Global Day of Parents

 Harsh or physical discipline, yelling or scolding, expressing disappointment, and shaming, all of which are hallmarks of authoritarian parenting, have detrimental effects on child adjustment in cultures around the world. For instance, parents who spank generally believe that it socializes positive behavior . However, large-scale studies in the U.S. and in cultures varying in their use of these practices show that spanking generally has negative effects for children’s adjustment and social competence , although these practices are less harmful (although still negative) when they are more culturally normative.  A recent study found that parental shaming is more culturally normative in both rural and urban China than in an urban sample in Canada and that it was seen as less psychologically harmful among rural Chinese (where it was more normative) than Canadians, but there were also interesting developmental trends. Across groups, 10–11 and 13–14 year-olds evaluated shaming mor...

 Baumrind’s influential model of parenting styles describes parenting as a gestalt of integrated parenting practices, best studied using pattern-based approaches . Her original description of the authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting styles has been reconceptualized in terms of two orthogonal dimensions of demandingness and responsiveness , leading to the addition of a fourth, rejecting-neglecting style . Proponents claim that authoritative parenting , where parents are highly responsive to their children’s needs but also set reasonable limits and demand mature behavior, is most beneficial for children’s and adolescents’ development across contexts and cultures. This conclusion remains controversial, however. In response to critiques, Baumrind and colleagues have refined the definition of authoritative parenting and clarified the distinction between detrimental (e.g., coercive) and positive (e.g., confrontive) forms of parental power assertion. Parenting styles ...