Transcript Parental Socialization - People Server at UNCW

• Parental behavior varies along at least two
dimensions
– Responsiveness/Acceptance
– Control (“Demandingness”)
Authoritarian
• Low acceptance/responsiveness
• High control
• Power-assertive discipline
• Ex: “Do it because I say so”
• More likely to use physical punishment
Authoritative
• High acceptance/responsiveness
• Moderate control
– Set clear standards and consistently enforce
rules
– Responsive to children’s needs and point of
view
• Discipline based on reasoning/explanation
– “It’s not ok to hit people because it hurts
them.”
Permissive
• High acceptance/responsiveness
• Low control
– Make few demands for mature behavior
Neglecting/Disengaged
• Low acceptance/responsiveness
• Low control
Authoritarian
Childhood:
•
•
•
•
Anxious
Unhappy
Dependent/Easily Frustrated (esp. girls)
Hostile/Aggressive (esp. boys)
Authoritarian
Adolescence:
• Poorer social skills and lower academic
achievement than children of authoritative
parents
• Better school performance and less problem
behavior (e.g., drug use, truancy) than children
of permissive or neglecting parents
Authoritative
Childhood:
– High self-esteem
– High self-control
– Generally positive mood
Authoritative
Adolescence:
– Good social skills
– High academic achievement
– Low in problem behaviors (e.g., drug use,
truancy)
Permissive
Childhood:
• Low self-control
• Overly demanding and dependent on
adults
Permissive
Adolescence:
– Low academic achievement
– More problem behaviors (e.g., truancy; drug
use)
Neglecting/Disengaged
• Childhood:
– Low self-control
– Low self-esteem
– Disturbed attachment relationships
(disorganized)
Neglecting/Disengaged
• Adolescence:
– Low academic achievement
– Poor social skills
– Many problem behaviors
• Truancy, drug use, delinquency, sexual
promiscuity, depression
• Parenting styles (and their “effects”) may
not generalize to all ethnic/cultural groups
Rudy & Grusec (2006)
• Examined correlates (parental emotion
and cognition) of authoritarian parenting in
individualist and collectivist cultural groups
• Examined relations between children’s
self-esteem and
– Authoritarian parenting
– Parental emotion and cognition
Hypotheses (Within-Groups):
• Authoritarianism and negative maternal emotion
and cognition would be related only in the
individualist group
• Authoritarianism would be more strongly
negatively associated with children’s self-esteem
in the individualist group
• Maternal emotion and cognition would be related
to children’s self-esteem in individualist and
collectivist groups
Method
• Mothers and their 7- to 12-year-old
children living in Toronto (33 dyads in the
collectivist group, 32 in the individualist
group)
– Mothers completed questionnaire measures
assessing
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Parental warmth toward the child
General negative affect toward the child
Positive view of the child
Negative cognitions: discipline situation
Anger: discipline situation
Authoritarianism
Collectivism
– Children completed a measure of self-esteem
Results
• H4: Within the individualist group only,
authoritarianism was associated with
maternal emotion and cognition (Table 2,
p. 74)
• H5: Maternal authoritarianism was not
associated with children’s self-esteem in
either group
• H6: Maternal emotion and cognition were
associated with children’s self-esteem in
both groups (Table 3, p. 75)
• Overall, findings suggest that
authoritarianism may have different
meanings in different cultural groups