The relations between the perceived parenting styles and the neuroticism in children and adolescents

Abstract

The objectives of this chapter are: 1. To study differences, according to gender and age, in the perception of the father and mother parental styles (acceptance, pathological control and extreme autonomy)in childhood and adolescence. 2. To study differences in neuroticism dimensions (self criticism,vulnerability,anxiety,perceived lack of competence)according to gender and age. 3. To study the relationship of parental styles as perceived by children with neuroticism according to gender and age. The total sample consisted of 1494 argentinian children and adolscents.It included 517 middled class children aged 8-11 (M=10.26,SD=.88) both genders (253 boys and 264 girls) and 977 adolescents aged 12-16 ( M= 12.85,SD .86) both genders (431 boys and 546 girls) from primary and hogh scholls in Buenos Aires and Tucuman, Argentina. The results indicate that father and mother parental style are perceived in a different way by children, according to gender and ages. On the other hand, the results of of this study revealed statistically significant differences in neuroticism dimensions, with female children showing higher levels of neuroticism, especially self criticism, vulnerability and perceived lack of competence, the result shown that children who show demonstrate higher levels of self criticism,vulnerability and anxiety than adolescents. Lastly, we found that the only parenting dimension that is associated with neuroticism is pathological control, that is excessive , intrusive cintrol,based on guilt,wich implies the implementation of strict norms,punishments and scolding,based on a negative evaluation of the child and distancing through rejection.