Attachment and Parenting Style - Essay Example

One method of encountering infancy and childhood challenges such as temperament is the establishment of good parental and caregiver-infant bonds and environment to socially support an infant’s development (Berk, 2012). Appropriate parenting style is thus the secret to the social, emotional and cognitive development of an infant. This paper explores two styles of parenting and the related types of attachment and explains the reason for these choices. Finally, through examples and justifications, the impacts of culture on parenting and attachment styles are discussed.

Parenting and Attachment Styles One of the purposes of parenting is to rectify infants’ and toddlers’ maladaptive behaviours such as temperament and aggression. According to the ‘Goodness-of-Fit’ model, proposed by Thomas & Chess (1977), parents and caregiver ought to create environments that complement infants’ temperaments in such a way that this combination creates positive or adaptive functioning (Berk, 2012). One aspect of parenting is the development of an attachment between infants and caregivers.

Generally, attachment refers to the affectionate interconnection among people in society. Being an emotion, attachment results in experiences of pleasure and joy as infants interact with their caregivers and parents. Berk (2012) asserts that infants start getting attached to those around or familiar to them by the second half of their first year. One theory that explains the nature and importance of attachment in infancy and toddlerhood is the Bowlby’s ethological theory, which categorises attachment into the pre-attachment (6 weeks), attachment-in-the-making (6 weeks-8 months), clear-cut-attachment (6-18 months) and formation of reciprocal relations (18-24 months) phases (Berk, 2012).

According to this theory, infants are born into this world with biologically set instincts to attach to others in society, especially their mothers (Bretherton, 1992). It further postulates that it is this inborn biological instinct that helps babies in survival. Parenting style is a major influence on an infant’s attachment to others (Bretherton, 1992). The most common parenting styles explored by psychologist researchers and authors are authoritative, authoritarian, permissive and disengaged parenting.

The authoritarian parenting style is characterised by high acceptance, high involvement, autonomy and adaptive control. On the other hand, uninvolved parenting, which is the opposite of authoritative parenting, is characterized by low acceptance, low involvement, indifference and low control (Bretherton, 1992). Although less often recommended by psychologists, the authoritarian style of parenting has its own pros and cons. One of its cons is its being associated with insecure or disoriented attachment in which a child does not regard the parent or caregiver as a source of security.

In this style of child-rearing, parents and caregivers have strict rules and stern measures for children to follow unreservedly. Being, obedience- and status-oriented, authoritarian parents expect rules to be followed without any explanations. Among the features of this parenting style that make children insecure are demanding but non-responsive parents, strict rules and expectations, lack of warmth or nurturing, punishments, little or no