Parenting Styles

Very interesting post. I like how you bring up the fact that there is no guarantee this is correct across different cultures. When I think about this topic, I imagine the difference between white middle class parents and how they are much more lenient than the asian parents I know. I agree with you when you say there can't really be a "best" parenting style, but I would love to see some more research done for different cultures.

I was glad that you remained neutral about the three different parenting methods. I would have to agree that there is no method that is best. It would only seem reasonable from the three options that authoritative parenting would be the best option because it does not lean too far to one side over the other. I agree that discipline is very important and that the parenting style has a great affect on the upbringing of the child, but in addition I believe that the amount of time that the parent spends with the child has an even greater affect.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post. I completely agree that different cultures have different methods of upbringing their children. In Asian cultures, parents are more authoritative. However within that culture, just because those parents are using the same parenting styles, the children will turn out to be the same. In fact, within the household one child might be the star child while the other one is a lazy gamer. In the end, I'm not saying that parenting styles don't matter, but there are other important factors that come to play during a child's upbringing that might have a greater influence on him/her than parenting styles.

This is definitely a interesting topic and intriguing to think that parenting styles may not matter at all. However, I do believe that it does play some role whether it is big or small and that in each case of parenting the most fitting parenting style varies with each child.

I agree that we need to do more research outside of just the typical Caucasion middle class families. There are obviously other ethnic backgrounds in the U.S. I don't know if you can pick a best style for parenting, but if we had to pick from those three I'd pick authoritative parenting. I grew up in a strict household, but my parents were lenient to an extent as well. More lenience would've been nicer though and that might've made my parents and I closer as well.

I think a parenting style has to match both the personality of the child and the culture that they grew up in. For example, someone who is a risk-taker growing up in a very harsh environment might need a very strict parent. However, if they did not like to obey then a permissive parent might be the most effective. My parents treated me with an authoritative parenting style and I think it was the best for my upbringing. I made a lot of morals myself from the Bible which also helped shape me as a person. I think each person has to be able to shape themselves but their parents have to find the correct way to "guide" them through that life-long journey.

I'm just glad I have authoritative parents. They seem to be a nice middle ground between permissive and authoritarian. I wonder if there would be other sorts of parenting styles if more than caucasian middle class families were studied? Are there other parenting styles? I do agree that parenting styles definitely change over time and with the advances of technology change is inevitable. Parenting style has an effect on kids but to what degree? Hopefully evil cyborg parents won't come about.

I like that you highlighted a major problem with the sample. This is something commonly encountered in child psychology--many of the children are convenience samples. Often times the children are those of researchers, or student recruited from on campus day care centers. As a result the sample is relatively homogenous and the results may not necessarily generalize to other socioeconomic status or minority populations.