Parenting Styles and Adolescent Misbehavior

Guansheng Wu and Yaqin Su

China & World Economy, 2024, vol. 32, issue 6, 98-127

Abstract: Adolescence is a crucial period for character development and is particularly susceptible to parental influence due to the brain's malleability. This paper examines whether parenting styles can have a significant impact on adolescent misbehaviors such as disobedience and aggression. The results show that, in comparison with neglectful parenting – characterized by low levels of demandingness and responsiveness – authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting styles were associated with a significant reduction in behavioral issues among adolescents. The beneficial impact of authoritative parenting, marked by high demandingness and responsiveness, was particularly strong. In contrast, authoritarian parenting (high demandingness but low responsiveness) and permissive parenting (high responsiveness but low demandingness) were less effective in reducing behavioral issues. Our results remained robust after addressing potential issues of reverse causality, omitted variable bias, and selective sorting between teachers and students. The results also show that teachers and their interactions with parents played an important role in mitigating the adverse effects of neglectful parenting. Overall, our findings suggest that adopting parenting styles that strike a balance between discipline and care can strongly foster positive behaviors in adolescents.

Date: 2024
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