Chapter 4 infographic image description

The title of the infographic is, Thinking Critically About: Parenting Styles—Too Hard, Too Soft, Too Uncaring, and Just Right?

The Learning Objective Question reads, What outcomes are associated with each parenting style?

The infographic is divided into four sections. The first section’s heading reads, 1. Authoritarian Parents. A two-way arrow indicating a two-way relationship is underneath this title, leading to the text, Children with less social skill and self-esteem, and a brain that overreacts when they make mistakes. (Footnote 2: Meyer et al., 2015.) The illustration shows a mother yelling at her two children.

The second section’s heading reads, 2. Permissive Parents. A two-way arrow indicating a two-way relationship is underneath this title, leading to the text, Children who are more aggressive and immature. (Footnote 3: Luck et al., 2011.) The illustration shows a father giving money to his daughter from his wallet while her friends are waiting by the door. One of the friends is smoking.

The third section’s heading reads, 3. Negligent Parents. A two-way arrow indicating a two-way relationship is underneath this title, leading to the text, Children with poor academic and social outcomes. (Footnote 4: Pinquart, 2015; Steinberg et al., 1994.) The illustration shows an untidy living room where the mother and the father are watching television on the couch, while their child is sitting on the floor behind the couch, eating ice cream from the tub.

The fourth section’s heading reads, 4. Authoritative parents. A two-way arrow indicating a two-way relationship is underneath this title, leading to the text, Children with the highest self-esteem, self-reliance, self-regulation, and social competence. (Footnote 5: Baumrind, 1996, 2013; Buri et al., 1988; Coopersmith, 1967; Sulik et al., 2015.). The illustration shows a father helping his son create a schedule list, while the mother is helping two other children study. A chart on the wall reads, Chores: dishes, walk the dog, recycle.

The text superimposed in the center over all four illustrations reads, HOWEVER, Correlation is not equal to Causation! What other factors might explain this parenting-competence link? A bulleted list begins.

• Children’s traits may influence parenting. Parental warmth and control vary somewhat from child to child, even in the same family. (Footnote 6: Holden & Miller, 1999; Klahr & Burt, 2014.) Maybe socially mature, agreeable, and easygoing children evoke greater trust and warmth from their parents? Twin studies have supported this possibility. (Footnote 7: Kendler, 1996.)
• Some underlying third factor may be at work. Perhaps, for example, competent parents and their competent children share genes that predispose social competence. Twin studies have also supported this possibility. (Footnote 8: South et al., 2008.)