Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Aug 2;16(15):2757.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph16152757.

Perceived Parenting Styles and Adjustment during Emerging Adulthood: A Cross-National Perspective

Águeda Parra  1 , Inmaculada Sánchez-Queija  1 , María Del Carmen García-Mendoza  2 , Susana Coimbra  3 , José Egídio Oliveira  3 , Marta Díez  1
Affiliations

Perceived Parenting Styles and Adjustment during Emerging Adulthood: A Cross-National Perspective

Águeda Parra et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to determine whether the influence of parenting style on children's wellbeing is sustained during emerging adulthood. This is a stage in which young people, despite feeling themselves to be adults, often remain in the family home and continue to be financially dependent on their parents. Moreover, since parents' beliefs, attitudes and behaviors are constructed and interpreted within their cultural milieu, the study also aims to explore the situation in Spain (SP) and Portugal (PT). Those two Southern Europe countries are representative of what is known as the "family welfare regime", in which the family acts as the main provider of care and security not only during childhood, but also during emerging adulthood. Thus, the present study examines, from a cross-cultural perspective, the relationship between perceived parenting styles and psychological adjustment among a sample of 1047 emerging adults from Spain and Portugal. The results reveal that the most beneficial styles during this stage are the authoritative and permissive ones, with the authoritarian style being more closely related to psychological distress. The study highlights intercultural similarities and the positive role played by more symmetrical relationships in the adjustment of emerging adults in both countries.

Keywords: emerging adulthood; parenting; psychological distress; psychological wellbeing.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Parenting style distribution by country.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Sex distribution among each parenting style in Spain (SP) and Portugal (PT).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Differences in wellbeing according to parenting styles in Spain and Portugal.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Differences in psychological distress according to parenting styles in Spain and Portugal.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Relations between parenting styles and wellbeing in males and females.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Baumrind D. Authoritarian vs. authoritative parental control. Adolescence. 1968;3:255.
    1. Maccoby E.E., Martin J.A. Socialization in the context of the family: Parent-child interaction. In: Mussen P.H., Hetherington E.M., editors. Handbook of Child Psychology: Vol. 4. Socialization, Personality, and Social Development. 4th ed. Wiley; New York, NY, USA: 1983. pp. 1–101.
    1. Ginsburg G.S., Bronstein P. Family factors related to children’s intrinsic/extrinsic motivational orientation and academic performance. Child Dev. 1993;64:1461–1474. doi: 10.2307/1131546. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Glasgow K.L., Dornbusch S.M., Troyer L., Steinberg L., Ritter P.L. Parenting Styles, Adolescents’ Attributions, and Educational Outcomes in Nine Heterogeneous High Schools. Child Dev. 1997;68:507–529. doi: 10.2307/1131675. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Aunola K., Stattin H., Nurmi J.-E. Parenting styles and adolescents’ achievement strategies. J. Adolesc. 2000;23:205–222. doi: 10.1006/jado.2000.0308. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types