Historical and Theoretical Foundations of Parenting Research and Practice
Autocratic Parenting. Historical perspectives on parenting first focused on “autocratic or authoritarian parenting” style which was the prevalent belief in Early American childrearing (among the Puritans) (Health, 2009). The authoritarian parent tries to “shape, control, and evaluate the behavior and attitudes of the child in accordance with a sent standard of conduct (‘absolute, theologically motivated and formulated’)” (Baumrind, 1966, pp.; 890-891). Baumrind depicts the autocratic/authoritarian parent, as follows. The authoritarian parent is seen as demanding obedience from the child, would use forceful and punitive means to limit the child’s self-will and autonomy,…show more content… For a healthy infant behavioral and physical development, affective and mutual relationships between a caregiver/parent and an infant are crucial (Van der Horst & van der Veer, 2008, p. 328). Deprivation of this reciprocal relationshipis dangerous to a child’s personalitydevelopment and survival (Van der Horst & van der Veer,2008, p. 328). Heath (2009) further mentioned other theorists with views different from Watson’s, as follows. Erik Erikson holds that the quality of the parent-child interaction affects a person’s capacity to overcome “psychosocial crises” at each of the eight stages of development. Skinner emphasized that parents should understand the “role of contingencies” (reward and punishment) in influencing behavior to be effective in their parenting/child rearing efforts. Social learning theorists such as Bandura and Walters pointed out that a child’s behavior is learned from a significant other person (parents or caregivers) by modeling and imitation. These theorists who differ from Watson emphasized the importance of a dynamic dyadic parent-child interaction as a basis for good parenting and childhood
