Parenting Style and Adolescent Positive Behaviours

Abstract

Parenting Style and Adolescent Positive Behaviours Cheryl Kiera and Ambrose Leungb Athabasca University Mount Royal University

This study explored the relationships between authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting styles and adolescent friendship, community involvement, and financial saving behaviour. Authoritative parenting, a style that combines responsiveness (warmth, explanations for consequences, and child-centredness) with demandingness (setting maturity demands, monitoring the child, following through with consequences), has been found to be the most optimal style for youth in the majority North American culture. In comparison, the authoritarian parenting style is high on demandingness, but relies on harsh discipline rather than explanation. Permissive parents set few boundaries for children’s behavior.

150 university students aged 17 to 24 (54 females) completed questionnaires. It was predicted that those who perceived their parents as showing strong authoritativeness would also have supportive friends, engage in the community, and save money rather than spend it. For females (but not males), the more authoritative they rated their mothers and their fathers, the more involved they were in civic activism. Conversely, for females (but not males) the more authoritarian they described their mothers and their fathers, the less the students were involved in civic activism.

Although correlational, results suggest parents have an indirect influence on their daughters’ behaviour. Feeling supported by parents may translate to a desire to help one’s community. When females are treated callously, their motivation to help others may be diminished. In an era in which concern exists about the limited involvement of young people in political affairs, one strategy may be to encourage nurturant parenting so that youth are inspired to make a difference.