Patterns of Family Functioning and Dimensions of Parenting Style

Abstract

The systemic approach to family and the assumption that there is a correlation between patterns of family functioning and parenting styles are considered to be most appropriate when examining this problem. According to the Circumplex model proposed by Olson and his associates, balanced cohesion and flexibility are related to the democratic/authoritative parenting, which is the most desirable style from the standpoint of the developmental needs of a child. The aim of our study was to examine this assumption on a sample of students studying at the University of Nis (316 male and 268 female students). FACES IV (Olson, et al, 2006) was applied for testing family relationships, while PSDQ questionnaire (Robinson, et al, 2001) was used for testing parental styles. According to the results, balanced cohesion and flexibility correlate with all three sub-dimensions of the democratic/authoritative style: connection, regulation, and autonomy granting. Authoritarian parenting style correlates negatively with all the functional patterns of family functioning and positively with all the dysfunctional patterns of family functioning. Mother's permissiveness correlates positively only with the dysfunctional patterns of family functioning, enmeshed and chaotic. These findings support the hypothesis that the patterns of family functioning are reflected in the parenting style, which implies that interventions targeting the parenting model cannot significantly affect the principal model of family functioning. Focusing on the strengthening of parenting skills should be replaced by influencing the patterns of family functioning, in order for the effects of the intervention on the parental subsystem to be adequate and efficient.

Parenting style in the context of the conflict between parental and business roles

“…The results are in line with the research by Matejevic, Todorovic and Jovanovic (2014) who, also on a sample of parents from Serbia, show that the authoritative parenting style is the dominant parenting style in the families of the students examined. The results are in line with research in other countries, as well (Waylen and Stewart-Brown, 2010;Yusuf and Sim, 2017).…”

“…Moreover, in that sense, there are differences in relation to child's autonomy. The possibility of this interpretation is confirmed by the results of the research, also in Serbia (Matejevic, Todorovic and Jovanovic, 2014), according to which autonomy had a higher arithmetic mean than regulation, but the respondents in that research were parents of adolescents.…”

Parenting Style and Emotional Distress Among Chinese College Students: A Potential Mediating Role of the Zhongyong Thinking Style

“…However, the existing research only provided limited indirect evidence of the associations between parenting style and Zhongyong thinking. Specifically, a cross-sectional study of a sample of teenagers found that family function had a significantly positive relationship with the level of the individual's Zhongyong thinking (Yang, 2012), and parenting style was the main determinant of family functioning (Matejevic et al, 2014). Based on the above theoretical work and empirical studies, it is reasonable to infer that Zhongyong thinking style, an adaptive personality trait in Chinese culture, may also mediate the association between perceived parenting style and college student's emotional distress.…”

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“…Family functioning usually has the characteristics of tendency towards stability and balance, the opportunity to adjust the situation, the existence of unity and the value of love and togetherness, and respect the differences of individuals which in turn create opportunities for individuals in the family to fulfill their role [9]. While socioemotional behaviour is a process that related to "changes in an individual's personality, emotions relationship with other people and social contexts" [10].…”