Authoritative parents, who (I) set firm limits on their child while (2) remaining warm and sensitive to their child 's need for autonomy, have children who are kind and considerate of others and avoid using aggression or defiance to get what they want (i.e., socially competent). Although it is clear that authoritative parenting is invaluable in promoting socially competence, it remains unclear what specific dimensions constitute this style and what specific practices parents use to promote such competence. By examining parents' encouragement of children's autonomy as a third vital, and yet largely overlooked, dimension of authoritative parenting and assessing parental scaffolding behavior and children's perceptions as mediators and moderators of the effectiveness of autonomy encouragement, the current research project seeks to increase our understanding of how authoritative parents exert their beneficial influence. Specifically, the current study proposes that autonomy encouragement by parents will incrementally predict social competence over parental warmth and limit- setting, and that its effects will be mediated by effective scaffolding (stepping in when a child is failing at a task and stepping back when the child is succeeding) and moderated by how children view their parents' autonomy encouragement. In a sample of 120 families, the current study uses a multisource, multi-method approach to data collection, including parental self-report, child self-report, and global and micro-analytic coding of observational data. This more differentiated investigation of authoritative parenting hopes to inform interventions seeking to help parents promote socially competent children.
