According to researchers in China, parenting techniques that are more strict, punitive, controlling and less supportive cause children to develop low self-esteem.
A group of researchers in China, spearheaded by Professor Cixin Wang at the University of California Riverside's Graduate School of Education, found out that children whose parents make use of more apprehensive and controlling parental techniques are more prone to develop depression, behavioral and academic issues.
Wang's team of researchers interviewed 589 middle school and high school children in Hangzhou, China. In the interview, the involved youth respondents were asked how they see their parents. Their behavior, academic performance, self-esteem, episodes of depression and the surfacing of behavioral issues were also assessed. The assessment of the mentioned factors were analyzed together with the respondent's perception of their parents.
After thorough study, Wang and colleagues found out that kids who perceive their parents to be controlling and hard are often the same kids who have more depression episodes, low self esteem and are having academic issues.
For this, as suggested by the results of their study, low self esteem, behavioral issues and poor academic performance among school children is commonly linked to "tiger mother" parenting.
Aha! Parenting's Dr. Laura Markham has made statements that support Professor Wang and colleagues' findings. Dr. Markham says that authoritarian parenting can produce positive results but only to an extent.
As authoritarian parenting is often based on imposing fear (of punishment) in children, it can cause negative effects that may not be known to the authoritarian parent. Depression is one. Bullying, however, is another observed effect of such.
Furthermore, by Dr. Markham says in an article about the subject, that children who are subjected to strict parenting often grow to be rebellious and are prone to become excellent liars. In the same article she says that while the negative behavior in the child is suppressed temporarily, the ability of the child to learn discipline and self-regulation, which are more important to develop a healthy personality and outlook in an individual, is stunned.
