Background and History

Rationale
In 2016, 44.1 million households in the European Union were comprised of a couple with at least one child (ec.europa.eu). Because so many adults have children living in their house, they are able to take on the roles of parents for those children. Parents do not have to have a biological relationship with their child. A parent can simply be someone who nurtures and raises a child (dictionary.com).

When an adult raises a child, he or she is able to form a relationship with that child. Dance-Schissel (n. d.) defined a parent-child relationship as a special and long lasting bond between a parent and a child. Children need strong relationships with their parents because their parents act as models. Children with positive relationships with their parents learn how to behave well, care for their emotional and physical health, and form healthy relationships later on in life (mccarehouse.org).

Among many factors, parenting styles can affect how strong of a relationship a child will have with his or her parent. In the mid twentieth century, psychologist Diana Baumrind (1971) proposed three distinct parenting styles. Baumrind (1971) characterized the authoritative parenting style as having high goals set for children while simultaneously allowing children to negotiate and question parenting decisions. These parents are highly involved in their children’s activities, want them to succeed, and are responsive and sensitive to their children’s needs. Authoritative parents become less strict as their children grow and move away.

Authoritarian parents are extremely controlling of their children and show little acceptance. They use harsh threats and physical punishments as consequences. Authoritarian parents expect that their children follow all orders without asking questions. They continue to have strict behavioral standards and control even after their children grow up. At the same time, these parents can be emotionally distant from their children (Baumrind, 1971).

Lastly, permissive parents show little control over their children and rarely punish them. They give their children a high level of freedom. Permissive parents typically allow their children to behave as they desire unless the behavior is physically harming the children (Baumrind, 1971).

Studying parenting styles is important so that parents, psychologists, communication scholars, and counselors can know which parenting styles can result in the strongest parent-child relationships. Strong parent-child relationships help children develop healthy relationships as they grow up.

Literature Review
Odenweller, Booth-Butterfield, and Weber (2014) studied how helicopter parenting relates to parenting styles among other developmental phenomena. Helicopter parenting is characterized by parents who are overly involved and protective of their children, make decisions for their children, remove obstacles out of their children’s lives, and are personally invested in their children’s ambitions (Gottlieb, 2011; LeMoyne & Buchanan, 2011; Marano, 2004; Padilla-Walker & Nelson, 2012; Segrin. et al., 2012; Tyler, 2007). A positive correlation was found between helicopter parenting and the authoritarian parenting style. No relationships were found between helicopter parenting and the authoritative or permissive parenting styles. In addition, strong, positive relationships were found between helicopter parenting and neuroticism and interpersonal dependency in grown children. Therefore, it is possible that the authoritarian parenting style is related to neuroticism and interpersonal dependency in children after they have grown.

Akhtar (2012) studied how parenting styles affect the attachment styles of college students. Ainsworth, et al. (1978) described three different attachment styles which include secure, anxious, and avoidant. Those who are securely attached trust others, are able to form close relationships, are able to form long lasting relationships, and characterize their parents as being warm. Those who are anxiously attached fear rejection, think that others do not want to stay with them, are overly dependent, have short term relationships, and would describe their parents as having unhappy marriages. Those who experience avoidant attachment do not allow others to be close to them, cannot trust others, cannot be dependent on others, and would describe their parents as being less warm.

Akhtar (2012) found that the authoritative parenting style had no significant relationship with any of the attachment styles. The authoritarian parenting style was positively and significantly related to the anxious and avoidant attachment styles, and the permissive parenting style was related to all three attachment styles. Therefore, the authoritarian parenting style is shown to evoke the most negative attachment styles in children. The authoritarian parenting style overall seems to negatively impact children as it evokes poor developmental characteristics (Odenweller, et al., 2014) and negative attachment styles (Aktar, 2012).

In addition, the authoritarian parenting style is linked to negative behavior in parents. Bayer and Cegala (1992) found that verbal aggressiveness in parents was positively related to the authoritarian parenting style and negatively related to all other parenting styles. Researchers also found that the verbal argumentativeness in parents was positively related to the authoritative parenting style and negatively related to all other parenting styles. The authoritarian parenting style tends to be related to negative characteristics in parents (Bayer & Cegala, 1992) just as much as it evokes negative characteristics in children (Aktar, 2012; Odenweller, et al. 2014).
Coplan, Hastings, Lagace-Seguin, and Mouton (2002) studied how different childrearing contexts may moderate the relationship between mothers’ beliefs, emotions, and parenting styles. Mothers were exposed to a variety of hypothetical vignettes depicting a child’s behavior. Authoritarian mothers were more likely than authoritative mothers to attribute good behavior to outside influences. Authoritarian mothers also responded more angrily to poor behavior in general. Therefore, not only do authoritarian parents hold strict standards for their children (Baumrind, 1971), they also attribute good behavior that meets those standards to external factors outside of their children’s control (Coplan, et al., 2002).

Lastly, Budd, et al. (2012) studied how different types of parents across different genders and ethnicities view different disciplinary strategies such as supportive feedback, critical feedback, and physical discipline. Males seemed to rate the use physical discipline as being more acceptable than did females. Physical discipline is characteristic of the authoritarian parenting style (Baumrind, 1971). On the other hand, females rated the use of supportive feedback as much more acceptable than did males. Supportive feedback is characteristic of the authoritative parenting style (Baumrind, 1971). These findings may suggest that males are more likely to be characterized as authoritarian parents than are females.

Based on previous research, the authoritarian parenting style would be the least desirable in parents as it leads to negative outcomes in children brought on by negative parenting tactics. Research also suggests that males are more likely to be authoritarian parents than are females.

 
References
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Akhtar, Z. (2012). Th Effect of Parenting Style of Parents on the Attachment Styles of Undergraduate Students. Language In India, 12(1), 555-566
Baumrind, D. (1971). Current Patterns of Parental Authority. Developmental Psychology Monograph, 4(1, Part 2).
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Padilla-Walker, L. M., & Nelson, L. J. (2012). Black hawk down?: Establishing helicopter parenting as a distinct construct from other forms of parental control during emerging adulthood. Journal of Adolescence, 35, 1177–1190. doi:10.1016=j.adolescence.2012.03.007
Parent. Retrieved from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/parent?s=t
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