The Impact of Parenting Styles on Coping Strategies: A Conceptual Review

Academic stress is a common challenge among undergraduate students and is often influenced by how effectively they cope with stressors. This conceptual paper explores how different parenting styles, including authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive approaches, influence the development of coping strategies in students. Drawing on Lazarus and Folkman’s Transactional Model of Stress and Coping (1984), the paper highlights how stress arises when environmental demands exceed personal resources and how coping is shaped by both individual and contextual factors. The model identifies three main coping strategies: problem-focused, emotion-focused, and avoidant coping. Parenting styles appear to play a formative role in determining which of these strategies students adopt. Authoritative parenting is typically linked with adaptive, problem-focused coping, while authoritarian and permissive styles are more often associated with avoidant or dysfunctional coping. Understanding this relationship may guide future research and interventions that promote healthy coping through positive parenting practices and examine coping as a mediator in academic stress.