choose to different ways or different approach to implement specific parenting practices and that will affect the degree of outcomes. When interpreting research results, it is important to note that most of these parenting studies only find links between parenting styles and outcomes.

For example, parents who are warm and responsive tend to have children who exhibit less behavior problems. One is tempted to say that therefore warm and responsive parents result in better behaving kids. But you can easily turn that around and say that kids who behave cause their parents to be more warm and responsive. One reason is that there are overwhelming volumes of studies showing these connections consistently.

Another reason is that there is no research that shows authoritative parenting style causes harm to children. As a parent, if I have to choose one parenting style, without any research data, I would consider my parenting goals and the type of parent I want to be. My ultimate parenting goal is to raise a healthy, happy, kind and responsible person who will love me and our family when she grows up.

AND I also want to enjoy the experience of parenting. It is hard to imagine being cold and strict authoritarian , cold and indifferent neglectful or warm and indulgent permissive will achieve all of my goals.

Nature vs nurture is one of the oldest debates in the history of psychology. Which one matters more? Parenting is one of the most important part of the environment a child is exposed to since birth. To find out your parenting style, try this test at PsychCentral. Parenting For Brain does not provide medical advice.

If you suspect medical problems or need professional advice, please consult a physician. What Is A Parenting Style? Nature vs Nurture Parenting Style Quiz. Download Types of Parentings Styles pdf. Have trouble motivating your child? Check out:. Baumrind D. Child care practices anteceding three patterns of preschool behavior. Genet Psychol Monogr.

In: Handbook of Child Psychology. Socialization, Personality, and Social Development. Darling N, Steinberg L. Parenting style as context: An integrative model. Psychological Bulletin. Human Development. Published online Miklikowska M, Hurme H. Taking that one step further: know that any of us with any style at any point in time could benefit from the self-reflection that typically comes from participating in a parenting class.

Talking with other parents and a facilitator can be helpful and reassuring. So how can you ensure your parenting style is helping your child to thrive? Written by: Bright Horizons Education Team. Get our weekly newsletter for all things early child development—from the benefits of pretend play to at-home STEM activities, and teaching kindness—along with encouragement for every stage of your parenting journey. Learn how to prepare your child academically, socially, and emotionally for a return to school in Books can be a key tool in developing empathy in your child?

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The four Baumrind parenting styles have distinct names and characteristics: Authoritarian or Disciplinarian Permissive or Indulgent Uninvolved Authoritative These Baumrind parenting styles are United States-centric and it is not clear how well these styles describe parents cross-culturally. They use a strict discipline style with little negotiation possible. Punishment is common. Communication is mostly one way: from parent to child. Rules usually are not explained. Parents with this style are typically less nurturing.

Expectations are high with limited flexibility. Permissive Parenting Permissive or Indulgent parents mostly let their children do what they want, and offer limited guidance or direction.