Four Patterns of Parenting Styles: Authoritarian Parenting
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Parenting teens can be overwhelming for some parents. Parents often find their children have changed from the sweet little boy or girl they have raised. This time parents need to change their parenting style because the teenage years are very different from the childhood years.
Parenting styles have four patterns based on two aspects of parenting behavior: control and warmth. Parental control refers to the degree to which parents manage their children’s behavior, from being very strict to being lenient with rules and demands. Parental warmth refers to the degree of acceptance or rejection by parents of their children’s behavior. Combinations of these two parental behaviors produce four different styles of parenting.
Traditionally, parents follow their parents’ parenting style, which is the Authoritarian parenting style. These types of parents display little warmth and high controlling behavior. As strict disciplinarians, they use a restrictive style that insists on unquestionable obedience. They revoke protests by saying “because I said so” or “because I’m the parent and you are just the child.”
Teens reared by Authoritarian parents learn to value strict adherence to rules over independent thinking. Their parents do not engage in discussion with them regarding subjects they consider taboo or unimportant. As a result, teens grow up either submissive or rebellious. Those submissive teens develop parental dependence, while those rebellious teens tend to be aggressively defiant.
When Authoritarian parents encounter an aggressively defiant teen, they tend to respond the same way in their effort to establish authority and dominance over their child’s bad behavior. Sadly, the more they force their problem teens to submission, the more defiant their teen becomes.
At this point, the parents realize they have failed in breaking through the barrier between them and their child. This is where professional counselors and family therapists come in to help.
