This is a summary of Parenting Styles: The Four Styles of Parenting
Author: Kendra Cherry
Publication: About.com Psychology
Click here to check the original version.
This article summarizes Diana Baumrind’s foundational research on parenting styles and how later psychologists built on it, then walks through what each style tends to produce in children.
Baumrind studied more than 100 preschool-age children in the early 1960s using naturalistic observation, parental interviews, and other methods. From that research, she identified four dimensions that define how parents raise children: disciplinary strategies, warmth and nurturance, communication style, and expectations around maturity and control. Based on how parents scored across these dimensions, she originally proposed three distinct parenting styles. Maccoby and Martin later added a fourth style in 1983.
Parenting styles
Authoritarian parents set strict rules and expect obedience without explanation. If a child asks why a rule exists, the answer is often just “because I said so.” These parents make high demands but show little responsiveness to their children’s needs or feelings.
Authoritative parents also set clear rules and expectations, but they explain their reasoning and stay open to questions. When a child falls short, these parents respond with support rather than punishment. Baumrind described them as assertive without being intrusive, aiming to raise children who are both self-regulated and socially responsible.
Permissive parents make few demands and rarely discipline, since they hold low expectations for maturity and self-control. They tend to be warm, communicative, and lenient, often acting more like a friend than an authority figure.
Uninvolved parents show low responsiveness and minimal communication. They typically meet a child’s basic physical needs but stay detached from the child’s emotional life, and in extreme cases this can shade into neglect.
Different styles, different outcomes
Each style tracks with a different set of outcomes. Children raised by authoritarian parents tend to be obedient and capable, but score lower on happiness, social competence, and self-esteem. Children raised by authoritative parents tend to be happy, capable, and successful, a finding Maccoby confirmed again in 1992.
Children raised by permissive parents tend to struggle with self-regulation and happiness, and they’re more likely to have problems with authority and academic performance. Children raised by uninvolved parents fare worst across nearly every measure, showing low self-control, low self-esteem, and lower overall competence than their peers.
The article explains why authoritative parenting tends to outperform the others. Psychologists Hockenbury and Hockenbury argue that when children see a parent’s requests as fair and reasonable, they’re more likely to comply, and more likely to internalize the reasoning behind the request rather than just following it. That internalization builds real self-control, rather than just compliance under supervision.
Why parenting styles vary
Not every parent lands squarely in one category, and the article points to several reasons parenting styles vary: culture, personality, family size, parental background, socioeconomic status, education, and religion all play a role. Parents within the same household often blend different styles too. A mother might lean authoritative while a father leans permissive, which means real families usually operate with some mix rather than a pure type.
The piece closes with an honest look at the limits of this research. The link between parenting style and child outcome comes from correlational studies, which can show a relationship but can’t prove one style causes a specific result. A child’s own temperament matters too, and the correlations themselves are sometimes weak.
Some authoritative parents end up with defiant or delinquent children, and some permissive parents raise kids who turn out confident and academically successful. Douglas Bernstein makes a further point in his book: authoritative parenting’s advantages show up consistently in European American families, but the same link doesn’t hold as strongly for school performance among African American or Asian American children, suggesting culture shapes how these dynamics actually play out.
Bottom line
The article’s bottom line: parenting style is associated with real differences in child outcomes, and authoritative parenting shows up most consistently as the style linked to self-esteem and competence, but factors like culture, a child’s own perception of their treatment, and broader social influences carry real weight too.