ROLE OF PARENTING ON CHILD DEVELOPMENT 2

Role of Parenting on Child Development

A child’s development is largely influenced by their relationship and interaction with
their parents. Various theories have been put forth to explain how parenting affects a child’s
development. The two theories that best explain this relationship are patenting styles and
behaviorism.
Parenting styles include all the ways in which parents interact with their children. The
styles have a major impact on the child’s cognitive, social, and emotional development. The
four parenting styles identified under this theory are authoritarianism, authoritative,
uninvolved, and permissive styles (Smetana, 2017). These styles are classified based on the
level of demands a parent makes on the child and the degree to which parents respond to the
needs of the child. Of these styles, authoritative style, characterized by low psychological
control of the child and high levels of demandingness and responsiveness, has been found to
be the parenting style that produces the best development outcomes for the child (Smetana,
2017). In general, parenting styles best explains child development because many of the
outcomes of children are often related to the parenting style that they experienced in their
childhood.
Apart from parenting styles, behaviorism theory is also good at explaining child
development. This theory holds that children’s outcomes are a reflection of behaviors that
were reinforced by their parents and caregivers in childhood (Smetana, 2017). According to
this theory, positive parenting leads to the best child development outcomes. This approach
involves reinforcing desirable behaviors and removing positive reinforcement to discourage
undesired behaviors.

ROLE OF PARENTING ON CHILD DEVELOPMENT 3
Parenting styles and behaviorism are not the only theories of child development.
Among these other theories, the one that I do not agree with is social learning theory. This
theory argues that children’s behaviors are initiations of behaviors of those around them,
including their parents and siblings. I disagree with this theory because children interact with
many people that could be considered models in the course of their development but often
show behavioral outcomes that are not an obvious imitations of other people.

ROLE OF PARENTING ON CHILD DEVELOPMENT 4

References

Smetana, J. G. (2017). Current research on parenting styles, dimensions, and
beliefs. Current opinion in Psychology, 15, 19-25.