The article discusses the concept of parenting style as a context that influences child development. Nancy Darling and Laurence Steinberg argue that parenting style should be viewed as a context that moderates the influence of specific parenting practices on child development. They emphasize the importance of distinguishing between parenting style and parenting practices to understand the mechanisms through which parenting influences child development. Baumrind's conceptualization of parenting style has been influential in understanding the effects of parenting on child development. Authoritativeness, characterized by emotional support, high standards, appropriate autonomy granting, and clear communication, has been shown to help children develop instrumental competence. However, the influence of authoritativeness varies across cultural contexts, as demonstrated by studies showing that authoritative parenting is most strongly associated with academic achievement among European-American adolescents and least effective in influencing the academic achievement of Asian- and African-American youths. The authors argue that parenting style is best conceptualized as a characteristic of the parent that alters the efficacy of the parent's socialization efforts by moderating the effectiveness of particular practices and by changing the child's openness to socialization. They propose a model that integrates parenting goals, practices, and style, and discuss how this model facilitates addressing extant issues in socialization research. The article also discusses the historical development of the parenting style construct, highlighting the tension between researchers interested in the developmental consequences of specific parenting practices and those interested in more global parenting characteristics. It reviews the psychodynamic and learning models of parenting style, as well as the dimensions used to describe parenting style in early empirical research. The authors argue that parenting style should be viewed as a context that influences child development, and that the influence of parenting style varies as a function of the child's cultural background. They propose that future research should focus on understanding the processes through which parenting style influences child development, the variability of parenting style across cultural contexts, and the determinants of parenting style. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of distinguishing between parenting practices and parenting style to better understand the mechanisms through which parenting influences child development.The article discusses the concept of parenting style as a context that influences child development. Nancy Darling and Laurence Steinberg argue that parenting style should be viewed as a context that moderates the influence of specific parenting practices on child development. They emphasize the importance of distinguishing between parenting style and parenting practices to understand the mechanisms through which parenting influences child development. Baumrind's conceptualization of parenting style has been influential in understanding the effects of parenting on child development. Authoritativeness, characterized by emotional support, high standards, appropriate autonomy granting, and clear communication, has been shown to help children develop instrumental competence. However, the influence of authoritativeness varies across cultural contexts, as demonstrated by studies showing that authoritative parenting is most strongly associated with academic achievement among European-American adolescents and least effective in influencing the academic achievement of Asian- and African-American youths. The authors argue that parenting style is best conceptualized as a characteristic of the parent that alters the efficacy of the parent's socialization efforts by moderating the effectiveness of particular practices and by changing the child's openness to socialization. They propose a model that integrates parenting goals, practices, and style, and discuss how this model facilitates addressing extant issues in socialization research. The article also discusses the historical development of the parenting style construct, highlighting the tension between researchers interested in the developmental consequences of specific parenting practices and those interested in more global parenting characteristics. It reviews the psychodynamic and learning models of parenting style, as well as the dimensions used to describe parenting style in early empirical research. The authors argue that parenting style should be viewed as a context that influences child development, and that the influence of parenting style varies as a function of the child's cultural background. They propose that future research should focus on understanding the processes through which parenting style influences child development, the variability of parenting style across cultural contexts, and the determinants of parenting style. The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of distinguishing between parenting practices and parenting style to better understand the mechanisms through which parenting influences child development.