Authoritative Parenting : Synthesizing Nurturance and Discipline for Optimal Child Development

In this book, leading scholars update our thinking about authoritative parenting and address three unresolved issues: mechanisms of the style’s effectiveness, variations of effectiveness across cultures, and untangling how parents influence children from how children influence them. Psychologist Diana Baumrind's revolutionary prototype of parenting, called authoritative parenting, combines the best of various parenting styles. In contrast to previous emphases on parental responsiveness alone (permissive parenting) or on demandingness alone (authoritarian parenting), authoritative parenting combines high levels of both responsiveness and demandingness. The result is an appropriate mix of warm nurturance and firm discipline. By integrating perspectives from developmental and clinical psychology, the book will inform prevention and intervention efforts to help parents maximize their children’s potential. "There has been an extensive body of empirical research focusing on Baumrind's parenting dimensions, and her theory has been widely summarized in introductory textbooks on child development and parenting. However, the present book is the first scholarly book on authoritative parenting by leading researchers. As such, its purpose is to summarize the most important current parenting research relevant to authoritative parenting, including research on its three unresolved issues as noted by Parke and Buriel (2006). First, the specific mechanisms that account for the effectiveness of authoritative parenting are addressed in several chapters that pinpoint and expand the aspects of responsiveness and demandingness that are particularly helpful or harmful for important child outcomes. Second, Sorkhabi and Mandara (see Chapter 5) address another unresolved issue by exploring how the effects of authoritative parenting vary across cultures. Finally, Morris, Cui, and Steinberg (see Chapter 2) and Larzelere, Cox, and Mandara (see Chapter 4) explore the third issue of whether the positive outcomes associated with authoritative parenting are due to parent or child effects. The chapters not only summarize the current research relevant to authoritative parenting but also clarify its distinctive attributes in important ways. Examples include the relevance of psychological control and of cultural variations in authoritative parenting and equally effective approximations to it. Several chapters supplement Baumrind's recent research by suggesting different ways to distinguish appropriate from counterproductive types of demandingness. Other authors summarize how authoritative parenting is related to emotion socialization, adolescent negotiations for increasing autonomy, cognitive development, and treatments to reduce aggression. Overall, this book incorporates research on authoritative parenting that has been conducted with diverse samples (e.g., clinical and nonclinical, fathers and mothers, younger and adolescent children, urban and rural) in North America and around the world. This book is divided into four sections. Part I covers the history and current state of authoritative parenting research. In Part II, authors distinguish harmful from appropriate types of demandingness, including how demandingness can support disciplinary reasoning and autonomy development in various cultural contexts. In Part II, authors consider the implications of authoritative parenting for clinical and educational interventions. In Part IV, the final section of the book, Henry and Hubbs-Tait (Chapter 10) highlight important themes about parenting that have emerged from these chapters. It is our hope that this book advances Baumrind's original aim: to understand and promote optimal ways in which parents can combine responsiveness and demandingness in socializing their children for the best possible outcomes for them and for society. We believe that this book will benefit students and parenting scholars as well as parenting educators, teachers, and ultimately parents and their children themselves"--Introduction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved) Introduction / Michael M. Criss & Robert E. Larzelere -- History and current state of authoritative parenting research -- Authoritative parenting revisited : history and current status / Diana Baumrind -- Parenting research and themes : what we've learned and where to go next / Amanda Sheffield Morris, Lixian Cui, & Laurence Steinberg -- Authoritative integration of control and negotiation -- The centrality of control to parenting and its effects / Brian K. Barber & Mingzhu Xia -- Responding to misbehavior in young children: how authoritative parents enhance reasoning with firm control / Robert E. Larzelere, Ronald B. Cox, Jr., & Jelani Mandara -- Are the effects of baumrind's parenting styles culturally specific or culturally equivalent? / Nadia Sorkhabi & Jelani Mandara -- Conflict emergence and adaptiveness of normative parent-adolescent conflicts : baumrind's socialization theory and cognitive social domain theory / Nadia Sorkhabi -- Clinical and educational applications -- Working with parents of aggressive children : ten principles and the role of authoritative parenting / Timothy A. Cavell, Amanda W. Harrist, & Tamara Del Vecchio -- Effective parenting practices : social interaction learning theory and the role of emotion coaching and mindfulness / James Snyder, Sabina Low, Lisha Bullard, Lynn Schrepferman, Marissa Wachlarowicz, Christy Marvin, & Andrea Reed -- Authoritative parenting and parental support for children's cognitive development / Mary Gauvain, Susan M. Perez, & Heidi Beebe -- Conclusions -- New directions in authoritative parenting / Carolyn S. Henry & Laura Hubbs-Tait Contents Contributors Acknowledgments Introduction Part I The History and Current State of Authoritative Parenting Research Chapter 1 Authoritative Parenting Revisited: History and Current Status Chapter 2 Parenting Research and Themes: What We Have Learned and Where to Go Next Part II Authoritative Integration of Control and Negotiation Chapter 3 The Centrality of Control to Parenting and Its Effects Chapter 4 Responding to Misbehavior in Young Children: How Authoritative Parents Enhance Reasoning With Firm Control Chapter 5 Are the Effects of Baumrind’s Parenting Styles Culturally Specific or Culturally Equivalent? Chapter 6 Conflict Emergence and Adaptiveness of Normative Parent–Adolescent Conflicts: Baumrind’s Socialization Theory and Cognitive Social Domain Theory Part III Clinical and Educational Applications Chapter 7 Working With Parents of Aggressive Children: Ten Principles and the Role of Authoritative Parenting Chapter 8 Effective Parenting Practices: Social Interaction Learning Theory and the Role of Emotion Coaching and Mindfulness Chapter 9 Authoritative Parenting and Parental Support for Children’s Cognitive Development Part IV Conclusion Chapter 10 New Directions in Authoritative Parenting Index About the Editors Psychologist Diana Baumrind's revolutionary prototype of parenting, called authoritative parenting, combines the best of various parenting styles. In contrast to previous emphases on parental responsiveness alone (permissive parenting) or on demandingness alone (authoritarian parenting), authoritative parenting combines high levels of both responsiveness and demandingness. The result is an appropriate mix of warm nurturance and firm discipline. In this book, leading scholars update our thinking about authoritative parenting and address three unresolved issues: mechanisms of the style s effectiveness, variations of effectiveness across cultures, and untangling how parents influence children from how children influence them. By integrating perspectives from developmental and clinical psychology, the book will inform prevention and intervention efforts to help parents maximize their children s potential.