How your parenting style impacts your child’s development

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While there are many things that influence a child’s development, how you parent plays a big part.

Researchers say it's important to ensure your parenting style is supporting healthy growth and development, because the way you interact with your child and how you discipline has a lifelong impact. 

Based on work by developmental psychologist Diane Baumrind, researchers have identified four common parenting styles:

• Authoritarian
• Authoritative
• Permissive
• Uninvolved

What’s your parenting style?

Authoritarian parents believe kids should follow the rules no matter what. They are not interested in negotiating; instead, the focus is on obedience. These parents make the rules and enforce the consequences without asking for the child’s opinion.

Authoritative parents have rules and use consequences, but they take their child’s opinion into account. They validate their child’s feelings while also making it clear the adults are in charge. They use positive discipline strategies like praise and reward systems to reinforce good behavior.

Permissive parents set rules but rarely enforce them, and they rarely step in to redirect the child’s behavior unless there’s a serious problem. They adopt more of a friend than a parent role, and don’t put much effort into discouraging poor choices or bad behavior.

Uninvolved parents tend to have little knowledge of what or how their kids are doing, and they don’t give much in the way of guidance, nurturing, or attention.

Researchers add while parents occasionally demonstrate traits from each category, they should strive toward the goal of consistently parenting with high warmth and high expectations with the goal of raising happier, healthier children who are equipped to face real-world challenges.

Dr. Peggy Scallon, medical director of Focus Depression Recovery for adolescents at Rogers says parents need to balance enforcing expectations along with nurturing.

Help and hope for families

If your teen is struggling with emotions and behaviors that are beyond typical moodiness, Rogers can help. Our outcomes show that depression and mood disorders treatment at Rogers works.

Rogers’ Focus Depression Recovery for adolescents offers professional mental health treatment for your son or daughter age 13 to 17 facing:

• Depression
• Bipolar disorder
• Disruptive mood regulation disorder (DMDD)
• Co-occurring anxiety disorder (mood disorder and anxiety disorder)
• Co-occurring non-suicidal self-injury, substance use disorders
• Comorbid illnesses (mood disorder and other mental illness)

To learn more about depression treatment available near you, visit our Locations page. Or to request a free, confidential screening for your child, call 800-767-4411 or request a free screening online.