Who is an authoritarian parent

It also covers the impact that this parenting style has on children and how to respond if you or your partner is an authoritarian parent. Baumrind believed that one of the major roles that parents play in a child's life is to socialize them to the values and expectations of their culture.

How parents accomplish this, however, can vary dramatically based upon the amount of control they attempt to exert over their children. The authoritarian approach represents the most controlling style. Rather than valuing self-control and teaching children to manage their own behaviors, the authoritarian parent focuses on adherence to authority.

Instead of rewarding positive behavior, the authoritarian parent only provides feedback in the form of punishments for misbehavior. Authoritarian parents have lots of rules and may even micromanage nearly all aspects of their children's lives and behaviors, at home and in public. Additionally, they also have many unwritten rules that kids are expected to follow—even though children receive little to no explicit instruction about these "rules.

Parents with this style often seem cold, aloof, and harsh. They are more likely to nag or yell at their children than offer encouragement and praise. They value discipline over fun and expect that children should be seen and not heard. Parents with this style usually have no problem resorting to corporal punishment, which often involves spanking.

Rather than relying on positive reinforcement , they react swiftly and harshly when the rules are broken. Authoritarian parents don't give children choices or options. Parents set the rules and have a "my way or the highway" approach to discipline. There is little room for negotiation, and they rarely allow their children to make their own choices.

Authoritarian parents expect their children to simply know better than to engage in undesirable behaviors. They lack the patience for explaining why their children should avoid certain behaviors and expend little energy talking about feelings. Authoritarian parents don't trust their children to make good choices. Parents with this style don't give their children much freedom to demonstrate that they can display good behavior on their own.

Rather than letting kids make decisions on their own and face natural consequences for those choices, authoritarian parents hover over their kids in order to ensure that they don't make mistakes. Authoritarian parents don't believe in gray areas. Situations are viewed as black and white and there is little to no room for compromise.

Kids don't get a say or a vote when it comes to setting rules or making decisions. Authoritarian parents can be highly critical and may use shame as a tactic to force children into following the rules, using phrases such as "Why do you always do that?

Authoritarian parenting is often not something that parents engage in intentionally. Some factors that may contribute to the use of an authoritarian style include:. Parenting styles have been associated with a variety of child outcomes in areas like social skills and academic performance.

The children of authoritarian parents may:. Because authoritarian parents expect absolute obedience, children raised with this style are typically very good at following rules. However, they may lack self-discipline. Unlike children raised by authoritative parents , children raised by authoritarian parents are not encouraged to explore and act independently, so they never really learn how to set their own limits and personal standards.

This lack of self-discipline can ultimately lead to problems when the parental or authority figure is not around to monitor behavior. While developmental experts agree that rules and boundaries are important for children, most believe that authoritarian parenting is too punitive and lacks the warmth, unconditional love, and nurturing that children also need.

At other times, uninvolved parents lack knowledge about child development. And sometimes, they're simply overwhelmed with other problems, like work, paying bills, and managing a household. Children with uninvolved parents are likely to struggle with self-esteem issues.

They tend to perform poorly in school. They also exhibit frequent behavior problems and rank low in happiness. It is hard to remain consistent when balancing life and parenting. Don't engage in parent guilt or shame.

That's not helpful. The studies are clear, however, that authoritative parenting is the best parenting style. But even if you tend to identify with other parenting styles more, there are steps you can take to become a more authoritative parent.

With dedication and commitment to being the best parent you can be, you can maintain a positive relationship with your child while still establishing your authority in a healthy manner. And over time, your child will reap the benefits of your authoritative style.

Get diet and wellness tips to help your kids stay healthy and happy. Front Psychol. Revista Mexicana de Trastornos Alimentarios. Learning and Individual Differences. Your Privacy Rights. To change or withdraw your consent choices for VerywellFamily.

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There is typically no give and take, and will exert complete and total control over the family. The negative side effects to this type of parenting include: Children are aggressive, but can also be socially inept, shy and cannot make their own decisions.

Children in these families have poor self-esteem, are poor judges of character and will rebel against authority figures when they are older. Children will model the behavior shown to them by their parents while with their peers and as future parents themselves. Children rarely learn to think on their own. Children have a difficult time managing their anger and are very resentful. For more information on each parenting style, click on one of the styles below: The authoritarian parent.

The authoritative parent. This is a mom or dad who sets carefully defined limits for children, the one who is a good role model and praises children for their efforts. The permissive parent. J Youth Adolescence. Published online February 7, J Cogn Psychother. Published online August The Journal of Early Adolescence. Published online February Is parenting style a predictor of suicide attempts in a representative sample of adolescents? BMC Pediatr. Published online April 26, The Authoritative Parenting Index: predicting health risk behaviors among children and adolescents.

Health Educ Behav. Relationships between parenting styles and risk behaviors in adolescent health: an integrative literature review. Rev Latino-Am Enfermagem. Wayne State University. Press; p Adolescent-parent relations in Hong Kong: parenting styles, emotional autonomy, and school achievement.

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