ABSTRACT
This chapter explores communication processes in the parent–child relationship. The chapter opens with a review of parenting styles including Baumrind’s parenting typology, Gottman’s emotion coaching style, and Segrin’s conceptualization of overparenting. As shown in this analysis, children appear to fare best when parents are responsive and nurturing, but not overly intrusive. Likewise, control messages are most effective when they provide well-reasoned structure that prompts children to internalize right and wrong behavior, as opposed to controlling, coercive directives that impede self-competence and emotion regulation. The chapter also examines how parent–child communication evolves over time. From birth, early forms of communication facilitate bonds of attachment. However, parents of young children soon recognize the need to guide and monitor behavior, and face questions about what discipline tactics are most appropriate. When children enter adolescence, parents encounter new questions about how to promote increasing independence and yet maintain enough of an emotional connection that encourages their adolescent to look to them for support and guidance. Finally, we explore how the parent–child relationship is associated with the quality of the parental relationship, as well as nuances in the social role of being a mother, father, or single parent.
