Does Authoritative Parenting help Reduce Child Delinquency in Schools? (Essay Sample)

Does authoritative parenting help reduce child delinquency in schools?
Name
Institution
Does authoritative parenting help reduce child delinquency in schools?
Introduction
There are three types of parental control; permissive, authoritarian and authoritative. An authoritative parent is one who is demanding and responsive and always attempt to direct the child's activity in a rational, issue-oriented way. Pertinent findings and research have been carried to view the effects of child behavior and discipline regarding the method of parental control. Authoritative parents are not so much in control of their children as authoritarian parents; they often allow the child freedom of exploration, thus having them make a decision regarding their life based on their reasoning. Authoritatively brought up children are more independent and self-reliant (Rutledge, 2007).
The relationship between the freedom given to a child and the control measure affects the child behavioral development and social nature. Authoritative control may effectively generate in a child an independent type of approach of life.
Literature Review
The education researchers hold that the progress of students’ academic life is affected by the parenting style adopted by the guardian or the child caretaker. The problem of child parenting is likely to take another channel and this is what school management are concerned with, in order to enable children achieve the best they are given in school.
This section will focus on literature that relates to parenting styles specifically authoritative and the involvement of parents in their children’s learning during school off-sessions and how such parents make decisions. The review of literature focuses majorly on this factors.
Theoretical framework
The theory and models used as the background of the study included; model of parenting style (Baumrind, 1966) and typology of parenting involvement (Epstein, 2001). According to Baumrind proposal on child rearing, the most common factors that affect child upringing include; level of parent expectations, communication between the child and his/her parent, clarity and consistency of the rules applied in discipline of the child. She went ahead and highlighted the following; authoritarian is high in control and the demand of maturity but low in nurturing and the communication between the child and parent. Permissive style on the other hand is high in nurturing the child but low in maturity demand and control of the general child behavior. Finally, is the authoritative, which according to her is the highest in all the above. This proposal by Baumrind was further was further clarified and the emphasis put on the degree of control and the amount of acceptance or the responsiveness of the subject (Maccoby and Martin 1983). The common point between the two dimensions also created the fourth type of parental control. Together with Baumrind’s authoritarian, permissive and authoritative styles, the fourth one which was not captured by Baumrind was the neglecting style type of parenting (Maccoby and Martin 1983).
Level of control or demand
HighLevel of acceptance / responsivenessHighLowAuthoritative reciprocalAuthoritarian power assertive
LowPermissive indulgentNeglecting uninvolved

Illustrations of Maccoby and Martin on Baumrind's categories in this two- dimensional typology
According to Maccoby and Martin (1983) it can be deduced that, children academic performance can be raised or weakened by the environment they are brought up in. When a child grow up where parents have high control and maturity demand but low in nurturing and communication, the acceptance level and high level of control will make the child less skilled with very low self-esteem or in some occasion aggression to mean they are out of control. Children with this type of attitude do less in school and there level of discipline is low, they do not conform to school regulations and constantly get punished reducing their level of concentration in class. This may make teachers and other students to hate them, therefore they lack teachers monitoring. Authoritative parents are high in control and hence they are willing to discipline the child in case of any misbehavior. These parents may not want to use physical punishment but rather use time limits and other punishment they do not consider harsh, though they are not indecisive. Children brought up in that type of environment are cheerful, outgoing and very anxious. They have the mind of knowing everything and hence ask more questions while in class, making teachers to notice them and consequently have close control in monitoring them. Such children are always performers and get better grades in schools.
Thesis Statement
The parental control practices influence the actions and character of a child variedly from time to time. Children are small adults, and their refractory character must be looked into to help bring up good morals in them. These beliefs have been based on humanistic and human values rather than on the scientific findings and research. Research findings have had possible solutions to the notions about the obligatory effects on the common child rearing practices. The notions that do not have scientific proofs lacked inner certitude and demonstrable validity.
The viability of parenting to control child’s behavior
Authoritative control is useful in resolving the problems related to the pleasures and duty and between a child responsibility and his/her freedom (Rutledge, 2007). The child's discipline in a classroom resides in three main areas: it resides in the environment in which a child in question is brought up; in the teacher herself who can control and takes up authoritative role if it is deemed necessary, and from the very beginning it resides in children. It is a three-factor type of behavior as opposed to other types of educational control where all the authority is vested in the teacher or in self-learning where all the authority vested in the learner.
The type of self-discipline that is as a result of the authoritative type of rule ensures that children become proactive in their early stages of life. For example, a child would finish his work and then puts it away; he becomes free to start a new work or in some instance he is free to rest. But he is not free to start creating commotions and disturbance to other children or even destroy what fellow children are doing or have made (Sonna, 2005). For a day organized with time schedules, children preplan and the teacher would not need to tell them on what to do or carry out a follow up if they are through with the assigned tasks. This type of children always finishes what they had to do in time and do the right thing at the appropriate time. If it is time for lunch break, or an adjournment or whatever task that is ahead of the pupils, a child will accommodate him to the demand and request of time or other group members (Salkind, 2006).
The importance of responsibility is that children can program learning in a manner that makes it pleasurable to him. Interest and discipline always connected and do not oppose each other. Children who have uncontrolled freedom always lack manners in their speech and moral action. Certain schools give students and pupils more freedom to a point nearly to cause lawlessness.
Figure one showing parenting styles


Data collection method and procedures
Sampling design
The study unit for this project will be the middle schools. The unit of analysis will be the impact of parenting control on primary school children. The population constituting a heterogeneous group of students and pupils required an appropriate sample design so as to minimize errors and eliminate any possible sources of bias for an accurate study. As a result, the researcher will adopt probability sampling approach because each study unit has equal chances of inclusion and enable the researcher generalize to the larger population and make inferences (Pickhardt, 2010).
Sample size
Stratified rando...