While parenting style and its relevant dimensions have long been studied in the area of child development, studies on the effects of perceived parenting behaviors on children’s/adolescents’ nutritional health status have been largely neglected. The present study examined whether perceived parenting style and its dimensions are associated with older children’s/young adolescents’ health outcomes, including self-concept, eating behaviors, physical activity behaviors, energy and nutrient intake, and body measurements. This study placed a distinct emphasis on gender differences by exploring the effects of maternal and paternal parenting behaviors on male versus female subjects’ health outcomes in separate analyses. In addition, this study extended the investigation of the roles family meal behaviors play in an environment in which general parenting behaviors exert their impact on children’s/adolescents’ health. Sources of insight from nutrition, psychology, and sociology contributed to this holistic examination of children’s/adolescents’ health. The study subjects included 123 children (9-11 years old) and 106 adolescents (13-15 years old). Data were obtained through survey questionnaires, dietary recall and records, and anthropometry. Various statistical methods were employed in this study, including multiple regression analysis, cluster analysis, factor analysis, and path analysis. Findings of this study confirmed that an authoritative style is more desirable for study subjects’ health outcomes, compared with a non-authoritative style. Generally, maternal/paternal nurturing appeared to be desirable, but maternal/paternal control was an undesirable predictor of youth health, while the subjects’ age (9-11 versus 13-15 years) and gender played critical roles in the associations. Family meal behaviors appeared to be significant predictors of youth health outcomes. Findings from path analysis suggested that the effects of maternal/paternal nurturing/control on the subjects’ health outcomes are mediated by family meal behaviors. Perception that family dinner meals are family rituals turned out to be the most important mediator of the relationship between maternal/paternal nurturing and the subjects’ health outcomes. Of interest, lack of food pressure by parents appeared to be detrimental to eating behaviors and essential nutrient intake of study subjects. Finally, this study showed that fathers play positive roles in improving male/female subjects’ as well as children’s/adolescents’ health outcomes, especially their physical activity behaviors and self-concept.

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Juvenile delinquency continues to be a social ill with parents often being liable for their child's reprehensible behavior. In this nonexperimental, correlational study, the relationship between experienced parenting style and psychosocial maturity was examined in a sample of juvenile offenders receiving intensive in-home services. The General Theory of crime by Gottfredson and Hirshi provided the framework for the study along with parenting style typologies by Baumrind. Data were collected from a convenience sample of 60 11th grade juvenile offenders and their parent/caretakers using questionnaires. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the data. The Psychosocial Maturity Index was used to measure psychosocial maturity, and the Parenting Skills Dimensions Questionnaire Short Version was used to measure experienced parenting style. Results indicated parenting style did not account for the variance in measures of psychosocial maturity. Stakeholders may benefit from an improved understanding of how measures of psychosocial maturity are impacted by parenting practices.

According to recent data, approximately eighteen percent of children under age 18 live in single-parent households. The majority of research has focused on negative outcomes associated with one-parent households in comparison with their two-parent counterparts, including poor academic performance and increased delinquency rates in children. The current literature neglects to evaluate potentially advantageous factors resultant of being raised in a single-parent home. The proposed study utilizes an exploratory positive psychology approach to investigate levels of resiliency and adaptive skill sets present in college students raised in single-parent households in comparison to degree of cumulative risk encountered. Analyses of these variables will be completed through ordinary least squares multiple regression. Furthermore, parenting style will be examined as a potential moderator of resiliency. Finally, this study proposes the adoption of a new paradigm in ongoing investigation of this unique population. / text

Using a strong invariance structural equation modeling approach, the current study explored the role of parental styles, along with age and IQ, on the expression of psychopathic personality facets in a large (N = 734) male sample of Hispanic and non-Hispanic offenders. Multiple group confirmatory factor analyses revealed evidence of strong invariance across ethnic groups for the psychopathy and parenting scales (CFI = .95; RMSEA .03). Person-centered analyses examining psychopathic versus non-psychopathic cases demonstrated that the former reported greater levels of dysfunctional parenting, particularly abuse. Structural equation modeling results highlighted differential relationships between the variables of interest as a function of race/ethnicity.

Self-esteem and internalizing symptoms have been found to be of great consequence throughout the lifespan, but behavioral genetic research exploring these variables in young children is lacking. Minimal research has explored the heritability of internalizing difficulties or self-esteem within preschool-aged children, and no studies have done so while also considering parenting behaviors. Thus, the present study investigated the heritability of self-esteem and internalizing symptoms and examined the relations between self-esteem, internalizing symptoms, and parenting behaviors within preschool-aged twins. Data were collected from 61 twin pairs at the ages of 4 and 5. Parenting behavior data were obtained from parent-child interactions that took place in a lab setting when the twins were 4 years old. At age 5, twins were administered a self-report measure of self-esteem and parents completed a measure of internalizing symptoms. Results indicated that internalizing symptoms were significantly heritable but self-esteem was not, although there was some support for the presence of budding genetic influences for self-esteem. Self-esteem and internalizing symptoms were significantly positively related within one sub-sample of twins and were not significantly correlated within the replication sub-sample. Interestingly, self-esteem and internalizing symptoms were not significant predictors of each other above and beyond genetic influences. Parenting behavior was not significantly related to either self-esteem or internalizing symptoms. Results showed that children who over-rated their peer-related competence tended to have more internalizing symptoms than those who under-rated or realistically rated themselves in this domain. Findings demonstrate that genes are important to consider when investigating internalizing symptoms and self-esteem in this age group. Also, although little support was found for the importance of self-esteem accuracy in children's internalizing symptoms, more research is necessary to understand it.

Magister Artium (Child and Family Studies) - MA(CFS) / Parental involvement during late adolescence has been confirmed by scholars as a major determinant in fostering the educational and psychosocial outcomes in the life trajectory of an individual. Certain bodies of literature, however, argue that parental involvement declines dramatically during adolescence, while others insist that parents merely employ more developmentally appropriate forms of involvement. Western-based parental involvement frameworks – while useful – have not sufficiently captured the contextualised perceptions, experiences and challenges of late adolescents in rural South Africa.

Due to the significant relationships between parenting style, attachment, and identity formation found in previous literature, this study investigated the possibility of attachment playing a mediational role in the relationship between parenting and identity style. A total of 264 students from two high schools participated in this study. Although not mediational, significant relationships between maternal responsiveness, attachment, and the normative identity style were found. An outstanding and unexpected finding of this study was that the attachment and responsiveness measurements, although thought to be assessing different variables, are now suspected to be looking at constructs that are almost one-in-the-same. Extending to practical applications, the results of this study could be used to aid programs focused on fostering positive youth development by emphasizing parental interaction, warmth, and support.

Magister Artium - MA / This study aims to explore the family environment of non-admitting sex offenders in order to gain insight into the family characteristics that could be contributing factors towards the behaviour of denial. However, the focus will not be on the families of the sex offenders, but rather on the non-admitting sex offenders’ views of their family environment. The theoretical framework used is the Social Learning Theory, because it supports the fact that most behaviour is learned through modelling the behaviour of others. The researcher used a qualitative approach and the aim of the study was to generate information that would describe the family environment of non-admitting sex offenders. The population of this study was incarcerated, sentenced sex offenders with specific focus on the non-admitting sex offender as the unit of analysis. Ten (10) participants were purposively selected for the study and semi-structured interviews were conducted with each one in order to generate the needed information for the study

According to the dual valuing process model (Grouzet, 2013), the social context can either facilitate the natural human tendency to pursue intrinsic goals, or thwart it by promoting extrinsic goals. Congruent with this idea, research in self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000) suggests that parental autonomy support (PAS) is associated with the development of intrinsic goals, whereas more controlling parenting styles, such as conditional regard (PCR), are expected to facilitate extrinsic goals. Results from two preliminary studies suggest that mothers tended to use PAS to promote goals that were more intrinsic, as well young adults were more likely to autonomously internalize these goals, whereas PCR was associated with more extrinsic goals. In the current study, we sought to extend these findings by including a general measure of perceived parenting style, as well as asking participants to recall a goal that was promoted during adolescence (i.e., 13-16 years). Results from this study indicate no difference in the type of goal that was promoted or the way in which it was internalized when mothers used either autonomy support or conditional regard, over and above general parenting style. Results will be further discussed in with respect to parenting, self-determination theory, and the dual valuing process model. / Graduate