Parenting Style as a Predictor of Internal and External Behavioural Symptoms in Children : The Child's Perspective

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study was to examine three distinct parenting styles and their effect on children’s behavioural patterns, as perceived by the child. The parenting styles, based on Baumrind’s typologies of authoritative, authoritarian and permissive parenting, were measured as well as the children’s self-rated internal and external symptoms. Results indicated that there was a relationship between authoritarian parenting and all aspects of internal symptoms (depression, loneliness and self-esteem) as well as delinquency and aggression (external symptoms). Gender had an effect on depression and loneliness with females displaying higher levels. Permissive parenting was the largest contributor to drug use and an effect of age on drug use was also found. In conclusion, the results from this study shows that authoritarian parenting has a detrimental effect on a host of mental health issues and behavioural problems. However, authoritative parenting was shown to have the most positive outcome across the study. Implications for positive parenting style interventions are discussed. In addition, further studies examining parent-child relations from the child’s perspective are suggested.