Parenting effectiveness and influence have been studied by developmental psychologists who have been interested in the role of parenting and how it may affect the success or failure of children. An important aspect to this area of research is parenting styles. There have been four styles noted and each may have differing outcomes for the children in later life: authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and unengaged/uninvolved. Positive discipline and corporal punishment are ways parents may choose to respond to a childs misbehavior. Usually corporal punishment is identified with the authoritative style and positive discipline with the authoritarian style. Research has suggested that parenting strategies might be culturally specific in their relation to child behavior problems. Socioeconomic status has also been found to affect child-rearing practices and poverty can cause strained parental-child relations which causes parents to be less nurturing. When negative behaviors have been identified behavioral family interventions, which apply social learning principles, have been suggested as a means of helping children with conduct problems. Four Styles of Child Rearing Permissive parents "are more responsive than they are demanding. They are nontraditional and lenient, do not require mature behavior, allow considerable self-regulation, and avoid confrontation" (Baumrind,1991, p.62). They allow their children to make too many decisions for themselves. Some of these parents believe that they have little control of their childrens behaviors. Authoritarian parents are obedience- and status-oriented, and expect their orders to be obeyed without explanation" and will use punishment to get what they expect (Baumrind, 1991, 62). They expect a high level of conformity of their children. Often they are unresponsive to their childrens needs. Often, if the child does not do exactly as the parent requires the parent wil...
