An article recently published in Psychology Today discussed a study that occurred over the course of several years. The research determined that four different primary parenting practices affect children later in adulthood.
The four different types are the following: authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and neglectful. The study determined that parents who fall into the category of authoritative raised the most mentally and emotionally stable children. The four categories break down in the following: high warmth and high discipline (authoritative), low warmth and high discipline (authoritarian), high warmth and low discipline (permissive), low warmth and low discipline (neglectful).
When those children reached adulthood, there was a 46 percent reduction in depression, a 39 percent reduction in anxiety, and a 68 percent reduction in eating disorders from the ones raised in authoritative homes. The ability to process emotions and express them was reduced as well. The other categories did not perform as well leading researchers to determine authoritatively is the best way to raise children based on their limited information.