Dr Eugene Lee Davis Hi, everyone. I’m Eugene  Lee Davis, Senior Lecturer in the Department   of Health Studies at the University of  South Africa. Welcome to the talk today,   where we’ll be looking at “Parenting Styles   and Their Influence on Decision-Making and  Anxiety in Children and Adolescents.” So, to start with an overview of what  we’ll be looking at, we’ll examine how   parenting styles have a profound impact on  the development of children and adolescents,   including their decision-making abilities  and mental health. As well as exploring   the relationship between parenting  styles and decision-making, as well   as how decision-making styles shape anxiety  symptomology in children and adolescents. So, to get started, it’s most probably best  to start looking at what is parenting styles?   Parenting styles is often the manner in which  parents, or as Diana Baumrind has proposed,   four types of decision-making style. These  are four styles of parenting that differs   in relation to the warmth and control.  The first being authoritative parenting,   which is high on warmth and high on control, and  these are often parents who would say something,   like, “Let’s talk about it,” they are responsive,  they set clear standards and are reciprocal. Then   there’s the authoritarian parenting style,  that’s high on control and low on warmth,   and often would say something, like, “You  do this because I have said so.” They are   normally emotionally distant, show very  little warmth, and set clear rules. The permissive parenting style is  high on warmth and low on control,   and this is often parents who try to be friends  with their children and who’d say something,   like, “Let’s be friends.” They often set  fewer rules, they’re lenient and accepting,   and these are the permissive  parenting styles that we have. The fourth type is the neglectful parent, and  this is a parenting style that is low on warmth   and low on control, and so this is someone who  would say something, like, “You are on your   own when it comes to this,” and it is a parent  who’s absent, passive and uninterested. And so   this is an overview of the four parenting  styles, as outlined by Diana Baumrind. So, when we are looking at these parenting  styles, the authoritative parent is often one   who would promote autonomy and independence  in the child and adolescent, which is often   very good for decision-making. The authoritarian  parent prioritises obedience over independence,   with a limited ability to make decisions for  the child and adolescent. The permissive parent   allows children to have significant freedom,  with very little guidance or discipline,   and the neglectful parent demonstrate a  lack of interest in the child’s wellbeing.   And so, this is an overview of the four  parenting styles that we will be examining,   in terms of the relationship  with decision-making styles. Now we’ll be examining parenting styles and  decision-making. The first parenting style is the   authoritative parent, and this particular parent  fosters a sense of autonomy and independence,   and encourages critical thinking and problem  solving abilities, which is normally good for   decision-making. It promotes – this particular  parenting style promotes open communication and   collaboration when it comes to decision-making,  which is seen as being relatively good.   The authoritarian parenting style, however,  may lead to reliance on authority figures   for decision-making, limits the development  of independent decision-making skills, which   results in a fear of making mistakes or taking  risks when it comes to the decision-making. The permissive parent, we’d find that there would   be the lack of guidance that may  lead to impulsive decision-making,   and this difficulty would come about considering  long-term consequences in terms of the outcomes   of the behaviours, or alternatives that have been  selected, inconsistent decision-making patterns,   often due to a lack of structure that comes about.  Neglectful parenting and – often leads to the   potential difficulties in identifying and managing  emotions that influences decisions later on. So,   we’ve had a look at parenting styles and the role  that parenting styles plays in decision-making. I’ll now introduce you to decision-making  styles. Decision-making styles is the way   in which one approaches particular alternatives  when having a situation wi – in which a decision   needs to be made, and this is shaped by  a number of factors such as impulsivity,   information gathering and risk assessment. There’s  a number of decision-making theories out there,   but I will introduce you to one, by Janis  and Mann, who have proposed a “conflict model   of decision-making.” They have proposed  four styles of decision-making, namely,   vigilant decision-making, hypervigilant,  procrastination, and buck-passing. Vigilant decision-making is when  one evaluates all the possible   alternatives and is optimistic  about finding an alternative.   There’s no concern of time and you look at which  alternative would yield the best possible outcome.   Because there’s an array of decision-making  styles available, one would often group this   as being an adaptive form of decision-making. Then  there is the hypervigilant decision-making style.   This is when one is optimistic about finding an  alternative, but the issue of time creeps in,   and one often makes a hasty decision as a  result of time and brings about stress. The other decision-making style is  procrastination, and this is normally where we   put off making a decision until the latest stage.  Buck-passing is where we shift the responsibility   of making the decision onto someone else. So,  these are the four decision-making styles and   one could group them into adaptive and maladaptive  decision-making. Adaptive, the so-called “good”   decision-making styles, where one evaluates all  the possible alternatives, and maladaptive ones,   where the issue of time comes about and we make  a hasty decision. We either put off making a   decision until a later stage, or we shift the  responsibility to make the decision. So, we’ve   had to look at parenting styles and the role that  parenting styles plays in decision-making. I’d now like to introduce you to decision-making  styles. This is the approach that one uses when   making choices when faced with the situation in  which a decision needs to be made. Decision-making   styles are often shaped by a number of factors  such as impulsivity, information gathering and   risk assessment. A number of decision-making  theories exist, but I’ll introduce you to   one particular theory by Janis and Mann called  the “conflict model of decision-making.” So, we’ve looked at decision-making styles  and parenting styles, and now it’s time to   look at the link between how we make decisions  and parenting. Decision-making styles have a   significant impact on the child and adolescent’s  overall wellbeing and mental health outcomes.   Adaptive decision-making and the positive impact  on mental health can be seen in children and   adolescents, and this is often seen when  it is associated with higher self-esteem   and self-efficacy, the promotion of  a sense of control and satisfaction,   and linked to lower levels  of anxiety symptoms. Maladaptive decision-making, however, has been  associated with increased anxiety symptoms. This   is often as a result of impulsive decision-making,  which leads to heightened anxiety and stress,   overthinking and indecisiveness, that contributes  to chronic worry. As well as perfectionism,   and excessive risk aversion, can increase  the levels of anxiety experienced. In a recent study, we have found that young people  who engage in maladaptive decision-making styles,   such as hypervigilance, procrastination, or  buck-passing, was associated with an increase   in anxiety symptomology. The mediating  role of decision-making styles in parent   and child mental health relationships becomes  important, and what we are able to see is that   decision-making styles serve as a link between  parenting styles and mental health outcomes for   children and adolescents. The parenting style a  child experiences very often influences or shapes   the development of decision-making styles.  Different decision-making styles can either   amplify or mitigate the impact of parenting styles  on mental health outcomes for children. So, the potential pathways for decision-making  styles on anxiety can be seen in both adaptive   and maladaptive decision-making.  So, in adaptive decision-making,   when one evaluates all the possible  alternatives and decides which should   yield to – yield the best possible outcome,  we find that there’s a sense of competence   and self-confidence, as well, and this  very often reduces anxiety symptoms. However, for maladaptive decision-making, we see  that there’s heightened vulnerability to anxiety   symptoms that contributes to uncertainty,  risk avoidance, rumination, indecisiveness,   and reduced engagement in rewarding activities.  Understanding parenting styles and their impact   on decision-making is important. Understanding  the impact of decision-making styles can guide   parents in fostering adaptive decision-making  skills in their children, and also leads to an   awareness of the influence of their parenting,  of which could help parents reflect on their own   approach when engaging with their children  as part of their parenting styles. So, we might be asking how parents can promote  adaptive decision-making in children. Here   are three options or tips in which we can  promote adaptive decision-making. One is   cultivating an authoritative parenting  style that combines warmth, support,   and reasonable expectations for children.  Two, encouraging open communication and   collaborative decision-making processes,  and three, providing opportunities for   children to make age-appropriate choices  and experience the consequences. So, when looking at interventions targeting  decision-making skills, what could we do to   mitigate anxiety symptoms? We could incorporate  decision-making training in school curricula and   mental health programmes. So not only providing  young children and adolescents with information,   but an opportunity to see how they could train  and work on their decision-making skills,   implementing cognitive behavioural techniques,  to address maladaptive decision-making patterns,   and provide support and guidance  to parents in fostering healthy   decision-making processes in their children. So, we’ve looked at cognitive behavioural  techniques and I’d like to give you one   particular activity that you could do to develop  adaptive decision-making. We could start off by   identifying how you think about your problems and  your problem solving or decision-making styles.   Then the activity could involve listing the steps  to successful problem solving, and this often   involves six steps. One, identifying the problem  precisely, two, write down as many possible   solutions as you can, three, think through the  pros and cons of each of these solutions, four,   learn how to carry out the solution, five, put the  plan into action, and six, review what happens. When looking at this particular activity  to developing adaptive decision-making,   we could see that the process allows one to follow  a decision-making process very similar to vigilant   decision-making. You identify the problem at hand,  or the decision-making situation, looking at all   the possible alternatives, and then to weigh up  the pros and cons of each of these alternative   solutions for the particular problem at hand, and  then to carry out the solutions, and to look at   what would be the best plan of action when moving  forward, and to review what then happens. So, in conclusion, we have covered  three points. We were introduced   to parenting styles and the role it plays in  decision-making in children and adolescents.   Looking at decision-making styles that plays  a significant role in mental health outcomes,   and how adaptive decision-making styles promotes  positive mental health, while maladaptive   styles contributes to anxiety symptoms.  Authoritative parenting very often fosters   healthy decision-making and mental wellbeing,  and there’s a need for ongoing investigation to   better understand the complexities of the parent  decision-making and mental health relationship.