The Effect of Parental Rearing Styles on the Prosocial Behavior of 3-6 Years Old Children

Abstract

Ever since Diana Baumrind put forward the concept of parental rearing styles in 1967, it has been a subject of great concern to the psychological and educational circles. People have become more and more aware of the influence of the family on the development of young children in various aspects. In order to further explore the influence of parental rearing styles on young children's prosocial behavior, this study adopts a systematic literature review method and selects 19 high-quality documents from China national knowledge infrastructure, Readshow and ERIC databases, focusing on analyzing the influence of parental rearing styles on 3-6 years old children's cooperative and helping behaviors. This study finds that authoritative parenting styles are conducive to the development of prosocial behaviors in young children, whereas young children growing up in permissive, neglectful and authoritarian parental rearing styles show less cooperative behaviors and helping behaviors, and poorer development of prosociality. Effective family education guidance strategies are ultimately proposed to promote parents to adopt positive parental rearing styles to facilitate the development of prosocial behaviors in young children.