73 Percent of Millennial Moms Share This Parenting Style

Millennial moms may have more in common than you’d think. Despite all of the back-and-forth on social media, the fights between silky, crunchy and scrunchy moms, almost three-quarters of moms between the ages of 26-41 identified as authoritative parents in a recent survey.

Inclusive Market Research Group (IMRG), a Black woman-led, full-service market research firm, conducted the new survey. It recorded the responses of more than 550 moms nationwide in an attempt to provide a comprehensive understanding of their unique challenges, triumphs and evolving parenting approaches.

Researchers first explored the ways millennial mothers are raising their children compared to their own upbringing. Only 16 percent of Black women and 10 percent of white women said they are raising their children similarly to how they were raised. In comparison, 25-26 percent of respondents overall said they were raising their children in a completely different way.

Overall, the majority of women surveyed (60 percent of Black women and 64 percent of white women) said that their parenting style fell somewhere in the middle, choosing to incorporate some things from the way they were raised with new approaches.

Whether they took their parenting style from how they were brought up or incorporated new approaches, 73 percent of women were proud to identify as authoritative parents. The IMRG defined authoritative parenting as an approach characterized by developing a warm, nurturing relationship with their children while maintaining clear expectations and providing explanations for disciplinary actions.

This “gold standard,” centered between the strict authoritarian parenting style and the permissive approach, is popular for a good reason. Most studies and experts point to authoritative parenting as the best for raising well-adjusted, confident and successful kids. Authoritative parenting is set up to help kids become self-assured and happy, learn how to handle responsibility and make good decisions on their own, figure out how to overcome obstacles and trust their own judgment

You can see all of the insights from The Millenial Motherhood Experience survey, from mental health concerns to the importance of online experiences at InclusiveMarketResearchGroup.com.