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ABSTRACT
The relation between parenting styles and adolescent outcomes was analyzed in a sample of 1,198 15-18-year-old Brazilians. The adolescents were classified into 1 of 4 groups (Authoritative, Authoritarian, Indulgent, and Neglectful) on the basis of their own ratings of their parents on two dimensions: Acceptance/ Involvement and Strictness/Imposition. The adolescents were then contrasted along two different outcomes: (1) priority given to Schwartz Self-transcendence and Conservation values, and (2) level of Self-esteem (appraised in 5 domains: Academic, Social, Emotional, Family, and Physical). Results showed that Authoritative and Indulgent parenting is associated with the highest internalization of Self-Transcendence and Conservation values of teenagers, whereas Authoritarian parenting is associated with the lowest. On the other hand, adolescents with Indulgent parents have equal or higher levels of Self-esteem than adolescents with Authoritative parents, while adolescents raised in Authoritarian and Neglectful homes have the lowest scores in Self-Esteem.
This study examines the impact of parental socialization on Brazilian teenagers' self-esteem and their internalization of values. Internalization of social values and the development of the child's self-esteem are important objectives in parental socialization (Kochanska, Aksan, & Nichols, 2003; Coopersmith, 1967; Hazzard, Christensen, & Margolin, 1983; Kochanska, Grusec, & Goodnow, 1994). To evaluate the impact of parental methods of socialization on those and other child outcomes which assess children's psychological and social adjustment, some research has focused on typologies of parenting (e.g., Baumrind, 1968, 1991; Cakir & Aydin, 2005; Steinberg, Lamborn, Darling, Mounts, & Dornbusch, 1994; Steinberg & Blatt-Eisengart, 2006). Two orthogonal constructs of parental behavior have traditionally been considered: demandingness and responsiveness (Baumrind, 1989, 1991; Maccoby & Martin, 1983). Demandingness refers to the extent to which parents show control, power assertion, supervision, maturity demands, and set limits. Responsiveness refers to the extent to which parents show their children affective warmth and acceptance, give them support, and reason with them. Based on these two dimensions, four parenting styles have been identified (Baumrind, 1991; Maccoby & Martin, 1983): Authoritative-parents are high on both demandingness and responsiveness; Indulgent-parents are low on demandingness and high on responsiveness; Authoritarian-parents are high on demandingness and low on responsiveness; and Neglectful-parents are low on both demandingness and responsiveness.
A variety of studies conducted in the United States on European-American families have shown that authoritative parenting is...