Educational Psychology / Unit 3 EDP 0277 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Baumrind's Parenting Styles
The idea
Diana Baumrind described parenting along two dimensions: how demanding a parent is, often called control, and how responsive, often called warmth. Crossing the two gives four styles. Authoritative parents are high on both: they hold high but reasonable expectations, communicate well, are warm, and use reasoning rather than coercion when a child misbehaves. Authoritarian parents are high in control and low in warmth. Permissive parents are warm but low in control. Uninvolved parents are low in both. To classify a parent, ask two questions: how warm is the relationship, and how firmly are expectations held?
In practice
Worked example: one parent explains a curfew, hears the teenager's case and then holds the line: authoritative. A second sets the curfew with no discussion: authoritarian. A third lets the teenager decide: permissive. A fourth does not know when the teenager comes home: uninvolved.
Where people slip
Children tend to develop greater competence and self-confidence under authoritative parenting, and children of authoritarian or permissive parents are more likely to have lower self-esteem. Baumrind also found authoritative upbringing sufficient for competence but not necessary. Unit eleven crosses the same two dimensions to give four teacher styles, where the uninvolved style is called neglectful.
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