Relationship between parenting styles and children’s motivational style: the development of learned helplessness

Abstract

This study examined the phenomenon of learned helplessness, looking at the relationship between children’s motivational style and parenting style. Motivational variables included goal orientation (learning goal or performance goal) and parenting variables included three typologies: authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive. Forty-two preschool students and their parents participated in this study assessing the influence parenting styles had on children’s motivational style. Results of the study showed no variance among the parents in terms of their parenting style, all were classified as authoritative. Thus, no data analysis was conducted and no relationship was established between parenting style and children’s motivational style.