Uninvolved Parenting Style: Everything You Need To Know

What is uninvolved parenting and how uninvolved parents differ from authoritative parents when it comes to raising children.

Uninvolved parenting is defined by a lack of attentiveness and parental demandingness when it comes it children’s basic needs.

These uninvolved parents are uninterested (uninvolved) in their children’s life. They do not satisfy their children’s needs, whether they be physical or emotional. They do not also establish limits or discipline their children.

Children raised by uninvolved parents receive minimal care and direction from their parents. They are essentially left to fend for themselves.

Among the five Baumrind styles of parenting, children of parents who showed a lack of involvement fare the poorest and have the most mental health problems and neglected emotional and physical needs.

See also: 5 Parenting Styles And How They Work

This post may contain affiliate links. Full privacy policy and disclosure here.

Characteristics of Uninvolved Parenting Style

Parents who are uninvolved show a lack of responsiveness and emotional connection as well as other demands of their children.

Neglectful style parents are at the other extreme of the responsive spectrum as permissive parents.

Authoritarian parents that have high expectations for their children to satisfy are the polar opposite of uninvolved parents in terms of demands, mostly involving academic performance.

Here are some of the most typical behaviors of a negligent parent:

• They show lack of interest in their child’s life
• They show a lack of emotional responsiveness to their child’s basic needs.
• Act indifferently and distantly. They do not assist or provide the fundamental needs of their children.
• Do not offer emotional support such as belonging or encouragement.
• Do not impose rules, basic limits or expectations on the behavior of their children, which leads to many behavioral problems.
• They are uninterested (uninvolved) in their children’s schoolwork, activities, or performance.
• Do not participate in their children’s life in general.

See also: The One Way Positive Parenting Can Encourage Personal Development

examples of uninvolved parenting

There are a variety of ways in which parents might be inattentive of their children. Here are a few examples:

Spending Little Quality Time With Their Child

Parents that use an this controversial parenting style may do things like keep their child engaged with another activity for the most of the time so that they may focus on work or their own interests. They may, for example, have their youngster spend most Saturday afternoons watching TV while they socialise with friends or work from home.

Ignoring Child’s Bids for Interaction

When a five-year-old eagerly attempts to show their parent something they constructed with LEGO, the parent either looks at the item and says “oh huh, that’s good” or entirely ignores the child, this is an example of a bid for engagement.

Having Little to No Involvement in Child’s Schooling

When a parent isn’t involved in their child’s school experiences, they have no idea what they’re learning or how they’re doing. If a kid requests that a parent sign a permission slip or a notification of failing a test, the adult may sign it without questioning the child.

Leaving Their Child to Fend for Themselves

When parents fail to feed their children, this is an example of negligent parenting. When their child asks what they’re having for supper while they’re at work, the parent may advise them to heat up a microwave dinner and allow them to eat on their own.

See also: How Does Too Much Harsh Disciplining Cause Suffering In Children

Causes of Uninvolved Parenting

Uninvolved parents frequently originate from dysfunctional families and had neglectful or uninvolved parenting style of parenting.

Uninvolved parents are more likely to suffer from mental health disorders such as depression and alcoholism and suffer a lack of emotional attachment.

Another prevalent factor is a family history of drug addiction issues which stem from a lack of understanding of the boundaries that parents neglect to set.

Addicted parents who have antisocial personality traits and pick mates who are susceptible to drug misuse or other mental health disorders are more likely to become negligent.
​

Harmful Effects of Uninvolved Parenting Style

Uninvolved parenting is the fourth parenting style since children raised with this parenting style have a lack of an emotional attachment throughout their children’s life.

Neglectful parenting may have a serious impact on a children’s well-being and child’s development consequences due to the complete lack of boundaries. In a young kid, it can have the following negative impact:

• impulsive and lack self-control underachieve in school lack emotional management abilities lack social skills
• Low self-esteem increases the likelihood of developing mood disorders such as depression. Borderline Personality Disorder patients are at an increased risk of drug misuse.
• Neglected children of drug-abusing parents are four to ten times more likely to acquire substance misuse.

Uninvolved Parenting Is Not The Same As Free-Range Parenting

Free-range parenting is a word that has recently been used to describe parents who let their children to go to areas such as the playground without adult supervision.

Uninvolved parenting is not the same as free-range parenting.

The term “free-range” solely refers to one element of parenting: whether or not the parent supervises their kid when they are outside of the house. It says nothing about whether or not the parent is warm and sensitive to the children’s needs.

A free-range parent allows their child to roam out freely while being warm and responsive. They may also have high expectations of their children’s behavior, such as good behavior and great academic achievement.

Busy Parents Are Not Necessarily Uninvolved Parents

Busy parents are not always negligent parents.

Some parents who work long hours will unavoidably have less time for their children. They may, however, remain friendly and kind. They may still exhibit interest in their children’s life and form emotional ties when they spend time together, even if it isn’t on a regular basis.

When it comes to developing a strong parent-child connection, quality trumps quantity.

Neglectful parenting is a destructive parenting style. Uninvolved parents are indifferent parents who are unconcerned with their children’s well-being.

They aren’t just harried parents.

Uninvolved parents are busy parents that lack involvement because they don’t care.

However, busy parents who lack time for engagement are just bad time managers.

In this case, being unable to get engaged in a children’s life does not imply a desire to become involved in a children’s life.

The Four Baumrind Parenting Styles

Diana Baumrind, a developmental psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, defined three types of parenting styles in the 1960s: authoritative style, authoritarian parenting, and permissive parenting.

Maccoby and Martin expanded the concept with a fourth category in 1983: uninvolved or neglectful parenting style.

These four parenting styles are divided into two categories: responsiveness and demandingness.

Final Thoughts on Uninvolved Parenting

Psychologists and specialists believe that children with uninvolved or neglectful parents have the worst results and do not tend to child’s needs.

A negligent mother is more than just a mom who allows her child more independence or less face time. Negligent parents disregard their other responsibilities as parents as well. Children of uninvolved parents often suffer mental health problems and often have issues with substance abuse.

Uninvolved parenting is much worse than authoritative parenting which has less negative effects on kids and less mental health issues as it tends to the emotional needs and parental responsiveness to child’s behavior.

References

1. Huver RME, Otten R, de Vries H, Engels RCME. Personality and parenting style in parents of adolescents. Journal of Adolescence. Published online June 2010:395-402. doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2009.07.012
2. Berzenski SR. Distinct emotional skills explain psychopathology and problems in social relationships following childhood emotional abuse and neglect. Dev Psychopathol. Published online March 22, 2018:483-496. doi:10.1017/s0954579418000020
3. Kim J. Type-specific intergenerational transmission of neglectful and physically abusive parenting behaviors among young parents. Children and Youth Services Review. Published online July 2009:761-767. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2009.02.002
4. Trickett PK, McBride-Chang C. The Developmental Impact of Different Forms of Child Abuse and Neglect. Developmental Review. Published online September 1995:311-337. doi:10.1006/drev.1995.1012
5. AUNOLA K, STATTIN H, NURMI J-E. Parenting styles and adolescents’ achievement strategies. Journal of Adolescence. Published online April 2000:205-222. doi:10.1006/jado.2000.0308
6. BOON HJ. Low- and high-achieving Australian secondary school students: Their parenting, motivations and academic achievement. Australian Psychologist. Published online September 2007:212-225. doi:10.1080/00050060701405584
7. Pinquart M. Associations of Parenting Styles and Dimensions with Academic Achievement in Children and Adolescents: A Meta-analysis. Educ Psychol Rev. Published online September 7, 2015:475-493. doi:10.1007/s10648-015-9338-y
8. Shipman K, Edwards A, Brown A, Swisher L, Jennings E. Managing emotion in a maltreating context: A pilot study examining child neglect. Child Abuse & Neglect. Published online September 2005:1015-1029. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2005.01.006
9. Bernet CZ, Stein MB. Relationship of childhood maltreatment to the onset and course of major depression in adulthood. Depress Anxiety. Published online 1999:169-174. doi:12.Taillieu TL, Brownridge DA, Sareen J, Afifi TO. Childhood emotional maltreatment and mental disorders: Results from a nationally representative adult sample from the United States. Child Abuse & Neglect. Published online September 2016:1-12. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2016.07.005