Running head: DO PARENTING STYLES AFFECT THE CHILD’S ATTACHMENT STYLE?
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Do parenting styles affect the child’s attachment style?
Marcellus Colton
University of Kentucky
DO PARENTING STYLES AFFECT THE CHILD’S ATTACHMENT STYLE?
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Abstract
Do parenting styles moderate children’s ability to communicate? Does the type of
parenting style dictate the type of child they will become: a popular kid, adventurous
kid/trouble maker, or a student who excels academically? This paper discovers the
answers associated with these questions. It examines the attachment styles of 200
undergraduate students and 213 young adults using a series of questionnaires. It analyses
these types of parenting styles and determines which style is better and which style has a
better outcome on the child. It first looks at the three types of parenting styles:
authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive. It analyses these types of parenting styles
associated with the style and determines which is better and which style has a better
outcome on the child.
DO PARENTING STYLES AFFECT THE CHILD’S ATTACHMENT STYLE?
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Does parenting styles affect the children’s attachment style?
No one actually knows how to teach and guide his or her children to success. Parenting is
an on job training job; Everyday parents learn how to communicate and teach. With every child,
the parent uses a different technique to mold its child to success. What is the best parent style to
communicate with future offspring? Which parenting style is effective and ineffective? Do
parenting styles affect the child’s attachment styles?
There are two dimensions of parenting, parental acceptance and parental control. Parental
acceptance is accepting the child’s feelings and opinion. Parental control is the chastisement of
the child if the child expresses transgression through the rules the parents implied. The variations
in the parent dimensions are defined as parenting styles Akhtar (2012).
The parenting style of the interaction of parental acceptance and parental control are
broken down in three parts: authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive. Authoritative Parenting
Style is distinguished by placing strong ambitions and goals for their offspring. These parents are
involved in children’s lives and they encourage their child with warmth and comfort. They want
their child to reveal all parts of their life and interaction; they are willing to negotiate standards
and provide less restriction on the before offspring. Authoritarian Parenting Style, the parent has
low acceptance and high control over their offspring. They place rules for the children to follow
and when offspring expresses transgression, they are punished. They believe that children should
follow the rules emplaced in the household. They do not believe in comforting the child, but
setting rules so they can protect their child and teach them the ways of life. Permissive Parenting
Style is distinguished by providing few demands and exhibiting non-controlling behavior. They
provide minimum punishment to their offspring. They want their children to learn from their
mistakes but when they have to take charge, they will accept their position. If the actions of the
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child do not bring harm, they will not step up and exhibit that parent role. They will give their
offspring much freedom, hoping they can learn from their mistakes Akhtar (2012).
There are various types of parenting styles that affect children’s attachment patterns, they
are known as attachment styles. Attachment styles dictate how people interact in close
relationships. There are three different types of attachment styles: secure, anxious, and avoidant.
Secure attachment style is receiving a series of words that express the warmth feeling by making
the person feel comfort and support. To compare this attachment style with parent and child
relationship, the parent will exemplify an Authoritative Parenting Style Akhtar (2012).
Anxious attachment style is an inconsistent response reflected. The parenting style is
closely related to this attachment style is Authoritarian. People are fearful for their actions
because they do not understand the outcome. They learn life through mistakes. They are not
afraid to make friends but people are scared away by pursued idea of intimacy Akhtar (2012).
Avoidant attachment style is the rejection of intimate relationships. They are fearful of
getting hurt. They did not experience the comfort from their parents and can show resentment. It
is understood that the child can become inconsistent after leaving the parents’ training. They feel
the closer the person is to them, the more acceptable they are of getting their feelings hurt. They
rather avoid the intimacy level to prevent rejection Akhtar (2012).
Does the three parenting styles serve as moderators of the association between family
conformity orientations, young adults’ self esteem, and depression? Conformity orientation is the
degree to which family communicates and stresses a climate of homogeneity of attitudes, values,
and beliefs. These relational schemata have influences on relationships and communication
outside of the family interactions; it also has important implications on their psychological wellbeing (Hamon and Schroft, 2012). A conversation orientation refers to the degree to which
DO PARENTING STYLES AFFECT THE CHILD’S ATTACHMENT STYLE?
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families create a climate in which all family members are encouraged to participate in
unrestrained interactions about a wide array of topics. When families create an environment
whereas, it is comfortable to disclose information; it will establish a high family conversation
orientation. Families hold or share the same conceptions of life. They generally share the same
norms and belief systems, which guided by the family members’ interactions. When families
create a hostile environment whereas, it is uncomfortable to disclose information; it will establish
a low conversation orientation. Families create individual beliefs systems and norms. They will
emphasize equality among the family members (Hamon and Schroft, 2012).
Different research studies were conducted to investigate the impact of parenting on
child’s personality. In the research, it uses a series of questionnaires to discover the affects of the
parenting style and family conformity on children’s behavior (Hamon and Schroft, 2012). In one
research, two hundred students age ranging from fifteen to eighteen were selected as a cluster
sampling technique. The hypothesis of the study is that authoritative, authoritarian, and
permissive parenting style of the father and mother has significant relationship with secure,
anxious, and avoidant attachment style Akhtar (2012).
The results stated that Authoritative Parenting style has no relationship with secure,
anxious, and avoidant attachment style. Karavasilis, Doyle, and Markiewicz (2003) stated that
positive association between authoritative parenting style and secure attachment style. The result
of this experiment contradicts the findings of Rohner (1975). He said warm and accepting
behavior of parents does not elevate aggression in children and adults.
Authoritarian parents’ children developed anxious attachment styles. The children are reluctant
to make intimate relationship with their parents. They feel their parents should be treated as
parents. The parent’s tolerance for low acceptance is reflected in the fear of rejection through the
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child. The children that expressed anxious attachment styles have listed their parents as unhappy.
Coh, Cowan, and Pearson (2008) said insecure parents provide less structure in instruction with
children as compared to secure parents Akhtar (2012).
Permissive parents’ children develop avoidant attachment styles. The reason children
development this attachment is because most participants stated that their father was not around.
They experience a feeling of emptiness because they did not receive the support from their
father. They are content with everyone entering and leaving their life. They do not feel stability
in their relationships. Therefore, children believe that is better to avoid intimate relationship
avoid the feeling of rejection and acceptance Akhtar (2012).
In the second study, participants included two hundred thirteen young adult children. The
hypothesis of this study tested the degree to which adults’ perceptions of parenting styles
moderate the associations between family conformity orientation and their mental well-being:
self-esteem and depression. It uses two separate sets of hierarchical regression analysis and they
used the two variables: self-esteem and depression (Hamon and Schroft, 2012).
The results of the conducted experiment did not provide any conclusive evidence to the
hypothesis. However, the parents’ authoritativeness and permissiveness styles revealed small
amounts of an effect of the child. When the parent provided warmth and comfort, the child
expresses the comfort for affection from their mother and father Akhtar (2012).
Overall, both of the experiments have concluded an overall assumption. When parents
choose authoritarian and permissive parenting style, it does have an effect on the offspring.
Authoritarian parents’ children developed anxious attachment styles and Permissive parents’
children develop avoidant attachment styles. However, the results do not determine which parent
style is better. The results do not provide a clear answer on which parenting style is effective or
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ineffective. The way parent’s raise their kids does determine the person they will become or
somewhat influence their attachment. Based on the level of positive or negative reinforcement
the parent provides, one can perceive it provides smalls amounts of influence. Overall, the
parenting styles do not have an effect on the attachment styles of children.
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References
Akhtar, Z. (2012). The effect of parenting style of parents on the attachment styles of
undergraduate students. Language in India, 12(1), 555-566.
Coh, D. A., Cowan, P. A., Cowan, C. P. and Pearson, J. (2008). Mother's and father's working
models of childhood attachment relationships parenting style and child behavior.
Development and psychology, 4, 417-431.
Hamon, J. D., & Schrodt, P. (2012). Do parenting styles moderate the association between
family conformity orientation and young adults mental well-being?. Journal of family
communication, 12(2), 555-566, 151-166. Doi:10.1080/15267431.2011.561149
Karavasilis, L., Doyle, A. B., and Markiewicz. (2003). Associations between parenting style and
attachment to mother in middle childhood and adolescence. International journal of
behavioral development, 27: 153-164.
Rohner, R. P. (1975). They love me, they love me not: A worldwide study of the effects of
parental acceptance and rejection. New Haven, CT: Human relations area files.