Greek Adolescents' Mothers and Fathers Differ in their Preferred

Center for Open Access in Science ▪ Belgrade - SERBIA

International e-Conference on Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences

http://centerprode.com/conferences/8IeCSHSS.html

ISBN (Online) 978-86-81294-09-3 ▪ 2022: 207-212

_________________________________________________________________________

Correspondence: Sofia Mussa, South-West University “Neofit Rilski”, Faculty of Philosophy,

Blagoevgrad, BULGARIA. E-mail: intersophi3053@yahoo.gr.

Greek Adolescents’ Mothers and Fathers

Differ in their Preferred Parenting Styles

Sofia Mussa

South-West University “Neofit Rilski”, Blagoevgrad, BULGARIA

Faculty of Philosophy

Received: 20 May 2022 ▪ Revised: 21 June 2022 ▪ Accepted: 24 June 2022

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare parenting styles of mothers and fathers of Greek

adolescents, aged 12-18. A total of 132 Greek couples were studied with the Parenting Style Four

Factor Questionnaire (PS-FFQ). The results showed that although more than half of parent

couples (56.8%) exhibit agreement in parenting styles, with the authoritative parenting style

being the most preferable and the uninvolved parenting style the least preferable parenting style

among both parents, mothers were oriented towards more positive and effective parenting styles

than fathers.

Keywords: adolescents, parenting styles, mother/father comparison.

1. Introduction

Parents play a key role in their children's lives. In the last 2-3 decades, research in the

field of parenting has tended to focus on the concept of parenting style as one of the most

informative approaches to understanding parental influences on human development. After the

pioneer of research in the field of parenting – Baumrind (1967), who first introduced the concept

“parenting style” as correlation to children’s socialization, many researchers have focused on

studying the relationship between parenting styles and various parameters of child/adolescent

development, academic achievement, and outcomes (Dornbush et al., 1987; Gray & Steinberg,

1999; Langer et al., 2014; Maccoby & Martin, 1983; Martínez & García, 2007; Masud et al., 2019;

Pong, Johnston & Chen, 2010; Smokowski et al., 2015; Steinberg et al., 1992).

It is important to note that research has focused mainly on mothers’ parenting styles.

Some authors suggested that this trend is due to similarity of parenting of the two parents (for

discussion see Simons & Conger, 2007). Such an assumption is not sufficiently reasoned given the

limited studies on the issue. Moreover, а part of previous studies have had methodological

limitations. For example, Baumrind (1973) assessed the parenting styles of both parents but only

analyzed the results of the couples with similar parenting styles, excluding one quarter of the total

sample from the analyses because the two parents have demonstrated different parenting styles.

S. Mussa – Greek Adolescents’ Mothers and Fathers Differ in their Preferred Parenting Styles

_________________________________________________________________________

208

• Authoritative parenting style is most preferable and the uninvolved parenting style is least

preferable among Greek adolescents’ mothers and fathers.

• Greek adolescents’ mothers are oriented towards more positive and effective parenting

styles than fathers.

• The most common family parenting style is that of two authoritative parents and in

contrast, the least common parenting style – that of two uninvolved parents

Dornbush et al. (1987) used an approach for assessing parenting styles in families that

is criticized (see Simons & Conger, 2007) because it used categories which differ from those

introduced by Baumrind (1967).

Steinberg et al. (1992) also examined parenting styles of the two parents in families

but then averaged the parenting scores of each couple.

Despite the above-mentioned methodological problems of the few studies of parenting

styles of both parents in the family, which makes it difficult to compare the results of various

studies, previous studies’ findings have shown that most commonly the two parents in the family

demonstrate the same parenting style (Baumrind, 1973; Dornbush et al., 1987; Simons & Conger,

2007; Steinberg et al., 1992).

The present study was designed with the aim to address this issue. For this purpose,

the preferred parenting styles of both parents (mother and father) in the family of Greek

adolescents were compared. These comparisons were made according to a typology that included

all possible combinations of mother and father parenting styles.

2. Method

A total of 132 Greek couples with at least one child aged 12-18 years old voluntarily

participated in the study. The mean age of mothers was 36.19 years (SD=4.81) and the mean age

of fathers was 39.67 years (5.94). The inclusion criteria covered two-parent families, who are

biological parents of their children. The exclusion criteria covered families in which at least one of

the parents did not complete the questionnaire.

Parenting Style Four Factor Questionnaire (PS-FFQ) was used to measure the

parenting styles. It is a self-reported Questionnaire that was created by Shyny (2017) as a tool for

assessment of parenting styles of parents of adolescents.

The PS-FFQ consists of 32 items and the following four subscales: authoritarian,

authoritative, permissive, and uninvolved parenting style. Participants answered the items on a

five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Scores on each

subscale ranged from 8 to 40. The reported Cronbach’s alpha of PS-FFQ by Shyny (2017) is 0.919.

3. Results

Results of the Independent Samples T-test, performed on the Parenting Style

Questionnairе, are presented in Table 1.

International e-Conference on Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences (207-212)

______________________________________________________________________________________________

209

Table 1. Mean scores (Мean, SD) of the mothers’ group and

the fathers’ group on The Parenting Style Questionnairе

Parenting style

Fathers

Mothers

t (p)

Mean

Authoritarian

23.78

5.44

20.62

5.38

(262)

=4.741; p<.000

Authoritative

25.55

5.19

27.02

4.99

(262)

=-2.126; p=.034

Permissive

21.27

5.95

25.46

5.11

(262)

=-6.142; p<.000

Uninvolved

18.30

4.95

16.53

4.68

(262)

=2.987; p=.003

As seen, at the group level, Greek mothers and fathers differed significantly in the

mean values for all 4 scales of the test, with the group of mothers showing higher mean score

compared to the group of fathers for authoritative parenting style (t

(262)

=-2.126, p=.034) and

permissive parenting style (t

(262)

=-6.142, p<.000), and the group of fathers showing higher mean

score compared to the group of mothers for authoritarian parenting style (t

(262)

=4.741, p<.000)

and uninvolved parenting style (t

(262)

=2.987, p=.003). Therefore, Greek adolescents’ mothers

seem to be oriented towards more positive and effective parenting styles than Greek adolescents’

fathers.

Results of the Pearson Chi-Square test, which compares the distribution of the

participants in the two groups according to their preferred parenting style, revealed significant

differences between Greek mothers and fathers (see Table 2).

Table 2. Between-group comparison of the participants’ distribution

according to their preferred parenting style

Group

Parenting styles

Authoritarian

Authoritative

Permissive

Uninvolved

Fathers

31.1%

33.3%

22.7%

12.9%

Mothers

12.1%

49.2%

35.6%

3.0%

Pearson Chi-Square



|3|

=26.812, p<.000, Cramer’s V=.319

As seen, between-group differences were statistically significant (



|3|

=26,812,

p<.000, Cramer’s V=0.319), with higher percentage of the mothers’ group than the fathers’ group

being authoritative or permissive parents, and vice versa – with higher percentage of the fathers’

group than the mothers’ group being authoritarian or uninvolved parents. Therefore, while the

authoritative and permissive parenting style had significantly higher frequency among mothers,

the authoritarian and uninvolved parenting styles had significantly higher frequency among

fathers.

Next Table 3 presents the Pearson Chi-Square test results about the distribution of

studied parent couples depending on the combination of their preferred parental styles.

Table 3. Distribution of the parent couples according

to the combination of their preferred parental styles

Combination of mother and father parental style

Frequency

Percent

Authoritarian - Authoritarian

8.3

Authoritative - Authoritative

27.3

Permissive - Permissive

19.7

Uninvolved - Uninvolved

1.5

Authoritarian - Authoritative

16.7

Authoritarian - Permissive

6.1

Authoritarian - Uninvolved

3.8

Authoritative - Permissive

7.6

Authoritative - Uninvolved

4.5

Permissive - Uninvolved

4.5

S. Mussa – Greek Adolescents’ Mothers and Fathers Differ in their Preferred Parenting Styles

_________________________________________________________________________

210

56.8% of parents exhibited agreement in parenting styles and the rest 43.2% did not.

Slightly more than a quarter of the studied parent couples (27.3%) raised their children in an

authoritative fashion; 19.7% of the parent couples raised their children in a permissive fashion;

8.3% of the couples raised their children in an authoritarian fashion and only 1.5% of the couples

raised their children in an uninvolved fashion.

From all parent couples that exhibited disagreement in parenting styles, the largest

was the percentage of those who raised their children in an authoritarian-authoritative fashion –

16.7%, and the lowest was the percentage of those who raised their children in an authoritarian-

uninvolved fashion – 3.8%. From the rest combinations, the combination of authoritative-

permissive parental styles was reported by 7.6% of the parent couples, the combination of

authoritarian-permissive parental styles was reported by 6.1% of the parent couples, and both

combinations: authoritative–uninvolved and permissive–uninvolved parental styles were

reported by 4.5% of the parent couples.

4. Discussion

The results revealed that both at a group and individual level, the authoritative

parenting style was the most preferable and the uninvolved parenting style was the least preferable

among Greek adolescents’ mothers and fathers.

Gender-related comparisons on the parenting style preferences showed that mothers

seemed to be oriented towards more positive and effective parenting styles than fathers, which is

consistent with the results reported by Simons and Conger (2007). We found that although the

biggest part of the mothers’ and fathers’ groups have assessed themselves as authoritative parents,

the authoritative and permissive parenting styles had significantly higher frequency among

mothers, and the authoritarian and uninvolved parenting styles had significantly higher frequency

among fathers.

Regarding the prevalence of the various family parenting styles, the results showed

that slightly above the middle of studied parent couples (56.8%) displayed the same parenting

style. In general, our findings agree with the results obtained by Baumrind (1973), who reported

that 3/4 of the parent couples displayed strong concordance on parenting style, as well as the

results of Simons and Conger (2007) who reported that according to perceptions of adolescents

67.9% of the couples had the same parenting style, and according to the perception of trained

observers this percentage is 58.3%.

Regarding the frequency with which various combinations of mother-father parenting

styles tend to occur, we found that the most common family parenting style was that of two

authoritative parents, followed by the family parenting style of two permissive parents and the

family parenting style of one authoritarian and one authoritative parent. In contrast, the least

common family parenting style was that of two uninvolved parents, followed by the family

parenting style of one authoritarian and one uninvolved parent.

A limitation of the present study is that some characteristics of adolescents, such as

the presence of neurodevelopmental or emotional and behavioral disorders, that may have a

modulating effect on parenting, including parenting style, were not taken into account.

Replications that take into account this factor are needed to assure the validity of the results

received in this study.

International e-Conference on Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences (207-212)

______________________________________________________________________________________________

211

5. Conclusion

The current study’s findings reinforce previous studies’ results indicating that

adolescents’ mothers and fathers differ in their parenting styles, with mothers being oriented

towards more positive and affective parenting styles than fathers. An important finding was that

the most common parenting style among adolescents’ mothers and fathers nowadays in Greece is

the authoritative parenting style, and the least common – the uninvolved one. With regard to the

frequency of family parenting styles, the results indicated a higher frequency of concordant

combinations of mother and father styles than discordant, with the most common one being that

of two authoritative parents and in contrast, the least common one – that of two uninvolved

parents.

Acknowledgements

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public

commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

The author declares no competing interests.

References

Baumrind, D. (1967). Child care practices anteceding three patterns of preschool behavior. Genet Psychol

Monogr., 75, 43-88.

Baumrind, D. (1973). The development of instrumental competence through socialization. In A. Pick (Ed.),

Minnesota symposia on child psychology (pp. 3-46). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota

Press.

Dornbush, S., Ritter, P., Liederman, P., Roberts, D., & Fraleigh, M. (1987). The relation of parenting style to

adolescent school performance. Child Development, 58, 1244-1257.

Gray, M. R., & Steinberg, L. (1999). Unpacking authoritative parenting: Reassessing a multi-dimensional

construct. Journal of Marriage and Family, 61, 574-587.

Langer, S. L., Crain, A. L., Senso, M. M., Levy, R. L., & Sherwood, N. E. (2014). Predicting child physical

activity and screen time: parental support for physical activity and general parenting styles. J

Pediatr Psychol., 39(6), 633-42.

Maccoby, E., & Martin, J. (1983). Socialization in the context of the family: Parent-child interaction. In P.

H. Mussen (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology (pp. 1-101). Wiley: New York.

Martínez, I., & García, J. F. (2007). Impact of parenting styles on adolescents’ self-esteem and

internalization of values in Spain. Span J Psychol., 10(2), 338-48.

Masud, H., Ahmad, M. S., Cho, K. W., & Fakhr, Z. (2019). Parenting styles and aggression among young

adolescents: a systematic review of literature. Community Ment Health J., 55(6), 1015-1030.

Pong, S. L., Johnston, J., & Chen V. (2010). Authoritarian Parenting and Asian Adolescent School

Performance: Insights from the US and Taiwan. Int J Behav Dev., 34(1), 62-72.

Shyny, T. Y. (2017). Construction and validation of Adolescent Parenting Attitude Four Factor

Questionnaire (APA-FFQ). International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, 8(7),

1241-1265.

S. Mussa – Greek Adolescents’ Mothers and Fathers Differ in their Preferred Parenting Styles

_________________________________________________________________________

212

Smokowski, P. R., Bacallao, M. L., Cotter, K. L., et al. (2015). The effects of positive and negative parenting

practices on adolescent mental health outcomes in a multicultural sample of rural youth. Child

Psychiatry Hum Dev, 46(3), 333–45.

Steinberg, L., Lamborn, S., Dornbusch, S., & Darling, N. (1992). Impact of parenting practices on adolescent

commitment: Authoritative parenting, school involvement, and encouragement to succeed.

Child Development, 63, 1266-1281.

Simons, L. G., & Conger, R. D. (2007). Linking mother-father differences in parenting to a typology of family

parenting styles and adolescent outcomes. Journal of Family Issues, 28(2), 212-241.