Parenting and Late Adolescent Emotional Adjustment: Mediating Effects of Discipline and Gender

Abstract

Research suggests that parenting styles are related to the types of discipline parents utilize and that the coupling of parenting styles and discipline techniques are related to child outcomes. Although extant research examines the effects of parenting styles and discipline on child and early adolescent adjustment, less is known about adjustment in late adolescents, also described as emerging adults. Thus, the current study investigated the relationships among parenting styles (e.g., authoritative, authoritarian, permissive), discipline strategies (e.g., non-violent discipline, psychological aggression, physical assault), and emerging adult emotional adjustment (e.g., self-esteem, depression, and anxiety). The sample consisted of 526 participants ranging in age from 18 to 22 years. Results were analyzed with structural equation modeling and suggest that, although perceived parenting styles and discipline are both correlated with emerging adult emotional adjustment, perceived parenting is associated with emerging adult emotional adjustment for females but not males when examined simultaneously with perceived discipline. This finding demonstrates the importance of examining the direct and indirect relationships in the context of gender dyads.

Impact of parental emotional support and coercive control on adolescents' self‐esteem and psychological distress: Results of a four‐year longitudinal study

“…Moreover, McKinney, Milone andRenk (2011) andMilevsky, Schlechter, Netter andKeehn (2007) report that a democratic parenting style, generally characterized by a high level of emotional support and adequate control (Baumrind, 1991(Baumrind, , 1996, is associated with higher self-esteem among adolescents and young adults. Martinez and Garcìa (2007) found that adolescents with authoritarian parents (high demandingness and low responsiveness) exhibit the lowest scores for self-esteem.…”

Socioeconomic Status and Internalizing Symptoms in Chilean Children: Does Reserve Capacity Matter

“…While similar pathways between other parenting factors and IS have been observed in both boys and girls [55], we found similar associations between parent relationships, self-esteem and IS in girls only. It could be that parent-child engagement does not affect boys’ self-esteem or emotional adjustment in the same way as girls, particularly when accounting for parental discipline [56]. …”

Autoestima y apoyo social como predictores de la resiliencia en un grupo de adolescentes en vulnerabilidad social

“…Además es importante considerar el efecto diferencial que se produce en la relación entre los padres y las madres con sus hijos, y los efectos que traen en el bienestar y resiliencia de los adolescentes, tal como se apreció en esta investigación. Este efecto diferencial ha sido igualmente reportado en otras investigaciones (Desjardins y Leadbeater, 2011;Mckinney, Milone, y Renk, 2011;Simons y Conger, 2007), donde los efectos de moderación/mediación del apoyo o relación con el padre y la madre son distintos.…”