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Diana Baumrind and Alfred Adler Parenting Styles

Diana Baumrind was a psychologist who developed a parenting model which includes authoritarian parenting, authoritative parenting, permissive parenting and neglectful parenting styles. Alfred Adler was another psychologist who developed a parenting model which has 11 styles.

Both the Adler’s model and Baumrind’s model have similar categories. One of the categories that are similar is the authoritative style in Baumrind’s style and that of Democratic and Encouraging style in Adler’s model. Both models describe the parents as liberating, supporting and assertive. The children, in turn, develop satisfaction, sense of acceptance and love, becomes socially responsible, assertive and cooperative. Permissive parenting in Baumrind’s design and that of over-indulgent and over-submissive styles in Adler’s model are also similar. The child bosses the parent and makes demand for his needs and wants to be met. The parent allows the child to be the boss by having things his way. Neglectful parenting in Baumrind’s model is similar to that of neglecting style in Adler’s model. The parents are totally detached emotionally form their children’s lives because they are preoccupied and busy with other commitments. The child feels rejected and lacks emotional connection with the parent. It is crucial to list the four parenting styles because they highlight the four main in which parents bring up their children. Listing the four categories is also advantageous in that it makes it easy to pick out the style in which one would like to bring up their children. However, having more categories would be beneficial in that it could cover the other minor categories which have not been covered in the four main categories (Stein, Web).

The resulting adult behavior of the child projects the upbringing and lifestyle of the child during childhood. The adult behavior which seems at odds with the listed parenting style is that of a person who engages in sex and marriage as a duty, yet he indulges in it without satisfaction due to an over-coercive parenting style. One cannot take sex and marriage as a duty or a responsibility because it is a two-way traffic where two parties are involved for it to work.

Based on my experience as a child and observations on other parent-child relationships, the models explain the resulting behavior in adulthood. I did not like going to school and would feign sickness so that I could stay at home. My parents would sympathize with me and let me miss school. This was a combination of hypochondriacal and permissive parenting styles.

If I were a parent, I would adopt the authoritative or the democratic and encouraging parenting styles. I would like to encourage and nurture my children to face challenges and be supportive to them so that they become autonomous, responsible and self-regulating. This will make him be socially responsible and feel accepted in the family (Baumrind, Web).

Works Cited

Baumrind, Diana. “Prototypical Descriptions of 3 Parenting Styles.” Development psychology.org, 1966. Web. 22 Oct. 2011.

Stein, Henry. “Impact of Parenting Styles on Children.” Alfred Adler Institutes of San Francisco & Northwestern Washington. Web. 22 Oct. 2011.

Stein, Henry. “Adult Consequences of Childhood Parenting Styles”. Alfred Adler Institutes of San Francisco & Northwestern Washington. Web. 22 Oct. 2011.