WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY

Do Different Parenting Styles Influence Behavioral Issues?

Authoritarian parents may be raising inhibited children.
Claire Greenlee 3/27/2013

This paper summarizes the effects that different parenting styles have on the ways children grow up dealing with behavioral issues. Harsher, tiger parenting, can make a child experience more anxiety as well as become more socially inept. However, this authoritarian approach also shows that children are more likely to reach higher academic goals.

He raises his hand to answer every question, asks for extra work, and always receives the best grades for his papers. If youre not that person, then you know of them. Theres also your friend, the social butterfly, which overcomes obstacles but somehow grazes through school doing the minimum. Your friend may be popular and well liked, but maybe not by the class rebel. The class rebel doesnt abide by the school guidelines and sneaks past authority in order to get by. All of these people have been in your life some way or another. Some meetings may have been so insignificant to the point that you never stopped to consider, why? Together we will examine how this type of behavior has been ingrained in the children that seamlessly go through school, as well as analyze the contrary. What we will find is that many of those behaviors stem from their parents. You may be aware of the four basic parenting styles that generally most parents adhere to. Authoritative, which is considered a highly controlled style with little support; authoritarian parenting which is a balance between control and support; permissive parenting, is highly supportive yet carries out little control; and neglectful, which is passive in control as well as support (Hoeve 2007). Authoritative parenting is also considered to be tiger parenting which is highly practiced in Asian countries. In the Scientific American, Charles Q. Choi argues that tiger parenting is a highly effective form of parenting that increases the chance of raising an academically successful child and future adult. Parents in China have seen that if they practice harsher discipline, the child will have a greater grasp on boundaries and expectations in which they are to cooperate with. Parents with these ideals could create a lifestyle in which their children cannot watch television at all, eat junk food, nor partake in extracurricular activities that do not enhance learning and are seen as unnecessary. Some parents may take the tiger parenting to extremes such as instigating mandatory workouts, study hours, not allowing friendships with

others, or restricting bathroom breaks. Families are thought of a hierarchy and have established dominance in their parent roles which can restrict an emotional bond between child and parent. Some may see this strategy as something we should learn from while others have made the effort to scientifically prove that this style of parenting causes behavioral disorders that can last for the span of ones life. While this controversy has gone on for years, there are two sides to examine. One of the more favorable notes from Choi is that these children are not given a false sense of esteem. Children with this sense of self take pride in what they do and are not praised when they do no reach the required expectations. These types of children understand authority and can rise to the occasion. Most of these children make school top priority rather than engaging in social scenes which lead them to fulfill higher appointed positions in the workforce. On the other hand, these children may never think that they are good enough to please their parents, causing considerable concern. Tiger parenting strategies raise the bar high for children and some children have been seen to respond well, however generally speaking, these strict disciplines have encouraged foul behavior, high anxiety levels, depression disorders, low self-esteem, and a low capability of handling every day obstacles that arise without being irrationally overwhelmed. To a parent it raises the question: what are your priorities as you raise your children? In a study published in The Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, there was a longitudinal study produced which analyzed the two parenting dimensions that have been consistently associated with the development of anxiety in children and adolescents are overprotection and anxious rearing. Overprotection can best be described as parental behaviors aimed at guiding children during their daily activities. These parental behaviors often have the effect of directing the child and reducing the development of autonomy. Anxious rearing pertains

to the explicit encouragement of anxious cognitions and avoidance behaviors in children (Muris, 2011). During the study, parents and children were given questionnaires concerning their attachment between child and parent, their stress level, any devastating life occurrences, and the option to rate their anxiety/stress level. The analysts also gave the parents questions that posed scenarios in which would occur during a normal day and asked how they would react, discipline, or respond to their child as well as how anxious the situation made them feel. Parents who responded with a more controlled approach correlated with the childrens high stress levels. After gathering the information, this created an interesting pattern across the span of subjects. Twice a year the children were observed in their school settings which emphasized the original hypothesis that children born into an authoritative setting would experience behavioral issues. These children whom belonged to parents practicing an authoritative approach were lacking in social skills, resourcefulness, and were less confident in their selves when interacting with other children. Just within observations the researchers were aware of the children who reported high anxiety levels and how it hindered their ability to make their own decisions and were more apt to overreact when a new situation occurred. A wide range of studies showed American adolescents have reported that teens with authoritarian parents were the least likely to feel socially accepted by their peers, which again enforces the idea that children must grow into a home that has a healthier balance between family control rather than have anxious or overprotective parents (Dewar, 2011). The anxiety the children express in these studies evolves into many issues that dispense into their own personality, their character, and being. A child can miss out on opportunities because of their anxiety, depression, self-esteem, and lack of social skills. In this day and age it is understandable that parents may feel pressure to control the moves of their children and fear knowing that their

child could make a mistake. Society has allowed us to think that the world is a scary place and children dont have adequate abilities of their own to thrive. There are toddlers on leashes, advertisements for Baby Einstein products everywhere, family structure is evolving, and life is based on how much money or power you have. That is not what is supposed to be important. What is important is for parents to let their children learn through their behaviors rather than telling them or restricting them from growing. It is stressful for children to grow up in a home intimidated by the rules of their parents and instead of healthfully interacting, the children rebel. Research has established strong links between environmental stressors and internalizing problems in children (Oort, 2010). Family is the closest environment for children and it should be a secure environment. Positive aspects of the family environment include supportive and facilitative interactions, and the absence of conflict. Mothers as well as fathers should be this type of support system for their children. Parenting styles can differ among the parents, which is common in households, however can create the same levels of anxiety if one or the other exerts too much control over the child. This was proven in a research article also in The Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences which concluded similar findings that higher levels of anxiety were seen in children and adolescents in houses forming an authoritative approach (Verhoeven, 2012). Together mothers and fathers should decide what priorities they want their child to have as well as their own. Knowing the effects their parenting has on their child will help to encourage a better family environment and lessen the risk of behavioral disorders that we have learned over the course of scientific research. There is no manual on how to raise individuals and the relationship should be natural and in order to do so, help each other alleviate the stress from our lives and realize that children are as competent as we allow them to be.

References:

Choi, C. (n.d.). Does science support the punitive parenting of "tiger mothering"? Retrieved from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=tiger-mother-punitive-parenting

Dewar, G. (2011). Authoritarian parenting: How does it affect the kids? Retrieved from http://www.parentingscience.com/authoritarian-parenting.html

Hoeve, M. (2007). Trajectories of delinquency and parenting styles. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 10.

Muris, P. (2011). Behavioral inhibition as a risk factor for the development of childhood anxiety disorders: A longitudinal study. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 20(2), 157-170.

Oort, Floor, Verhulst, Frank, Ormel, Johan, Huizink, & Anja. (2010). Prospective community study of family stress and anxiety in (pre)adolescents: The TRAILS study. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 19,483-491. doi: 10.1007/s00787-009-0058-z Retrieved from: Springer Science & Business Media B.V

Verhoeven, M., Bgels, S., Bruggen, C. (2012). Unique roles of mothering and fathering in child anxiety; Moderation by childs age and gender. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 21(2), 331-343. doi: 10.1007/s10826-011-9483-y

1. Provide an outline of your essay.

-Introduction: Parenting styles and possible outcomes -Body: Tiger parenting positives Negative effects of over parenting in academics Studies of effects Results of study -Conclusion: What we can do knowing these statistics.

2. If you were to assign yourself a grade, what would it be and why do you say so? I would assign myself a B overall because what was most difficult for me was how to organize the paper and sometimes I feel like that shows in my writing. 3. What is your papers greatest strength? I enjoyed adding some insightfulness that wasnt forceful or anything to rearrange ones thinking but I did add in some questioning and statistics that made readers think more. 4. What is your papers greatest weakness? Id still say organization. There were many ideas I found in my research that I wanted to show and it was difficult to connect all of them together.