Parental Socialization Styles: The Contribution of Paternal and Maternal Affect/Communication and Strictness to Family Socialization Style

Parenting in 2 Worlds: Testing improved parent-adolescent communication about sexuality in Urban American Indian families

Urban American Indian (AI) adolescents are more likely than non-Natives to have early sexual debut, teen pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, and inadequate sexual health information. A RCT in three Arizona cities, with 585 parents of urban AI adolescents, tested whether a culturally tailored parenting intervention for urban AI families, Parenting in 2 Worlds (P2W), increased parent-adolescent communication about sexuality, compared to an informational family health intervention that was not culturally tailored. P2W produced significantly larger increases on two measures: communication about general sexual health and about sexual decision-making. The desired effects of P2W on the first measure were stronger short-term for cross-gender dyads, while for the second measure, they were stronger long-term for both mothers and fathers of adolescent sons.

Examining the Contributions of Parents' Daily Hassles and Parenting Approaches to Children's Behavior Problems during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The present study was designed to examine the direct and indirect contributions of parenting daily hassles and approaches to children's externalizing and internalizing behavior problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sample for this study was 338 preschool children (53.6% girls, M_age = 56.33 months, SD = 15.14) and their parents in Turkey. Parents reported their daily hassles, parenting approaches, and children's behavior problems. Findings from the structural equation model showed that higher levels of parenting daily hassles predicted higher levels of externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. In addition, we found an indirect effect of daily hassles on children's internalizing behaviors via positive parenting. Further, there was an indirect path from parenting daily hassles to children's externalizing behaviors through the negative parenting approach. Results are discussed in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Analysis of siblings' relationship and parenting style using structure modelling approach

Relationships among siblings play a crucial role in early socialization and further social development. Siblings inherently belong to the system of family relationships; their observation without involving parent-child bonds, is to some extent, generalization. Therefore, our research analyzes with mutual connections between parenting styles and the characteristics of siblings' relationships in a family using a quantitative design of data collection and processing. The outputs from the Sibling Relationship Questionnaire and Questionnaire of Parenting Styles in a Family were collected from 264 bachelor's students. The study found the overall associations of positive emotional relationships and freedom provided by parents with generally desirable characteristics of siblings' bonds and vice versa, and associations between negative emotional relationships and requirements with negatively perceived traits of siblings' bonds. The unexpected outcome of our research is that it revealed more connections between paternal parenting styles and the characteristics of sibling relationships than with those of maternal parenting styles. To reflect the complexity of these relationships more precisely, complex structural equation models were created and successfully adjusted.

Positive parenting style and positive health beyond the authoritative: Self, universalism values, and protection against emotional vulnerability from Spanish adolescents and adult children

Introduction

Recent research is fully questioning whether the combination of parenting warmth and strictness (the authoritative style) is always identified as positive parenting across the globe. This study analyzes parenting styles and the positive health of adolescents and adult children.

Methods

The sample was 2,090 Spanish children (59.9% women), from four age groups: 600 adolescents, 591 young adults, 507 middle-aged adults, and 392 older adults. Parenting styles (indulgent, authoritative, authoritarian, and neglectful) were obtained by warmth and strictness measures. Children's positive health was measured by self (family self-concept, self-esteem, and negative self-efficacy), universalism values, and emotional vulnerability.

Results

The main results showed that the indulgent parenting style was associated with equal and even better scores than the authoritative style, whereas the authoritarian and neglectful styles were consistently associated with low scores in positive health indicators for all age groups. However, two triple interactions of sex by age group by parenting style showed that women children from neglectful families reported the lowest family self-concept in old age and the highest emotional vulnerability in middle age.

Discussion

The study findings question the universal benefits of the so-called positive parenting (the authoritative style) for positive health.

Analyzing when parental warmth but without parental strictness leads to more adolescent empathy and self-concept: Evidence from Spanish homes

Introduction

Classical research mainly conducted with European-American families has identified the combination of warmth and strictness (authoritative style) as the parenting always associated with the highest scores on developmental outcomes. Additionally, despite the benefits of empathy for prosocial behaviors and protection against antisocial behaviors, most research has considered the contribution of specific practices (e.g., reasoning or power assertion), but not so much the parenting styles. Similarly, family studies tend to study the relationship between parenting and global self-perceptions (self-esteem), but not so much those of each dimension (self-concept).

Methods

In the present study, 600 Spanish adolescents from 12 to 17 years old (M = 15.25, SD = 2.01) were classified within one of the four household typologies (i.e., authoritative, indulgent, authoritarian, or neglectful). Adolescent developmental outcomes were cognitive empathy (adopting perspectives and emotional understanding), emotional empathy (empathic stress and empathic happiness), and self-concept (academic, social, emotional, family and physical).

Results

The results showed that the indulgent parenting (warmth but not strictness) was related to equal or even better empathy and self-concept than the authoritative style (warmth and strictness), whereas non-warm parenting (authoritarian and neglectful) was consistently associated with poor results.

Discussion

Overall, the present findings seriously question that parental strictness combined with parental warmth (authoritative style) is always the parenting style related to the greatest outcomes. By contrast, it seems that reasoning, warmth and involvement, without strictness (indulgent parenting) help adolescents to achieve a good orientation toward others in terms of cognitive and affective empathy and a good self-evaluation in terms of self-concept.

Parenting Styles Predict Future-Oriented Cognition in Children: A Cross-Sectional Study

Parenting is a crucial environmental factor in children’s social and cognitive development. This study investigated the association between parenting styles and future-oriented cognition skills in elementary school-aged children. Cross-sectional data were collected from parents of 200 Iranian elementary school aged children (6–13 years), 139 boys and 61 girls. Baumrind’s Parenting Styles Questionnaire and Children’s Future Thinking Questionnaire (CFTQ) were administered to parents. There was a significant positive association between authoritative parenting and children’s abilities in prospective memory, episodic foresight, planning, delay of gratification, and future-oriented cognition total score. In contrast, authoritarian parenting was negatively correlated with children’s abilities in planning, delay of gratification, and future-oriented cognition. Increases in authoritative parenting scores predicted better future-oriented cognition abilities in children.

Structural family factors and bullying at school: a large scale investigation based on a Chinese adolescent sample

Backgrounds

Various family factors have been identified in association with school bullying and the involvement of children and adolescents in bullying behaviors.

Methods

A total of 11,919 participants (female = 6671, mean age = 15) from 22 middle schools in Suzhou City, China completed the questionnaire. The associations between structural family factors (family socio-economic status, living arrangement, number of siblings, whether they were local residents/migrants, had an urban/rural hukou [a household registration system in China], parental and maternal education levels, and other various bullying-related constructs (i.e. bullying witnessing, bullying involvement, bystander intervention, and fear of being bullied) were all examined. Odds ratios (ORs) adjusted for covariates were calculated for the four bullying-related constructs (bullying witness, bullying involvement, bystander intervention, and reactions to being bullied) using structural family factors.

Results

The result showed that all demographic household characteristics were associated with bullying at school except for being from a single-child family. Adolescents from rural families witnessed more bullying incidents than those from local families (OR = 1.35, 95% CI: [1.09, 1.68]). Adolescents who come from migrant families (OR = 1.12, 95% CI: [1.07, 1.43]) with a rural hukou (OR = 1.31, 95% CI: [1.00, 1.74]) and low parental education levels (OR = 1.42, 95% CI: [1.01, 2.57]) were more likely to be bullies. Adolescents who came from migrant families (OR = 1.37, 95% CI: [1.03, 1.82]), with low maternal education levels (OR = 1.42, 95% CI: [1.06, 1.91]) engaged in more negative bystander intervention behaviors. Furthermore, adolescents with less educated mothers experienced a higher fear of being bullied (never versus sometimes: OR = 1.33, 95% CI: [1.00, 1.85]; never versus usually OR = 1.39, 95% CI: [1.01, 1.20]).

Conclusions

A systematic examination of the relationship between school bullying and demographic household characteristics may be used to inform school policies on bullying, such as training management on the importance of paying attention to adolescents from disadvantage household backgrounds. Identifying demographic factors that may predict bullying can also be used to prevent individuals from becoming involved in bullying and reduce the related negative consequences from being bullied.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-021-12367-3.

Self-Concept in Primary School Student with Dyslexia: The Relationship to Parental Rearing Styles

Dyslexic children may be more likely to form a negative self-concept, especially with poor educational experiences and negative parenting. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the self-concept of Chinese dyslexic children in primary school, and explore the influence factors of self-concept as well as its relationship with parenting style. A total of 50 children with dyslexia and 50 non-dyslexics matched for age, grade and gender participated in the study. We used the Piers-Harris children's self-concept scale (PHCSS) and the Chinese version of Egna Minnen Beträffande Uppfostran for Children (EMBU-C) to evaluate the self-concept and parenting styles of the study population. Our results indicated that the academic competence, popularity and general self-concept in the dyslexic group were significantly lower than those in the control group (p < 0.05). Based on the multivariate linear regression, we also found that residence (β = -0.32, p < 0.05) and physical activity (β = 0.36, p < 0.01) may influence factors self-concept in dyslexic children. In addition, a moderate and positive correlation was found between the self-concept of physical appearance and maternal emotional warmth (r = 0.36, p < 0.05) by using the Spearman correlation analysis. Our outcomes suggested that children with dyslexia have a poorer self-concept than typical developing children. The self-concept of dyslexic children should be improved in order to achieve better physical and mental development.

Psychosocial Needs of the Parents With Teenagers on Drugs: A Qualitative Study

BACKGROUND

Dependence on drugs causes several problems for the individual, family, and society. Such problems are more evident in teenagers and deeply affect the parents. Perceiving these parents' problems and needs is a way to help them with such problems and enable them to provide more support to their children. This study is an attempt to elaborate on the psychological needs of the parents with adolescents who use drugs.

METHODS

The participants were 19 parents with an adolescent with drug use disorder who were selected purposefully. In-depth and semistructured interviews were conducted face-to-face with the participants. All the interviews were recorded and analyzed by conventional content analysis. Guba and Lincoln's four measures of trustworthiness were observed throughout the study.

RESULTS

Analyses of the interviews revealed three themes, seven categories, and 17 subcategories. The themes were receiving support, need for self-confidence, and need for welfare.

CONCLUSION

For different reasons, parents of adolescents who use drugs find it incumbent upon themselves to support and treat their adolescents. Given the many problems, these parents need a variety of social, educational, emotional, interpersonal, and financial supports.

Sociometric Popularity, Perceived Peer Support, and Self-Concept in Adolescence

The objective of this study is to analyze the role that peer support plays in the incidence relationships between sociometric popularity and general self-concept based on sociometer theory. A total of 676 randomly selected secondary school students from the Basque Country (49.6% boys and 50.4% girls) between 12 and 18 years of age (M = 14.32, DT = 1.36) participated voluntarily. All of them completed a sociometric questionnaire (SOCIOMET), the Family and Friends Support Questionnaire (AFA-R), and the Dimensional Self-concept Questionnaire (AUDIM-33). Several models of structural equations were tested. The results indicate that sociometric popularity is linked to self-concept through the perceived social support of peers. These results are discussed within the framework of positive psychology and its practical implications in the school context.

Parental Socialization and Its Impact across the Lifespan

Classical studies have found that parental warmth combined with parental strictness is the best parental strategy to promote children's psychosocial development. Nevertheless, a growing set of emergent studies has questioned the benefits of parental strictness. The present study examined parental socialization and its short- and long-term impact on the psychosocial development of adolescents and adult children. The sample consisted of 2150 Spanish participants, 623 adolescents (12-18 years), 619 young adults (19-35 years), 502 middle-aged adults (35-59 years), and 406 older adults (60 years or older). Families were classified into one of four typologies (indulgent, authoritative, authoritarian, and neglectful). Psychosocial development was examined with five indicators (physical and family self-concept, nervousness, empathy, and internalization of social values of benevolence). The results show a common short- and long-term pattern between parenting styles and psychosocial development: the indulgent style equaled or even surpassed the authoritative style, whereas the neglectful and authoritarian styles were associated with low scores. The present findings were discussed by considering the importance of the cultural context in family socialization. Additionally, the long-term impact of parental socialization seems to be crucial, even in adulthood.

Parenting Styles, Internalization of Values and Self-Esteem: A Cross-Cultural Study in Spain, Portugal and Brazil

The present study analyzes the impact of parenting styles on adolescents' self-esteem and internalization of social values in three countries, Spain, Portugal and Brazil. The sample of the study was comprised of 2091 adolescents from Spain (n = 793), Portugal (n = 675), and Brazil (n = 623) from 12-18 years old (52.1% females). The four types of parenting styles, authoritative, indulgent, authoritarian and neglectful, were measured through the warmth and strictness dimensions of the Scale of Parental Socialization ESPA29. The two criteria variables were captured with the five dimensions of the AF5, Five-Factor Self-Concept Questionnaire, and with self-transcendence and conservation Schwartz values. Results confirm emergent research in parenting socialization: the use of parental warmth is evidenced as key for adolescent self-esteem and internalization of social values in the three countries analyzed. Indulgent and authoritative parenting (both characterized by parental warmth) are associated with the highest value internalization in the three countries. Furthermore, indulgent parenting (use of warmth) is associated with the highest adolescent self-esteem, overcoming authoritative parenting (use of warmth and strictness). The influence of parenting over adolescent self-esteem and values internalization is maintained independent of the differences in self-esteem and value priorities observed in the cultural context, the sex and age of the participants.

Parental Style, Dating Violence and Gender

The relationship between parenting styles and teen dating violence has become a relevant research topic in recent years, especially related to violence inflicted online. To more fully understand this relationship, the objective of the present study was to examine which parenting style (authoritarian, indulgent, authoritative, or neglectful) best protects against dating violence in adolescent relationships. A total of 1132 adolescents of both sexes participated in this study (46.4% boys and 53.6% girls), with ages between 14 and 18 years old (M = 15.6, SD = 1.3). A multivariate factorial design was applied (MANOVA, 4 × 2), using the parenting style, the parents' gender, and the adolescents' gender as independent variables, and the dating violence dimensions (online and offline) as dependent variables. As the results show, the lowest scores on all the dating violence dimensions examined were obtained by adolescents from indulgent families. In addition, three interaction effects were observed between the mother's parenting style and the adolescent's gender on online violence (e-violence and control), and the father's parenting style on offline violence (verbal-emotional). Thus, adolescents with authoritarian mothers obtained the highest scores on violence and control inflicted online, respectively, and adolescent girls with authoritarian fathers obtained the highest scores on verbal-emotional violence. These findings suggest that the indulgent style is the parenting style that protects against violence in teen dating relationships, and they also highlight the risks of the authoritarian style as a family child-rearing model.

Attachment Styles and Well-Being in Adolescents: How Does Emotional Development Affect This Relationship?

Attachment relationships with parents, as well as emotional competencies, are protective factors against stress and other physical, mental, and relational health symptoms in adolescence. In this paper, we will examine the mediating role of emotional competencies in the relationship between attachment to parents and the well-being of adolescents, taking into account the influence of gender. There were 1276 Spanish adolescents between 12 and 15 years old (M = 13.48; SD = 1.09). We measured mother and father attachment relationships (trust, communication and alienation), emotional competencies (perceive and understand emotions, label and express emotions, manage and regulate emotions), and adolescent well-being using the indicators: somatic complaints, stress, satisfaction with life and affectivity. Descriptive analyses, Pearson correlations, and a multi-group path analysis were performed. The results indicated that emotional competencies partially mediate the relationship between attachment to parents and well-being variables. Attachment to one's mother and father, along with emotional competencies, are relevant variables in adolescent well-being. This highlights the importance of understanding the protective factors of well-being in adolescence, a time when levels of well-being are reduced compared to childhood.