It is commonly known that there are only 4 parenting styles. They are authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and uninvolved. Although quite often a mixture of styles can be found, mostly for any family it is possible to determine what type of the style is practiced therein. In addition, typically the representatives of different cultures tend to use different types of parenting. Accordingly, children belonging to different cultures can behave differently in the same situation. In general, the understanding of the four types is very useful to everyone because it will help to determine the causes of their own behavior and habits, on which the certain attitude of the parents left its mark. In addition, it will help to adopt a positive experience and to avoid the negative aspects of parenting in the future.
Basically, the division into types is based on a combination of only two components: how parents control their children and how warmly they treat them. Authoritative style includes warm, but strict attitude. Such parents support the children in their desire for independence, yet imposing certain restrictions on their behavior (Kopko, 2007, p. 1). In a family with this type of parenting, everything is solved through discussion and finding a compromise. The reaction of the children, in this case, is that they learn to negotiate and to behave more responsibly and independently. Conversely, in the authoritarian family, the children rarely feel the warmth but are always controlled. The authority of parents in such a family is not negotiable. In this case, the child's reaction may be of two types: either the child begins to rebel against their parents, or become dependent and submissive. The opposite of this type is permissive parenting. Such parents treat their children with great tenderness and allow a lot to them. The result of such a relationship becomes the growth of selfishness in the child who can also have problems with self-control and believes that he can do whatever he wants without the consequence. The fourth type of parenting, uninvolved, does not provide the supervision to the children while, at the same time, and does not include warmth participation in the child's life (Kopko, 2007, p. 2). The reaction of the child, in this case, is the same attitude to the parents. Furthermore, children in such families often have problems due to too impulsive behavior (Kopko, 2007, p. 3). Thus, quite different types of behavior with different effects are generated from a combination of just two factors.
However, the above-described reaction of the children characterized mainly Americans, the representatives of individualistic culture. The approach to parenting of the representatives of collectivistic cultures and children's reaction to this may be different. For example, in Chinese families with a more authoritarian approach, children often have a lot of family duties and, therefore, have more responsibility than their American friends (Russell, Crockett & Chao, 2010, p. 2). In addition, studies show that Chinese young people from families with an authoritarian type of parenting as successful in school as children from authoritative American families (Russell, Crockett & Chao, 2010, p. 1). Self-esteem of children from authoritarian families in the collectivist culture is also not lower than the self-esteem of children from authoritative families in the individualistic culture ("Developmental Psychology at Vanderbilt", 2014). Nevertheless, for children living in countries with an individualistic culture, the most appropriate type of parenting is authoritative. It is believed that this method helps to combine effectively parental love with the necessary degree of control over the child (Kopko, 2007, p. 3).
Summarizing, it can be said that the representatives of different cultures can raise children quite differently, so sometimes something that unacceptable in one culture seems natural in another. That, something that can harm a child of the one nationality, can in no way affect the child of another nationality. In this way, if a child grows and develops harmoniously, it does not matter what style of parenting their parents follow. The main thing is that it will benefit the child.
References
Developmental Psychology at Vanderbilt. (2014). My.vanderbilt.edu. Retrieved 17 March 2016, from https://my.vanderbilt.edu/developmentalpsychologyblog/
Kopko, K. (2007). Parenting Styles and Adolescents (1st ed.). Cornell Cooperative Extension. Retrieved from https://www.human.cornell.edu/pam/outreach/parenting/parents/upload/Parenting-20Styles-20and-20Adolescents.pdf
Russell, S., Crockett, L., & Chao, R. (2010). Cultural Differences in Parenting Practices: What Asian American Families Can Teach Us (1st ed.). Frances McClelland Institute for Children, Youth, and Families ResearchLink. Retrieved from https://mcclellandinstitute.arizona.edu/sites/mcclellandinstitute.arizona.edu/files/ResearchLink_2.1_Russell_AsianFam.pdf
