Research on parenting during childhood and adolescence has focused primarily on the effects of parenting behaviors and styles. A crucial element of parenting is the way in which the parents attempt to control the child. Numerous consequential factors that seem to be significant have been isolated. Of course, the degree and kind of control that the parent exercises over the child has portentous ramification for the development of personality.
Studies and theories show that genetic analyses do not contribute to the framework as much as does the within-family environment in effecting personality constructs. Furthermore, investigations have pointed out that there are relations between parent-adolescent relationships and the identity formation process). Although differences occur in ego identity status, most are associated with the conjoint influence of parental attachment, particularly for females. Also, this same study revealed that in sex difference the relations between parent-adolescent relationships and the identity formation process parental attachment plays a considerably more important role in the identity formation for females than it does for males.
Model research on the field of parental control is by D. Baumrind, who implies that there are three types of global and content-free parenting styles that influence the development in children and adolescents. These include: (1) authoritarian (the parent values obedience and believes in restricting the child's autonomy, (2) permissive (the parent provides as much freedom as is congruous with the child's physical survival, and (3) authoritative (the parent attempts to direct the child's activities in a rational, issue-oriented manner. These parenting styles occur when the dimensions of demandingness and responsiveness are crossed
Baumrind, proposes that authoritative and authoritarian parents, both highly demanding, often view themselves as having a legitimate right to regulate their child's behavior than would permissive parents. Furthermore, authoritative parents encourage individuality and independence, and because of this, one would think that they should be highly responsive to their children's needs and recognize that, as adolescents, their children do have legitimate jurisdiction over prototype issues. It is also expected that authoritative parents can cope better with their children's demands for autonomy than other parents
Authoritative parents perceive moral rules as more obligatory than conventional rules, granting adolescents' autonomy over limited confines of personal issues, however, do not grant them autonomy over multifaceted, friendship, and sensitive issues. They seem to focus more on conventional, psychological, or emotional elements of these issues Authoritative parents, articulating the societal concerns, often facilitate adolescents' understanding of boundaries of personal jurisdiction, and, as research reports, rigid boundaries may deprive both of the opportunity to negotiate these boundaries, which in turn, may be detrimental to personality development.
Research has shown that children who are raised in authoritative homes score higher in competence, achievement, social development, self-perceptions and mental health than their peers raised in other parenting styles. In fact, further studies show that academic achievement and psychosocial development is more prevalent in authoritative raised students has discovered that parental support, predictable and organized, including ways mothers listen to, comfort, and approve of their child is correlated with a child's effective coping patterns. Parents who become involved in guiding and shaping the behavior of their child provides a parenting dimension that is important for child development.
Authoritative parenting behaviors seem to be the most effective way for generating social responsibility and independence. Limits are set by parents, however, the child is encouraged to have input into the decision-making process. Positive adolescent outcomes, including better academic performance. Adolescents from authoritative homes scored highest in terms of adjustment abilities and had advantages on measures of psychosocial and academic competence.
On the other hand, it appears that permissive parents, who are defined as non-controlling are ones that allow their children considerable self-regulation. They treat issues as adolescents' personal prerogatives and are less likely to treat moral events as moral compared to authoritative parents. However, this same study showed that permissive parents were not any more lenient in their judgments of issues pertaining to the child's health and safety than any other parents. Furthermore, studies show that adolescents from indulgent homes score poorly concerning school engagement, drug and alcohol use, and school misconduct.
More tomorrow.....
Comments