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Although most research done by developmental experts points to authoritative or active parenting as the best parenting style that produce the most positive outcomes in adolescent development, there are still many factors that contribute to these outcomes.
Parenting behavior should be consistent; however, not everyone can be patient and understanding all the time. Parenting behavior may be influenced by mood, lack of sleep, stress and illness. However, one parenting style typically dominates parenting behavior.
On one hand, parenting behavior may be influenced by adolescent characteristics, such as personality and temperament. An uncooperative, immature and irresponsible teen may push some parents to change parenting styles from active or permissive to authoritarian.
Still, many teens who grew up in a loving family with mentally and emotionally healthy siblings turn out to be the family’s “black sheep” or the sole “bad apple” among the lot. Children in the same family exposed to the same parenting style grow up into different individuals with different life paths. In these cases, therapists and counselors do not look into family as the source of the adolescent’s self-destructive behavior.
