Authoritative versus authoritarian childrearing approaches and cultural differences.

Research on child rearing in the United States identified three styles of parenting (Baumrind, 1971). Authoritative parents provide the child with care that is firm, but also reasonable and fair. Control in authoritative child rearing is dependent on the child’s maturity, and parents typically display warm and open affection for their children. Guidelines are provided by authoritative parents, but not rigidly enforced as children are given freedom to choose dependent on their level of development and responsibility. In the second style of parenting authoritarian parents demand obedience first and foremost and provide strict control over the child. Authoritarianism may have grown out of harsh environments where parents see their role as keeping their children out of harm’s way. Baumrind's research also identified permissiveness as a parental style. Permissive parents allow their children to live their own lives without much interference or discipline. This style of parenting seems close to that of the uninvolved parents identified by Maccoby and Martin (1983). However, permissive parents are involved with their children and exhibit warmth in their relationships, whereas uninvolved parents are just indifferent.

The initial results from American studies supported the superiority of the authoritative style in many studies. Children who grow up with parents that use the authoritative childrearing style develop more useful traits including more positive emotions, more self-confidence and self-reliance (Karavasilis, Doyle, & Markiewicz, 2003). The authoritative parenting style prepare the child well for life resulting in children that are psychologically healthy and competent, and who live with fewer anxieties compared to children brought up by other parenting styles. By contrast children of authoritarian parents displayed more anxiety and develop cognitive styles that lack spontaneity and curiosity. The benefits for children of authoritative parents are not just confined to childhood. Studies of adolescents produced similar positive results. Adolescents with authoritative parents are more socially adept, tend to have higher self-esteem and display more creativity (Collins & Laursen, 2004; Spera, 2005). The authoritative style of parenting seems to have a positive effect on the child’s sense of optimism and helps create the belief that the child lives in a well-ordered world with developmental goals that are attainable. These affects are carried over into university life where students from authoritative homes displayed less depression and greater social adaptability (Jackson, Pratt, Hunsberger, & Pancer, 2005).

For comparative psychology an important question is whether these styles are manifested in other cultures than the United States, or to what degree are they culturally specific? Are the positive outcomes of authoritative parents limited to children living in the United States? Chao (2001) argued that it is important to understand the dominant cultural values before investigating parental styles. The efficacy of parental styles may well depend on underlying values to which the child must conform. Chao argued that the role of training in Chinese culture is unique and not covered by the Baumrind’s parental styles. However, in another study in China authoritarian parenting was related negatively to school adjustment, whereas children from authoritative homes fared better in overall social adjustment (Chen, Dong, & Zhou, 1997). In a multi-cultural society like the U.S. perhaps the efficacy of authoritative approaches to childrearing depend on the child’s ethnic or cultural group? However, a review of more recent studies confirm the continuous advantage of authoritative approaches to childrearing that are independent of the larger cultural values associated with collectivistic or individualistic cultures (Sorkhabi, 2005). Parental warmth and acceptance of the child are important factors in positive outcomes everywhere, and authoritative parenting takes on universal value as the advantages are not limited by culture. Comparative studies have largely confirmed the advantages of authoritative versus authoritarian parenting as it produces more solidarity in families and better mental functioning (Dwairy, Acoui, Abouseire & Farah, 2006).

4.4 Creating the climate of home: Cultural and cross-cultural studies.

Parents are the principal conduits of cultural learning. Differences in social attitudes however reflect the broader cultural values. For example, Asian parents think effort is more important in education than ability, whereas American parents believe innate ability is responsible for success (Stevenson & Zusho, 2002). These cultural attributions for success are consistent with the cultural underpinnings of collectivistic and individualistic societies.

Differences in parental values are reflected in the parent’s involvement with the school system. American parents of European background are more likely to pay attention to in-school activities and the children’s teachers, whereas Asian parents are more concerned with outside events like museum and library visits as contributors to the child’s education (Sy & Schulenberg, 2005). Asian parents also emphasize high expectations and explicit rules about activities that interfere with learning. Since American parents believe limits are set by ability they are less likely to emphasize high expectations and are more concerned with shoring up their child’s self-esteem.

Date: 2015-01-11; view: 740