Parental educational styles and their influence on personality
The great influence of parents on the children’s way of being has always been known good formula for gassy baby. From the social science standpoint, the family is considered the main socializing agent, thus indicating its great responsibility for the individual’s psychosocial growth.
Parental educational styles represent the way in which parents act towards their children in everyday situations, in decision-making or in conflict resolution. However, to what extent can the way you educate your children influence the development of their personality?
Discipline and affection
The way in which parents educate is not just a tool for setting desirable guidelines for the child’s behavior.
The child, in turn, acquires a series of personal skills and characteristics. But, from the standpoint of the psychology of the development of the life cycle, it is understood that there are two dimensions when it comes to educating your children: the discipline-requirement and the affectivity-receptivity.
Affection: refers to acceptance, that is, the expressions of parents in relation to their children so that they feel comfortable in their presence.
Discipline: can also be defined as control. It is present in the behavior of parents towards their child and aims to achieve desirable behavior.
Classification of parenting styles
Clinical psychologist Diana Baumrind (1971) was a pioneer in inferring that parenting educational styles can be classified according to the way the dimensions of affection and discipline are combined. There are four parenting styles depending on these two dimensions:
Authoritarian. It happens to be categorised by the predominant use of discipline. It is used by parents with high expectations for compliance with standards and is based on unidirectional communication.
Permissive. It would be the opposite style to the previous one. These parents base their educational style on affection. They allow the child to make his own decisions, but they have little control over him.
Negligent. So-called uninvolved parents. It is considered the worst of educational styles, since neither dimension is present.
Democratic. It is considered the ideal or most appropriate educational style. Both dimensions are present: parents strive to teach appropriate behavior through a set of rules and based on interaction and affectivity.
Consequences on the child’s personality
Undoubtedly, the way of educating has a great influence on the personality of your children. It is a determining factor for your academic performance, your effectiveness in social relationships, your emotional security or even your possible professional success in the future.
Children and adolescents educated under the authoritarian style have high academic performance. However, they also have low self-esteem, autonomy and social competence.
The permissive style generates high levels of self-esteem and confidence, but there is a tendency to be self-centered, disobedient and with low academic performance.
The lack of self-control and aggressiveness are some of the consequences generated by the negligent style. In addition, there is a greater predisposition to suffer from psychological disorders.
Parents who use the democratic style generate a family atmosphere led by mutual respect and cooperation. This develops a realistic and positive self-concept in the child. At the same time, there is a high motivation for success, which translates into good school performance.
…
Having been a mom for 10 years – it seems like I have everything under control.
The app allows you to set a sleep time (so my daughter won’t be tempted to send whatsapp to her friends when they’re downstairs watching “Homeland”) and an alarm clock (so my son won’t see YouTube before 6am. morning, which is incredibly problematic).