Authoritarian family education characterized by high control and low responsiveness has become a significant topic in contemporary child development research. The current paper reviews the complex influence of authoritarian parenting styles on children's emotional development from the perspective of recent research in psychology and education. The research integrates empirical insights from empirical research from psychology and education carried out in the timeframe from 2015 to 2025, with additional regard to landmark emotional development theories. The research involves the use of the literature review strategy, combining theoretical understanding with empirical insight from varied cultural contexts. Findings show that authoritarian family education hampers the emotional expression, regulation, recognition, and consistency of children to significant extents. Children from authoritarian families show lower emotional intelligence, higher anxiety and depression, lower self-esteem, as well as poorer social skills. The psychological processes behind such effects involve emotional suppression, avoidant behaviors, as well as the lack of emotional models. The findings underscore the importance of balanced parenting styles combining adequate structure with emotional responsiveness.
Xingwen Liu (Wed,) studied this question.