Literature Review
The influence of the family on children's behavior is widely documented in the literature, and numerous studies support the idea that involved parental style and authoritative parental approach significantly affect children's academic achievement, regardless of ethnic/racial background, gender, and age. Baumrind, in her study entitled Effects of Authoritative Parental Control on Child Behavior (1966), argued that theory-based categorization of parental style that led to specific parental control would bring forth diverse behaviors and attitudes in children. Baumrind's theory-based categorization of parental style led to the earliest parental style paradigm, namely, permissive, authoritarian, and authoritative, all of which having emotional aspects and repercussions for the personality and emotional growth of children.
Permissive parents are somewhat loose in their authority and in implementing their rules. They also are highly accepting and often express affection and compassion to their children. Such complacency in disciplining and monitoring suggests that children are allowed to make their own decisions and control their own actions. As a consequence, permissive parents have children who display greater self-confidence, yet show deficiencies in achievement, social responsibility, impulse control, and maturity. Authoritarian parents, on the other hand, are decisive and rigid in their parental methods, especially as regards control. Unquestioning submission to parental authority is demanded, with disobedience or rebellious actions quickly and severely punished. Moreover, authoritarian parents are indifferent and unemotional. Children of authoritarian parents have a higher tendency to exhibit poor self-esteem, increased social submission, and weakened independence.
Authoritative parents exercise unchanging control focused on the complete integration of their children into the family unit and the society at large and asserting that their children reach maturity and independence as they grow up. Unlike authoritarian parents, authoritative parents express compassion and certainty. Their children tend to show symmetry between high self-confidence, independence, and achievement and social skills (e.g. interpersonal skills, sociability). From these classifications, Baumrind (902) concluded that authoritative parenting could benefit the child in the long run, while permissive and authoritarian parenting could impair the child's emotional, intellectual, and social growth.
The study of Poms and colleagues entitled Parenting Practices and Tobacco Use in Middle School Students in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (2012) aims to identify whether authoritative parental style, as described by Baumrind, discourages tobacco use in adolescents. Nevertheless, their findings show that children of parents who smoke have a greater tendency to become tobacco users themselves than children of parents who are non-tobacco users. The multivariate analysis of Poms and colleagues (358) finds out that favorable parental styles, such as authoritative parenting, are positively correlated with lower risk of tobacco use among middle school students in the countries studied, including the Arab states (Jordan, Libya, Morocco, United Arab Emirates). The data available for these Arab states show that the risk of tobacco use among adolescents decreases with authoritative parental styles.
In fact, according to their findings, authoritative and permissive parental styles were linked to more favorable outcomes compared to indifferent and authoritarian parental styles in all the Arab states studied. The study clearly reveals that the awareness of parents about the activities of their children and, to a certain extent, parental concern and appreciation are both related to reduced use of tobacco among adolescents in all the Arab states studied. The finding that the awareness of parents of their children's whereabouts was a greater protective mechanism against tobacco use than parental concern and appreciation may indicate that such awareness of a child's activities is a more effective preventative factor to tobacco use than parental affection. Nevertheless, the researchers did not disregard the value of an affectionate, appreciative, and positive relationship between parents and their children, particularly since such positive relationship could encourage parents to become more updated or aware of their children's activities, and to exercise proper disciplinary or behavior management techniques.
Meanwhile, in her paper The Influence of Market Wages and Parental History on Child Labor and Schooling in Egypt (2003), Wahba argues that gaining knowledge of the major contributing factors to child labor is crucial to the development of useful policies in addressing child labor. More specifically, Wahba studied how parental styles influence child schooling and child labor in Egypt. She finds out that the attributes of parents significantly affect their children's future-- whether they will attend school or join the labor market at an unripe age. Children of fathers who are working in public organizations have a greater chance of going to school and a lower chance of joining the labor force. Furthermore, children of less educated parents have a higher probability of getting involved in child labor and lower chances of attending school.
Additional findings of the paper reveal that the market wages of uneducated adult workers have smaller impact on the likelihood of schooling in comparison to child labor; have more observable effect in urban and rural areas; and, have major impact on the likelihood of child labor (Wahba 848). It seems that the nature of parental employment has a greater impact on the likelihood of children going to school than that of parental styles. Still, the study of Wahba shows how parenting greatly influences children's achievement, behavior, and future outcomes.
Works Cited
Baumrind, Diana. “Effects of Authoritative Parental Control on Child Behavior.” Child Development 37.4 (1966): 887-907. Print.
Poms, L.W., L.C. Fleming and K.H. Jacobsen. “Parenting Practices and Tobacco Use in Middle School Students in Low-and Middle-Income Countries.” Journal of School Health 82 (2012): 353-363.
Wahba, Jackline. “The Influence of Market Wages and Parental History on Child Labor and Schooling in Egypt.” Journal of Population Economics 19 (2006): 823-852. Print.
