Читать книгу Developmental Psychopathology - Группа авторов - Страница 59

It is clear from decades of research that parents and children shape one another’s behavior (Patterson, 1982), though the bulk of the research is focused on where parents fall on two primary domains: warmth–coldness and restrictiveness–permissiveness (Baumrind, 1989). Parents high in warmth are generally caring, supportive, and engage in behavior that demonstrates they enjoy spending time with their children, while parents low in warmth express few feelings of affection for their children and are more likely to physically discipline their children. Children of warm parents are more likely to develop internalized standards of conduct (i.e., a moral sense of conscience) and are more likely to have better social and emotional well‐being (Lau et al., 2006) than their peers with parents low in warmth. Parents also fall somewhere on the restrictiveness–permissiveness spectrum. Indeed, even the most well‐behaved children misbehave at times, and parents have to decide how they will respond to their children’s (mis)behavior and to what extent they will enforce boundaries or rules with their children. Parents who are restrictive tend to watch their children more closely and impose more rules than permissive parents.

Decades ago, Baumrind identified four styles of parenting (Baumrind & Black, 1967). Authoritative parents maintain consistent boundaries, use reasoning, and offer consistent affection and support for their child; this parenting style is associated with children who have the most favorable outcomes. Authoritarian parents value obedience, impose a forceful imposition of their will on their child, and offer little affection. Permissive parents are high in warmth, non‐intrusive, and lax, but are available as resources to their child when needed. Finally, neglectful or nonconformist parents are generally low on warmth and control, and tend to be uninvolved parents (Baumrind, 1975). Baumrind argued that authoritative parents—the ideal parenting style—instill values that contribute to their children’s sense of social responsibility by communicating realistic and fair expectations of their children. Importantly, Baumrind’s findings may be culture‐specific, as deleterious outcomes in children with authoritarian parents in cultures in which this is the norm (e.g., China) have not always been found.