An Evaluation of Authoritative Parenting Style Through Comparative Discussion of Autonomy Support and Psychological Control: Inspired by the Success of Eileen Gu

Abstract

As the overnight sensation of Eileen Gu, a prominent youth Olympic freestyle skiing Champion, has won much attention over the globe, the discussion of western and eastern parenting styles and the question of how to raise an outstanding adolescent have become a trending topic in Chinese social media. This paper aims to justify the favorable role of authoritative parenting style under the comparison of psychological control on adolescents’ academic functioning and psychological wellbeing, particularly exemplified by the success of Eileen Gu. By examining prior research conducted on western and eastern adolescents, mainly Chinese adolescents from eastern society, the distinctive cultural values and Chinese educational system contributed to the prevailing adoption of psychological control by Chinese parents compared to their western counterparts. Autonomy support was shown to have consistent positive effects on adolescents’ wellbeing in multiple dimensions across different cultures, whereas psychological control was shown to have destructive effects on western adolescents and nuanced effects but mainly negative on Chinese adolescents. This paper reassures that parents should adopt authoritative parenting style given its universal benefits to adolescents 'development in any cultural context.