Is Authoritative Parenting the Best for Children's Social Adjustment? Reconsideration Based on Western and Asian Cultures, and Social Behaviors

권위적 부모역할 수행은 아동의 사회적 적응을 위한 최선의 양육방법인가? 서구와 아시아 문화 및 사회적 행동에 따른 재고

The purpose of this study was to review the importance of authoritative parenting for children's social adjustment. From the review it was suggested that the importance of authoritative parenting might be different according to the cultural contexts, which are Western and Asian cultures, and aggressive and social withdrawal behaviors. From the comparative cultural viewpoint, authoritarian parenting is not considered negatively by Asian parents, comparing with Western parents. Therefore the assumption that authoritative parenting has universal positiveness and authoritarian parenting has universal negativeness should be reconsidered. Regardless of cultures, children's aggressive behavior was related to the authoritarian parenting positively. But, in Asia, especially in China, the social withdrawal did not show at least negative relation with authoritative parenting. And it was reported that the authoritarian parenting could contribute to the change of inhibited behavior and enhancing the social adjustment. In addition, some implications were suggested for future researches about the relation between children's social adjustment and child rearing practices. Though this literature review was not exclusively based on the empirical studies, it would be valuable for reconsidering the perspective of Korean developmentalists interested in the relation between parenting and children's development in Korean culture.