The Impact of Parenting Styles and Parent and Child Risk Factors on Child Behavioral and Learning Outcomes
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Date
2021-11-23
Authors
McWhirter, Anna
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
Parents engage in a variety of parenting behaviors emerging from different values and experiences. These behaviors have been categorized into parenting styles that include authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and uninvolved. These styles have been associated with varied child behavioral and learning outcomes. The following exploratory study sought to identify which parenting styles are present in a community sample of parents with children in kindergarten in a Pacific Northwestern region of the United States to investigate the associations between parenting style, parent and child characteristics, and child behavioral and learning outcomes. This study includes the following research questions: (1) How common are the authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and uninvolved parenting styles in a community sample of families with children in kindergarten? (2) Are authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and uninvolved parenting styles associated with parent and child characteristics? (3) Do parenting styles predict child behavioral and learning outcomes? (4) Are associations between parenting styles and child outcomes moderated by parent stress and parent education level?
Study results for the first research question demonstrated that all four parenting styles were present within the sample. The second research question revealed that parenting styles were significantly associated with parenting stress and parent reported child problem behaviors. Results for research question three demonstrated that differences were observed between uninvolved and other parenting styles. Parenting style did not predict teacher reported child academic competence nor the children’s STAR literacy benchmark scores. Finally, results for the fourth research question revealed that differences between uninvolved and other parenting styles with respect to child behavioral concerns varied as a function of parent stress. Parent education level did not moderate this relationship. Differences between permissive and other parenting styles with respect to child academic competence varied as a function of parent educational background. Parenting stress did not moderate this relationship. Finally, neither parent stress nor parent education level moderated the relationship between parenting styles and child STAR literacy data benchmark scores. The results of this study have implications for targeted parenting interventions and identifying parenting strategies that are supportive to parents with children in early elementary school.
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Keywords
Child behavior outcomes, Child learning outcomes, Kindergarten, Parenting styles