Uninvolved Parenting And Mental Health: How Neglectful Parenting Can Impact Children
The uninvolved parenting style is an approach to raising children marked by permissiveness and a lack of emotional connection. Also called neglectful parenting, uninvolved parenting can cause children to experience serious developmental and mental health challenges. For parents who want to avoid using this method, it can help to understand the characteristics and effects of the uninvolved style as well as those of more nurturing styles. Below, we’re providing an overview of the main parenting styles, exploring the uninvolved style, and discussing strategies for developing a healthy approach to raising children.
What are the main parenting styles?
In the 1960s, Diana Baumrind introduced a framework for understanding parenting that involved three primary styles: authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive. Later, a fourth style was added to this model: uninvolved parenting. These parenting styles are based on the degree to which parents exert control over their children, how they apply discipline, and the way they provide support. Parents frequently combine parenting styles, utilizing varying strategies as they see fit.
Since the above-mentioned parenting framework was developed, extensive research has been conducted on the characteristics of different parenting styles and the effects these approaches have on child development and mental health. The following are descriptions of the four main parenting styles and a basic summary of their common effects on the child.
Authoritative
The style most experts advocate for is authoritative parenting, which involves a supportive, engaged approach to child rearing. Parents who use this style may implement instructive and helpful forms of discipline that are typically explained to the children. Channels of communication between children and parents are typically kept open in authoritative households.
The authoritative approach has been linked to positive outcomes in child development. When raised by authoritative parents, children tend to exhibit high self-esteem, adept social skills, and advanced emotional regulation.
Authoritarian
Parents who engage in the authoritarian style are often inflexible, developing strict rules that are rigidly enforced. Open communication may not be encouraged when the authoritarian parenting style is being utilized. This extends to when parents discipline their children without explaining the reasons for their reactions.
Children raised in an authoritarian household may experience lower levels of self-esteem and self-efficacy. They may also struggle in social situations. While they are often well-behaved, children of authoritarian parents tend to have trouble making decisions for themselves.
Permissive
This parenting style is characterized by emotional connection and support as well as a hands-off approach to discipline and guidance. Permissive parents typically place few expectations on their children, giving them a considerable amount of autonomy and leniency.
When raised in permissive households, children often experience high levels of self-esteem and learn to effectively communicate. However, they may struggle to follow rules, manage their emotions, and develop healthy habits.
Uninvolved
Uninvolved parents typically ensure their children’s basic needs are met, but they may not provide guidance, emotional support, or a nurturing presence. Parents who engage in this style might not have a specific way of disciplining their children, if they do so at all. They normally take a passive role in their children’s lives and fail to remain emotionally available.
Children who are the product of an uninvolved parenting style may exhibit self-efficacy if they were frequently forced to meet their own needs. However, they can experience challenges related to their social, academic, and professional lives. Their emotional well-being may be negatively impacted as well due to a lack of an emotional connection with their caregivers.
Exploring the uninvolved parenting style
In the 1980s, building on Baumrind’s framework, psychologists Eleanor Maccoby and John Martin developed a model that included a fourth approach: the uninvolved or neglectful parenting style. They based their framework off parents’ demandingness—which is related to their expectations, approach to discipline, and watchfulness—and responsiveness—which is related to their emotional support, practical care, and understanding of their children’s needs. According to Maccoby and Martin, uninvolved parenting is low in both demandingness and responsiveness.
How neglectful parenting might manifest
A parent who is uninvolved may ignore efforts by their child to communicate with them or have their emotional needs fulfilled. For example, a child’s caregivers may disregard concerns they bring up about their health or their schoolwork. While uninvolved parents might address the child’s basic needs, they may also fail to provide parental guidance. For example, a parent may ensure there is plenty of food but neglect to teach their child how to prepare it.
Neglectful parents may not monitor their child’s progress at school, which can lead to delinquency and poor academic performance. Outside of school, parents might leave the child to their own devices, allowing them to explore their interests—but without guidance, support, or boundaries.
Reasons parents may disengage when raising children
There are several factors that may contribute to an individual developing an uninvolved parenting style. Some caregivers may not prioritize their children, focusing instead on their careers or other aspects of their lives. Others may be unaware of suggested parenting practices.
Various life challenges—such as relationship conflict or physical illness—can impede a parent’s ability to foster a healthy parent-child relationship. Uninvolved parents may also be living with mental health concerns that cause them to disengage. Additionally, parents who themselves were reared under a neglectful style of parenting may naturally utilize a similar approach.
The mental health effects of neglectful parenting
Parental involvement can be crucial to a child’s self-esteem, emotional health, academic performance, and several other aspects of development. When parents are uninvolved, a child’s mental health may be impacted in multiple ways, with some effects potentially lasting into the child’s adult years.
Neglectful parenting and attachment
A lack of emotional support and guidance can cause a child to develop an insecure attachment style. An insecure attachment style can affect an individual’s ability to foster healthy relationships later in life. An individual who was raised by neglectful parents may struggle to trust others, develop emotional connections, or communicate in healthy ways.
Uninvolved parenting and mental health concerns
Children raised by uninvolved parents may struggle with varied psychological challenges. Research suggests that uninvolved parenting is negatively associated with self-regulation, which can cause children to struggle with their emotional well-being. As they develop, these individuals may struggle to be emotionally available themselves or to express their feelings in healthy ways.
Research also suggests that uninvolved parenting may be linked to low self-esteem. While children raised in this style may have significant latitude to explore their interests, these pursuits are often not supported by their parents. This can lead to frustration when a child fails and is not provided with guidance or compassion.
Developing a healthy approach to raising children
Incorporating research-based strategies into your overall parenting style can help you give your child the support, compassion, and care they deserve. There are several components of a healthy parenting style that may form the basis of your approach, including the following:
- Availability: Being there for your child when they need help can ensure they feel supported, heard, and loved.
- Emotional connection: Encouraging children to discuss their feelings openly—and doing the same in front of them in an age-appropriate way—may lead to a strong parent-child bond.
- Guidance: Supporting a child in their pursuits and providing them with direction can help them develop self-confidence and self-efficacy.
- Open communication: Ensuring a child feels heard and understood can be crucial to their ability to express themselves and pursue their goals.
- Constructive discipline: Sensible boundaries and clearly defined consequences can help a child understand how to develop healthy behaviors.
Seeking mental health support as a caregiver
Parents and other caregivers who want to explore the sources and effects of an uninvolved parenting style may benefit from seeking mental health care. A therapist can help parents identify psychological challenges that might be influencing their approach to raising children, as caregivers who utilize a hands-off approach may have been neglected themselves. Therapy can help individuals address trauma or the emotional challenges of being raised by uninvolved parents.
How online therapy can provide support to parents
Busy parents or caregivers may not have time to set up an in-person therapy session, commute to an office, and sit in a waiting room to get mental health support. In such cases, online therapy can be a similarly effective and more convenient way to receive care.
Cultivating a nurturing parenting style in online therapy
With an online therapy platform like BetterHelp, you can address parenting and mental health concerns remotely with a licensed provider through video call, voice call, or in-app messaging. You can also reach out to your therapist outside of sessions and they’ll respond when they can, allowing you to clarify a point made during therapy or ask questions about a particular parenting strategy any time.
The efficacy of online therapy
The results of a range of studies indicate that online therapy may help provide support to parents who are seeking guidance. In a broad-based systematic review that included 14 studies, for example, the researchers suggest that online interventions can often be as effective as in-person counseling in the facilitation of parenting programs. They note that online therapy may “improve family functioning, such as parent self-efficacy and effectual parenting approaches.”
Takeaway
Parenting styles can shape a child’s future, impacting their development, mental health, relationships, and many other facets of life. While the uninvolved parenting style can lead to various negative outcomes, it can also be changed so that parents are more engaged, supportive, and emotionally connected as they raise children. If you’re seeking guidance regarding approaches to parenting, consider connecting with a licensed therapist online or in person. With the right support, you may be able to cultivate both mental wellness and a healthy parent-child relationship.
What are the consequences of uninvolved parents?
Uninvolved or neglectful parenting tends to be associated with negative outcomes for children. In general, uninvolved parents lack warmth and display emotional detachment from their children. They may provide little or no supervision and maintain emotional distance from their kids. Uninvolved parents rarely take notice of their children’s emotional state and may even participate in child neglect, a form of child abuse.
Children raised by uninvolved parents may struggle to manage their emotions. They often encounter social and academic challenges. Although updated child and family studies are needed, research from 2014 suggests that teens raised by uninvolved parents are more likely to have low self-esteem, engage in illegal behavior, and misuse substances.
What causes absent parenting?
Absent parenting can occur for various reasons. Long working hours, complicated divorces, and death are a few examples. Substance misuse (formerly called substance abuse) could also play a role.
What do children of uninvolved parents tend to be?
According to the American Psychological Association, uninvolved parents tend to be unavailable, rejecting, and unresponsive toward their child’s feelings. Children of uninvolved parents usually have low self-esteem and confidence, and they frequently seek out other role models to take the place of their parents.
What does a lack of parental involvement lead to?
Lack of parental involvement usually leads to difficulty managing emotions and low self-esteem. Children of uninvolved parents, sometimes called neglected children, may struggle socially and display poor academic performance.
What are the four parenting styles?
The four parenting styles include authoritative, permissive, authoritarian, and uninvolved parents. Uninvolved parents are sometimes referred to as neglectful parents.
Which parenting style is most effective?
Authoritative parenting is usually viewed as the most effective parenting style. It typically employs positive parenting skills and takes children’s opinions into account while still establishing clear rules and boundaries. It differs from other parenting styles in that it helps children develop healthy self-esteem and independence.
What are the characteristics of an uninvolved parent?
Uninvolved parenting examples include the following:
- Not showing up to events or activities involving their children, such as sports or plays
- Ignoring their children and focusing on their own priorities
- Failing to establish rules for their children
- Limiting the time they spend with their children and maintaining emotional distance
How do you recover from neglectful parenting?
Seeking professional support through therapy and building healthy relationships as an adult can help you recover from neglectful parenting. If your uninvolved parents drank alcohol excessively or engaged in other forms of substance misuse, you might also join support groups for loved ones of people with addiction, such as Al-Anon.
How does uninvolved parenting affect adults?
An adult who was emotionally neglected as a young child may have low self-esteem and struggle to manage their emotions healthily. They may also have a hard time forming healthy relationships with others.
What psychological disorders are caused by bad parenting?
Maternal and paternal parenting styles often have a significant impact on children and adolescents’ self-esteem and overall mental health. Sometimes, individuals who weren’t parented effectively develop disorders like anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, personality disorders, and substance use disorder.
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