Evaluation should include
- identifying and describing the characteristics of authoritarian or autocratic, democratic, and permissive parenting styles
- comparing parenting styles in terms of who is in control, expectations of the parent and child, and ways of dealing with problem behavior
- predicting children’s behavioral and socio-emotional outcomes for each of these parenting styles
- discussing the two dimensions of parenting (i.e., warmth and control).
Process/Skill Questions
Thinking
- What factors determine the decisions parents make in guiding children?
- Where do parents acquire their parenting style?
- What needs do parents have that influence their parenting style?
Communication
- How might the media influence a parent's approach to guiding and disciplining children and adolescents?
- How do a parent's values and beliefs influence his or her approach to guiding and disciplining children and adolescents?
- What messages does a parent with a permissive style send to a child when rules are not enforced?
Leadership
- What are the authoritarian parent's expectations of a child's behavior? How do these expectations differ from those of a democratic or permissive parent?
- How do the three approaches differ in terms of rules? How do they differ in terms of choices made by the child?
- Which child guidance approach encourages a child to develop leadership skills? Why?
Management
- What are the characteristics of natural and logical consequences? What are the differences between consequences and punishment?
- What is the extreme form of authoritarian parenting? What is the extreme form of permissive parenting?
- What management skills can a child learn from experiencing natural consequences?