Which Parenting Style Encourages Healthy Lifestyles in Teenage Children? Proposal for a Model of Integrative Parenting Styles

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Jun 11;16(11):2057. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16112057.

Abstract

Given that we live in an environment in constant change-a liquid society, according to Bauman-we propose a versatile parenting style with the capacity to adapt to the variations of socio-temporal evolution. This is achieved by basing parenting guidelines on the permanent, executive, cognitive, and affective components of a person. Although the first reviews of parenting styles emphasized the Authoritative style, the emerging tendency in some geographical areas has been to prioritize the Indulgent style. Extracting the common factor of these two styles, the suggestion is to improve the affective aspect of the relationship characterized by warm and close parent-child interactions. It is important to respect the style of each family in order to support it in its educational task while offering guidelines to help consolidate healthy adolescent lifestyles. In this line, we present successful experiments that have helped families in this decisive task by highlighting the efficacy of promoting systemic educational plans that involve the whole society.

Keywords: healthy lifestyles; model of integrative parenting styles; teenage years.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Feeding Behavior
  • Female
  • Health Promotion*
  • Healthy Lifestyle*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Parent-Child Relations
  • Parenting* / psychology