Role of Authoritative and Authoritarian Parenting in Home, Health and Emotional Adjustment

The parent child relationship has important and significant impacts for a child. A parental style is an important component that shapes the child's views about themselves and their world. Parents are a source of producing healthy self-esteem, self worth, healthy thinking and behavior in children (Santrock, 2005).Considerable research has focused on aspects of Parenting behavior and the parent-child relationship in order to understand the ways in which parents influence their children's functioning.Researchers have found positive relationship between parenting and child outcomes including academic success, cognitive development, emotion regulation, and adjustment (Davidov, & Grusec, 2006; Denham, Workman, Cole, Weissbrod, Kendziora, & Zahnaxler, 2000; Laible, 2004; Pettit, & Spera, 2005). Several studies have demonstrated a relationship between pathological symptoms in children and family functioning (Dleiden, Vaseym, & Brown. 1999; Johnston, & Ohan. 1999).Davies, Cummings, and Winter (2004) suggest that parenting style has a significant effect on children's behavior (Johnson, Kent, & Leather, 2005; Nair, & Murray, 2005; Steele, Nesbitt-Daly, Daniel, & Forehand, 2005). Compared with children who feel accepted by their parents, children who feel rejected display greater levels of hostility and aggression, dependency, defensive independence and emotional instability, lower self-esteem, and a more negative (Palmer, & Hollin, 2000; Rohner, & Britner, 2002; Russ, Heim, & Westen, 2003; Barnow, Lucht, & Freyberger, 2005).Adolescence is a critical period for the development of healthy behaviors and lifestyles. Findings from numerous studies over the past 20 years suggest that the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship has significant impact on the development or prevention of risky adolescent health behaviors (Barbara, 2006).There are two important elements of parenting: parental responsiveness and parental demandingness. Parental responsiveness refers to the extent to which parents intentionally enhanced individuality, regularity, and self-assertion by being familiar, supportive, and acquiescent to children's special needs and demands (Baumrind, 1991). Parental demandingness refers to the claims parents make on children to become integrated into the family whole, by their maturity demands, supervision, disciplinary efforts and willingness to confront the child who disobeys (Baumrind, 1991). Parenting styles among Asian parents have been variously described as authoritarian, controlling, restrictive, punitive and hostile (Cheryl, Marsiglia, Walczyk, Buboltz, & Diana, 2005).Authoritarian ParentingThe authoritarian parenting style has acquired a negative connotation in western literature, primarily because of the negative child and adolescent outcomes frequently as with it. Parenting styles among Asian parents have been variously described as authoritarian, controlling, restrictive and hostile. Parents who apply this style tend to limit children's independence and force them to follow strict rules by threatening harsh punishment for violations. They also tend to be less responsive to and accepting of their children. By preventing children from exercising control over their own behaviors and learning from their mistakes, authoritarian parents inadvertently may be rearing children to believe that they are not responsible for what happens to them. Authoritarian parenting style has repeatedly been found correlated with negative self perceptions (Cheryl, Marsiglia, Walczyk, Buboltz, & Diana, 2005).This style is characterized as high in demandingness/control but low in acceptance/warmth. It has been defined as, a restrictive, punitive style where parents exhort the adolescent to follow the parent's directions and to respect work and effort. The authoritarian parent places firm limits and controls on the adolescent and allows little verbal exchange. …