Raising Children with Poor School Performance: Parenting Styles and Short- and Long-Term Consequences for Adolescent and Adult Development

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Mar 27;16(7):1089. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16071089.

Abstract

This study examines the correlates of authoritative (warmth and strictness), indulgent (warmth but not strictness), authoritarian (strictness but not warmth), and neglectful (neither warmth nor strictness) parenting with short- and long-term socialization outcomes in adolescents and adults, with and without poor school performance during adolescence. Short- and long-term socialization outcomes were captured by multidimensional self-esteem (academic/professional, emotional, and family), psychological maturity (self-competence, social competence, and empathy), and emotional maladjustment (nervousness, emotional instability, and hostility). Participants (1195 female and 874 male) consisted of a community sample of adolescents (n = 602), young adults (n = 610), middle-aged adults (n = 469) and older adults (n = 388). Design was a 4 × 3 × 2 × 4 MANOVA (parenting style × school performance × sex × age). Results indicated that the relationship between parenting styles and children's socialization outcomes does not vary as a function of school performance. The link between parenting styles and socialization outcomes shares a common short- and long- term pattern in adolescents and adults: Indulgent parenting was related to equal or even better socialization outcomes than authoritative parenting, whereas authoritarian and neglectful styles were associated with the worst socialization outcomes.

Keywords: adolescence; adult development; culture; parenting styles; school performance.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Academic Success*
  • Adolescent
  • Adolescent Development*
  • Adult
  • Affective Symptoms
  • Aged
  • Authoritarianism
  • Child
  • Child Abuse / psychology
  • Emotions
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Parenting / psychology*
  • Self Concept*
  • Socialization
  • Spain
  • Young Adult