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Authoritative parenting (warmth plus structure) tends to lead to the best child outcomes.

Too much control or too little guidance can both increase behavior problems.

Warmth builds security, but over-involvement can increase anxiety.

Consistent limits and emotional support can reduce acting out and distress.

Parenting is hard. For everyone. You will never be able to end all toddler tantrums or child misbehavior. However, research can point us in the right direction. It shows how to parent in ways that minimize child anxiety and depression (called “internalizing” problems), as well as behavior problems (called “externalizing” problems).

Parenting Styles and Child Problems

Diana Baumrind noted that there are four different kinds of parents: authoritarian, permissive, disengaged, and authoritative. Authoritarian parents are highly demanding of their children but show little support for them, whereas permissive parents have low expectations of their children but show high levels of support. Disengaged parents are low on both warmth and demandingness. Lastly, authoritative parents demonstrate high levels of supportiveness, along with high expectations for beneficial behavior.

Research shows that these parenting styles are associated with child mental health and behavior outcomes. Children of authoritarian parents demonstrate increased levels of externalizing and internalizing behavior problems (Bornstein, 2015; Pelaez, Pickens, & Hart, 2008; Rinaldi & Howe, 2012), suggesting that a combination of high control and little warmth is damaging to children both emotionally and behaviorally. Children of permissive parents often show higher rates of externalizing behavior problems in particular (Rinaldi & Howe, 2012), as children in these homes are not required to live up to high expectations of behavior. Interestingly,........

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