Parenting is a complex activity that includes several precise behaviors that work independently and together to influence child outcomes. Although precise parenting behaviors, for example spanking or reading aloud, may influence child development, looking at several specific behaviors in isolation may be misleading. Many writers have noted that detailed parenting practices are less important in predicting child well-being than is the extensive pattern of parenting. The constructions of parenting methods are most useful to capture normal variations in parents' attempts to control as well as socialize their children. Although parents may vary in how they try to be in command of or socialize their children and the degree to which they do so, a hypothesis came up that all parents are to influence, teach, and control their children, which should be their primary role.
Categorizing parents according to whether they are elevated or low on parental demanding and responsiveness creates a typology of four parenting styles: indulgent, authoritarian, authoritative, and uninvolved. …
