Perceptions of family relations when mothers and fathers are depicted with different parenting styles

College students (N = 125) reported their perceptions of family relations in response to vignettes that presented 5 different parenting styles. Participants viewed family relations as most positive when parents were portrayed as authoritative or permissive and as most negative when parents were portrayed as uninvolved-neglecting or authoritarian. Student gender and parent gender effects qualified these findings. Female students reported family relations to be less positive than did male students when parents were depicted as authoritarian or as uninvolved-neglecting, and they rated family relations more positively than did male students when parents were depicted as permissive. Participants viewed family relations as more positive when mothers rather than fathers were presented as permissive and when fathers rather than mothers were depicted as authoritarian. The authors discuss the findings of the study in relation to theories of beliefs about children and implications for future parenting styles of male and female college students.     

Mothers and fathers of young children: comparison of parenting styles

This study compared the developmental expectations and parenting behaviors of 52 mothers and fathers with children between the ages of 1 and 4 years, using the Parenting Inventory: Young Children. While both mothers and fathers were nurturing parents, mothers obtained significantly higher nurturing scores. Possible reasons for this difference were discussed. Developmental expectations and discipline strategies did not differ between mothers and fathers.     

On the development of regulatory focus: the role of parenting styles

The present study was designed to contribute to our understanding of the development of chronic self‐regulatory orientations reflecting self‐regulation with a promotion and prevention focus, respectively. Little research addressed this issue empirically, although regulatory focus theory (RFT) explicitly entails assumptions concerning the role of parenting styles in the development of habitual self‐regulatory orientations. According to RFT, parenting styles involving a critical and punitive mode that is focused on attaining safety and meeting obligations increases the likelihood that the child will acquire a predominantly prevention‐focused style of self‐regulation. In contrast, parenting styles involving a bolstering mode that is focused on accomplishing ideal goals and fulfilling aspirations increases the likelihood that the child will acquire a predominantly promotion‐focused style of self‐regulation. To test these assumptions, the present study assessed via self‐reports the degree to which participants experienced different parenting styles as well as their chronic self‐regulatory focus. The results reveal positive associations between the critical and punitive parenting style and prevention‐focused self‐regulation and between the bolstering parenting style and promotion‐focused self‐regulation thus corroborating the propositions of RFT. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parents' and teachers' perceptions of adolescent storm and stress: relations with parenting and teaching styles

The purpose of this study was to determine if parents and teachers differed in their views of adolescent storm and stress, and to examine the relations of these reported perceptions with parenting and teaching behaviors. Subjects were parents and teachers of middle and high school students in three school districts in the Midwest. Storm and stress beliefs were identified as parents' and teachers' perceptions of conflict, moodiness, and risk-taking behavior. Scales assessing classic/conforming and positive adolescent behaviors also were included. Self-report assessments of parenting and teaching were administered as well. Results indicated that whereas both parents and teachers held storm and stress beliefs, teachers maintained stronger perceptions than parents. Teachers also endorsed higher classic/conforming and lower positive behaviors than did parents. The results further indicated that parents' perceptions of storm and stress were related to their degree of parental responsiveness; but teachers' perceptions were not related to their teaching style. These results suggest that stereotypic beliefs of the adolescent period continue to be maintained, and that these may influence how adults interact with adolescents.     

Impact of parenting styles on adolescents' self-esteem and internalization of values in Spain

The relationship of parenting styles with adolescents' outcomes was analyzed within a sample of Spanish adolescents. A sample of 1456 teenagers from 13 to 16 years of age, of whom 54.3% were females, reported on their parents' child-rearing practices. The teenagers' parents were classified into one of four groups (authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, or neglectful). The adolescents were then contrasted on two different outcomes: (1) priority given to Schwartz's self-transcendence (universalism and benevolence) and conservation (security, conformity, and tradition) values and (2) level of self-esteem (appraised in five domains: academic, social, emotional, family and physical). The results show that Spanish adolescents from indulgent households have the same or better outcomes than adolescents from authoritative homes. Parenting is related with two self-esteem dimensions--academic and family--and with all the self-transcendence and conservation values. Adolescents of indulgent parents show highest scores in self-esteem whereas adolescents from authoritarian parents obtain the worst results. In contrast, there were no differences between the priority given by adolescents of authoritative and indulgent parents to any of the self-transcendence and conservation values, whereas adolescents of authoritarian and neglectful parents, in general, assign the lowest priority to all of these values.     

Cultural values as mediators between parenting styles and bullying behavior at school

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between parenting styles, cultural values and bullying behavior at school. The main objective was to test the mediating role of cultural values in these relationships. The participants were 985 pre-adolescents, aged 10–12 years old (M = 10.95, SD = .75) from Cyprus and Greece who completed the Parental Authority Questionnaire, the Cultural Values Scale and the Bullying Victimization Questionnaire. Structural equation models were applied to test the interrelations between the latent factors. It was found that horizontal individualism was positively related to victimization, whereas vertical individualism was positively related to bullying. Furthermore, cultural values partially mediated the relationships between parental styles and bullying behavior. The contextual mechanisms explaining bullying and victimization were similar for males and females. The findings support the contextual conceptualization of bullying and point out the need to consider the mediating role of cultural values in order to understand the differential pathways between familial factors and child outcomes.     

Bullies and delinquents: personal characteristics and parental styles

This research aimed to analyse the personal characteristics and parental styles of bullies and delinquents, and to establish which factors were related to the bully/delinquent group and which were related to only bullies or only delinquents. A self‐report questionnaire on bullying and delinquency was completed by 113 girls and 125 boys aged 11–14 in a middle school in Rome. Bullying and delinquency were more common among boys than among girls. Bullying did not vary significantly with age, but delinquency increased with age. Bullying and delinquency were especially related for boys and for older students. Only bullies were younger, while only delinquents were older, suggesting that bullying might be an early stage on a developmental sequence leading to delinquency. Only bullies and only delinquents had different parenting correlates; only bullies had authoritarian parents and disagreed with their parents, whereas only delinquents had conflictual and low supportive parents. This suggested that bullying and delinquency are not merely different behavioural manifestations of the same underlying construct. Parent training interventions might prevent both bullying and delinquency. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relationship of negative self-schemas and attachment styles with appearance schemas

The purpose was to test, among women, the relationship between negative self-schemas and styles of attachment with men and women and two types of appearance investment (Self-evaluative and Motivational Salience). Predominantly Caucasian undergraduate women (N = 194) completed a modified version of the Relationship Questionnaire, the Young Schema Questionnaire-Short Form, and the Appearance Schemas Inventory-Revised. Linear multiple regression analyses were conducted with Motivational Salience and Self-evaluative Salience of appearance serving as dependent variables and relevant demographic variables, negative self-schemas, and styles of attachment to men serving as independent variables. Styles of attachment to women were not entered into these regression models because Pearson correlations indicated they were not related to either dependent variable. Self-evaluative Salience of appearance was related to impaired autonomy and performance negative self-schema and the preoccupation style of attachment with men, while Motivational Salience of appearance was related only to the preoccupation style of attachment with men.     

The role of parents' self-esteem, mastery-orientation and social background in their parenting styles

In order to examine the extent to which parents' levels of education, financial resources, self-esteem, and their mastery-orientation versus task-avoidance are associated with their parenting styles and parental stress, data from two studies were analyzed. In Study I, parents of 105 6 to 7-year old children were asked to fill in scales measuring their parenting styles and parental stress, mastery-orientation, financial resources, and their level of education. In Study II, 235 parents were asked to fill in the same scales. An identical pattern of results was found in the two studies. Parents' self-esteem and their use of mastery-oriented strategy were found to be associated with authoritative parenting and low parental stress, whereas parents' low level of education was related to an authoritarian parenting style. The results further showed that the impact of parents' self-esteem on authoritative parenting and parental stress was partly mediated by their use of a mastery-oriented strategy.     

The relationship between parenting styles and young adults' self-concepts and evaluations of parents.

In the present study, 123 college students were surveyed in order to assess their self-concepts, evaluations of parents, and perceptions of their parents' parenting styles. Notably, the students' self-concepts were found to vary directly with perceived level of parental warmth, but did not vary as a function of their parents' level of restrictiveness. Fathers and mothers were found to be rated more highly if they were perceived as being warm and permissive rather than hostile and restrictive. Finally, opposite-sex parents' level of warmth also correlated with how each parent was evaluated. Some explanations for these findings are offered.     

Relationship between coping styles and perceptual asymmetry

This study examined the relationship between coping styles and hemispheric asymmetry, on the basis of prior evidence of reduced posterior right hemisphere (RH) activity in depression, and the relationship between ruminative coping and depression. Two samples of undergraduates (N = 170) completed chimeric faces tasks and 2 measures of coping styles, the self-report Responses Styles Questionnaire and a behavioral choice task. In women but not in men, self-reported rumination was associated with a decreased RH bias on the emotion-based chimeric task. In both genders, choosing to engage in an emotional task was associated with increased RH involvement. Results indicate that although brooding and dwelling on the negative may be associated with decreased RH involvement, openness to emotion may be associated with increased RH involvement.     

Maternal and paternal parenting styles associated with relational aggression in children and adolescents: A conceptual analysis and meta-analytic review

How does parenting affect relational aggression in children? The goal of the present series of meta-analyses based on 48 studies (28,097 children) was to analyze and integrate the findings on the associations between various types of parenting behaviors and relational aggression, and to identify potential substantive and methodological factors that may moderate these associations. To distinguish between different parenting strategies, experts sorted the parenting measures used in the studies into 10 groups. Results of a multiple correspondence analysis revealed four separate clusters: Positive parenting, psychologically controlling parenting, negative/harsh parenting, and uninvolved parenting. The meta-analyses demonstrated that more positive parenting was associated with less relational aggression (combined effect sizes r = −.06, p < .05, for mothers, r = −.08, p < .01, for fathers). More harsh parenting (combined effect sizes r = .11, p < .01, for mothers, r = .12, p < .01, for fathers) and more uninvolved parenting (combined effect sizes r = .07, p < .01, for mothers, absent for fathers) were associated with increased relational aggression. Paternal psychologically controlling parenting was positively related to relational aggression (r = .05, p < .01), whereas maternal psychologically controlling parenting was not (combined effect sizes r = .04, p = .09). The effect of several moderators is discussed. The findings of this study suggest that dimensions of positive and negative parenting behaviors of mothers and fathers are associated with children’s relational aggression and that these associations are – in case of fathers – contingent upon a number of sampling and procedural characteristics.     

Inter‐ and intrapersonal processes underlying authoritarianism: The role of social conformity and personal need for structure

Several personality constructs have been theorised to underlie right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA). In samples from New Zealand and Germany (Ns = 218, 259), we tested whether these constructs can account for specific variance in RWA. In both samples, social conformity and personal need for structure were independent predictors of RWA. In Sample 2, where also openness to experience was measured, social conformity and personal need for structure fully mediated the impact of the higher‐order factor of openness on RWA. Our results contribute to the integration of current approaches to the personality basis of authoritarianism and suggest that two distinct personality processes contribute to RWA: An interpersonal process related to social conformity and an intrapersonal process related to rigid cognitive style. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relationship of personal space to body-image boundary definiteness

The role of body-image boundary definiteness as a mediating personality variable in interpersonal spatial behavior under conditions of perceived threat was investigated in this study. It was hypothesized that personal space would be positively correlated with body-image boundary definiteness. The Comfortable Interpersonal Distance scale and the Holtzman Inkblot Technique were group administered to 34 male and 43 female college students. Significant positive correlations were obtained for both sexes when approached by a male stranger but not when approached by a female stranger. Results were discussed in terms of level of perceived threat.     

The personal and marital adjustment of parents as related to observed child deviance and parenting behaviors

The purpose of this study was to document the relationship of parents' personal and marital adjustment to their own behavior as parents and the behavior of their children. A total of 31 families who had been referred for behavioral counseling regarding their male child's behavior problems were given a diagnostic battery which included home observations as well as administration to parents of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and the LockeWallace Marital Adjustment Test. Results revealed consistent negative relationships between marital satisfaction and the observed level of child deviance. Similarly, there were consistent negative relationships between marital satisfaction and the level of observed “negativeness” to the child. Analyses using the MMPI indicated that a large number of the fathers ' MMPI scales were related to child deviance, but this finding was not replicated for mothers. Several MMPI scales were related to marital satisfaction for both parents. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for the assessment and treatment of families with a problem child.     

Chinese children's effortful control and dispositional anger/frustration: relations to parenting styles and children's social functioning

Relations among authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles, children's effortful control and dispositional anger/frustration, and children's social functioning were examined for 425 first and second graders (7-10 years old) in Beijing, China. Parents reported on parenting styles; parents and teachers rated children's effortful control, anger/frustration, externalizing problems, and socially appropriate behaviors: and peers rated aggression and leadership/sociability. High effortful control and low dispositional anger/frustration uniquely predicted Chinese children's high social functioning, and the relation of anger/frustration to social functioning was moderated by effortful control. Authoritarian parenting was associated with children's low effortful control and high dispositional anger/frustration, which (especially effortful control) mediated the negative relation between authoritarian parenting and children's social functioning. Effortful control weakly mediated the positive relation of authoritative parenting to social functioning.