Parenting Style and Child Development: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

Parenting serves as a major falcrum for children’s cognitive, emotional, and social development. This paper examines the four major parenting styles— authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and neglectful-and their differing consequences on child outcomes. The effectiveness of a parenting style may vary across cultural contexts. it is argued in the paper that cultural norms set the sociocultural setting for parental influence. A comparison between an individualistic and a collectivist culture illustrates how parenting styles affect children’s development. The study thus ends by emphasizing the need for culturally sensitive parenting interventions and policy recommendations to improve child well-being worldwide.