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Parenting Style's Effect on Child Temperament
Benjamin Brightbill
teacher name here
April 6, 2015







	When looking at a group of children playing in a room with others you can quickly figure out how each tends to act. One child may happily play in the corner alone. Another child may avoid a certain activity yet interact with the other kids normally. Some may try to argue they were born this way, but that is simply not the case typically. These children are showing their temperament. A child's temperament is how they act or react based on their influence and conditioning. As a child, their boundaries tend to be mostly driven by their parents. This is not to be mixed up with their personality. A temperament is more of a wall around a personality, it determines what the child does that effects the personality directly. Another important thing to keep in mind is that a temperament is the visible reflection of a personality since a personality cannot be seen. During childhood many critical psychosocial stages will come and go. For example, Erik Erikson's stages. If successful they will help form a healthy personality which reflects over the temperament, showing that the child is healthy. If unsuccessful the child make exhibit a poor overall temperament, which will hinder proper development. It is up to the parents to make sure these stages are successful. By examining the child's temperament, the effects can be seen. To do this there is a test called the "EAS Temperament Survey" and it is used to measure the temperament of an child through multiple questions (2). The survey looks at four major aspects of the child temperament. All those questions point to these four aspects, here they are. Emotionally, is the child in physiological distress? If so how can this be addressed? Activity, is the child energetic yet can control themselves? If not what is the cause? Shyness, how willing is the child to try new thing? Will trying new things cause any fear or stress? Socially, does the child prefer to interact with others or be alone? It is very important to note the fact that children lack the vocabulary to fully express themselves. So they mainly express themselves through their temperament. Now that the parents have a general idea of their child's temperament. They need to address it with their parenting style. Different parenting styles have immense effects on the child's behavior and temperament (4). A child with a bad temper reflects on the parent's parenting style. Therefore it's wise to know the effects of the parenting style used.
	Authoritarian parenting style may settle a conflict quickly with a child, but it leaves many questions unanswered, and many conflicts unresolved. Which means the child will have to find out those answers and their effects by his or her self. This leaves the child with low self control due to unawareness of such consequences; which leads to higher risk behaviors later in life (4). For example telling a child to stop throwing things will only stop the action temporary, without passing the knowledge on of the danger he or she is causing. This aggressive parenting style will also scare the child, this fear will not be forgotten. Fear tends to form the strongest memories, but that doesn't mean it's good. With the increase of use of this parenting style, the child will become fearful and hostel to others around him (4). From using this parenting style the child is left with many questions, ignorance, fear, low self control, and is all around more hostel. Using the four parts of EAS survey the overall temperament can be predicted. The child will show emotional build up due to lack of proper expression and control. The child will not have a deep emotional connection with the parent due to the fear of them haunting the relationship. The child will be very active and lack self control. This is due to the child not knowing exactly what is right or wrong, as it was never explained by the parent in the first place. This lack of control will explode when the parent is not present and there are no parental limits. This will also result in many risk tanking behaviors in adolescence (4). Which is alarming as accidents are the leading cause of death in youth. The child will also show shyness when around the parent due to the fear of doing something wrong since they are not yet educated on the moral background of various decisions (2). This can cause irrational anxiety issues later as well. Children hindered by this trauma are unlikely to make many friends and tend to keep to themselves while being hostel to others (4).
	Permissive parenting satisfies all the child's desires without conflict, or the parent "giving in". This is the child that never has been told "No". For example, the screaming child at the grocery store wanting a candy bar and the mother gives in and gives the candy bar to the child. This award only reinforces this behavior making the child think "hey I scream enough and I'll get what I want". Unfortunately this parenting style tends to be used more often by female parents (5).  Constant exposure of this parenting style negatively affects the temperament of the child. It leaves them moody, impulsive and disobedient (5). With the four aspects of the EAS applied to this parenting style, the outcome of the child affected is out of control at this point. Emotionally the child will verbally vent without control, ruining relationships along the way. This is due to the fact he or she was never given parental limits. The child will show a lot of impulsiveness and some hyperactivity, especially boys (6). A child influenced by this parenting style will tend to want to try anything presented to them due to the lack of placed ethical limits, as a result less shyness and more risky behaviors tend to occur (5). As for the social aspect the child will appear to be intolerable to surrounding children due to the lack of self restraint (3). Due to this lack of relationships in the long run it could cause emotional strain. As well as less relationship skills.
	Uninvolved parenting is essentially when the parent is not there for the child emotionally.
	Authoritative parenting is the most successful form of parenting. When the child misbehaves or causes a conflict, the parent corrects the child and then tells the child the reason for the correction (4). This leaves the child educated to not make the mistake again, or less likely to. The problem with this parenting style is it takes more time and effort the first time than an authoritarian approach, but it has a higher chance to prevent the action again (5). This satisfies the four aspects of the EAS temperament analysis successfully. This leaves the issue emotionally resolved with reason. This hopefully prevents further argument as the child is educated on the conflict he or she caused or was caught in. Activity, the child will have more control over his or her actions as the parents influence was able to sink in; keeping the child restrained without constant disciple from the parent. Shyness, the child is educated from past conflicts, due to this self confidence he or she can successful try appropriate new things without as much fear of messing up. In other words the child knows what his or her boundaries are and is able to try new things freely within those boundaries with less conflict (4). Due to the fact the child is aware of the social boundaries, his or her relationships are more likely to be successful. Granting more social skills that will benefit the child in the future. Overall authoritative parenting gives the child a very healthy and ideal temperament.