Parenting Styles and Development

Parenthood is an important and challenging role nowadays. The changes that family systems have undergone, with the advent of the Internet and other societal shifts, have made parenthood even more demanding, with various implications in school, family, and work settings. Thus, this chapter provides a structured overview of the existing parenting literature with the aim of developing an evidence-based framework to clarify the different parental styles and their influence on children’s and adolescents’ development. The impact of different parental styles on the development of children and adolescents will be explored, namely, on their psychosocial and emotional development (e.g., externalization problems, peers’ relationships, social competencies development, student achievement, antisocial behavior drug use, Internet addiction, attachment). Thus, parenting styles have a significant impact on individual development, serving as either a risk or a protective factor, depending on the adopted style. Recently, family systems were forced to make adaptations to their regular function to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, with consequences on parental roles, daily routines, and responsibilities. Other demands, such as maintaining a work-family balance, personal responsibilities, and various familial structures, confront families daily with constant pressure, sometimes leading to parental burnout. The authors will also present some measures that researchers and practitioners can evaluate parenting styles. Finally, preventive and intervention strategies and future research directions will be presented.