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There is no manual for the biggest and most popular job in the world: parenting. It is up to each parent to decide how they will raise their child, and although they might have role models and some guidelines, for the most part, parents are learning how to be good parents as they get more experience parenting. According to the work of Diana Baumrind, a developmental psychologist, and Stanford researchers Eleanor Maccoby and John Martin, parenting styles could be placed into 4 different groups. The first group is an authoritarian parenting style, the second group is an authoritative parenting style, the third group is a permissive parenting style, and the fourth group is a neglectful parenting style. No one parenting style is always right; it is up to the parent to decide what parenting style they should use given the circumstances of the situation. Despite every case of parenting is different from one to another, the authoritative parenting style has been proven to be the best choice of parenting styles to use as a general form of parenting; the best way to prove that the authoritative parenting style is the best style of parenting is by using statistics and observations.

What are the four parenting styles and how do they affect the child. In an authoritative parenting style, the parent is very nurturing and supportive of what the child needs. The parent of a very honest and respectful relationship with their child. Although the parent puts lots of expectations and rules on the child, the parent is flexible and understanding of the child’s needs; they do that by openly communicating with the child and observing the child’s behaviors. Gwen Dewar writes in “The authoritative parenting style: An evidence-based guide” several patterns seen in kids with authoritative parents. In general, kids who have authoritative parents, learn how to discipline themselves without the parents having to watch their every move, and they learn how to think and stand up for themselves. They become independent, self-reliant, have good behavior, and do good academically. This parenting style is the most popular parenting style used around the world. 

In Permissive style parenting, the parent is very responsive to the child’s needs but does not ask much from him back. The parent almost acts like a friend to the child, rather than the child’s parent. These parents run away from conflict and do everything in their power to please their children; even if helping the child get happy would take from their happiness. The parent has a very open relationship with the child and rarely sets any expectations for the child or rules for the child. The parent does not direct or push the child in any direction, rather they let the child make decisions on their own. Chaunie Brusie writes in “Should You Practice Permissive Parenting” several observations seen in kids who have permissive parents. One result of this type of parenting is children who do poorly academically; another result of permissive parenting is children who have behavior problems. Children who have permissive parents also tend to be more aggressive when they are challenged by a stressful situation because their parents eliminated most of their stresses as a child.

In an authoritarian parenting style, the parent demands highly from the child but does not take into consideration what the child has to say. This parenting style uses strict discipline to raise the child. This type of parenting is seen in the commonly used phrase “tough love”. The parent has many rules for the child but does not take into consideration what the child feels or thinks; they enforce these rules with strict punishment. The parent in an authoritarian parenting style wants full control over their children without any input from them. Kendra Cherry writes in “8 Characteristics of Authoritarian Parents” several similarities kids with authoritarian parents have. Kids who have authoritarian parents suffer from being socially awkward and having lots of anxiety. They also have very low self-esteem because they feel like other people are in a sense “better than them” since they never experienced having a voice. When they are not with their parents they often are aggressive and also have a hard time accepting failure. 

In the neglectful parenting style, the part does not ask much from the child and also does not give much to the child; this type of parenting is also known as uninvolved parenting. These parents almost have no involvement with their child. They have practically no rules or expectations for the child. The parents often are careless and cold toward the child and also do not offer any attention, nutrients, or guidance to the child. Kendra Cherry writes in “Characteristics and effects of Uninvolved Parenting” about several effects children with neglectful parents have. The kid often has self-esteem problems and has a difficult time making close friends; the child fears depending on others so becomes more independent. The absence of support from the child’s parents leads to the child also having anxiety and stress. Children with neglectful parents also have the highest rate of substance abuse when compared to the kids with parents who use other parenting styles.

In authoritarian parenting style, neglectful parenting style, and permissive parenting styles the results of the child were mostly negative things like lowered self-esteem or heightened anxiety, and in the authoritative parenting style, the result of the kid was mostly positive things like good behavior and good grades. To get these results on the effect of different parenting styles on kids one would need to use statistics and observation.

Statistics are a great resource to demonstrate social behaviors. Statistics give one a quantitative analysis of a subject, so for things as diverse as social behaviors, statistics is a game changer. Stephanie writes in “Statistical Analysis: Definition, Examples”, “Statistical analysis is used extensively in science, from physics to the social sciences. As well as testing hypotheses, statistics can provide an approximation for an unknown that is difficult or impossible to measure.” Since the statistics could be easily handed to a large sample of people, it allows one to have a bigger perspective of the data. Gwen dewar quotes Lambon et al. “The children of authoritative parents are less likely than the children of authoritarian parents to engage in drug and alcohol use, juvenile delinquency, or other antisocial behavior.” This is a perfect example of how one could use a statistic to demonstrate social studies. Here one can see that Lambon created a statistic that helped support the argument that an authoritative parental style is better than an authoritarian one. Although statistics is important for someone to understand the major scopes of what they are researching, statistics also has some cons to it. Statistics do not show the reasonings and the whys of something so diverse as social studies. Also, it is close to impossible for the researcher to be able to determine the validity of the statistics; people don’t always answer truthfully, especially when they are confronted by personal surveys that they can care less about.

Another way to demonstrate something about social science is by using observations. Observations offer a researcher qualitative information. Communications for research writes, “The biggest advantage of observational research has already been noted: it enables businesses to observe potential customers in a natural setting, which can reveal penetrating insights unavailable through other methods such as focus groups and surveys.” Although the quote refers to businesses, the same thing applies to researchers. For a social study, it’s critical that the researcher can observe what is going on in a natural setting. It allows the researcher to get a feel of what goes on. Gwen Dewar writes, “Kids with warm, responsive parents are more likely to be helpful, kind, and popular.” Gwen claims that this research came from a study where school kids were observed at home completing puzzle tasks. This is a great example of an observation giving an insight into what goes on. With just a survey one would never be able to truly get this data; it required someone to physically watch it to give an accurate report. The downside of only using observations is that it is too time-consuming and costly to do it on a large scale, so it could give inaccurate ratios of what is going on.

Although not one single parenting style is always the best, the parenting style that sticks out to be the best is the authoritative parental style. Two ways to determine what parental style is the best is by looking at statistics and looking at observations. Statistics gives one the big picture of the data but does not offer in-depth analysis, and observation gives one the in-depth analysis but does not offer the bigger picture. The types of situations and children that exist are extremely diverse which is why at the end of the day it is up to the parent to decide what type of parental style is best for their kid and themself.

Work cited:

Brusie, Chaunie. “Should You Practice Permissive Parenting?” healthline.com, healthline, 22 June 2017, https://www.healthline.com/health/parenting/what-is-permissive-parenting.

Cherry, Kendra. “Characteristics and Effects of Uninvolved Parenting.” https://www.verywellmind.com/, Verywell mind, 26 July 2021, https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-uninvolved-parenting-2794958.

Cherry, Kendra. “8 Characteristics of Authoritarian Parents.” https://www.verywellmind.com/, Verywell Mind, 11 October 2021, https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-authoritarian-parenting-2794955.

communications for research. “Observational Research: Data Collection Advantages and Disadvantages.” https://www.cfrinc.net/, https://www.cfrinc.net/cfrblog/observational-research-advantages-and-disadvantages.

Dewar, Gwen. “The authoritative parenting style: An evidence-based guide.” http://parentingscience.com/, PARENTING SCIENCE, July, http://parentingscience.com/authoritative-parenting-style/.

Lamborn SD, Mants NS, Steinberg L, and Dornbusch SM. 1991. Patterns of competence and adjustment among adolescents from authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, and neglectful families. Child Development 62: 1049-1065.

Stephanie. “Statistical Analysis: Definition, Exam.” statisticshowto.com, Statistics How to, 8 December 2014, https://www.statisticshowto.com/statistical-analysis/.

Zeltser, Francyne. “RAISING SUCCESSFUL KIDS A psychologist shares the 4 styles of parenting—and the type that researchers say is the most successful.” https://www.cnbc.com/, make it, 29 June 2021, https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/29/child-psychologist-explains-4-types-of-parenting-and-how-to-tell-which-is-right-for-you.html.