Over-Time Changes in Adjustment and Competence among Adolescents from Authoritative, Authoritarian, Indulgent, and Neglectful Families

TLDR

Adolescent adjustment varies by parenting style, as shown in prior research. This one‑year follow‑up examined whether those differences persist over time. A heterogeneous sample of about 2,300 14‑18‑year‑olds was classified into four parenting‑style groups and assessed at baseline and one year later with standardized instruments measuring psychosocial development, academic achievement, internal distress, and behavior problems. The study found that adjustment differences associated with parenting style were maintained or increased over time, with authoritative parenting sustaining high adjustment and neglectful parenting leading to accumulating adverse effects.

Abstract

In a previous report, we demonstrated that adolescents' adjustment varies as a function of their parents' style (e.g., authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, neglectful). This 1-year follow-up was conducted in order to examine whether the observed differences are maintained over time. In 1987, an ethnically and socioeconomically heterogeneous sample of approximately 2,300 14-18-year-olds provided information used to classify the adolescents' families into 1 of 4 parenting style groups. That year, and again 1 year later, the students completed a battery of standardized instruments tapping psychosocial development, school achievement, internalized distress, and behavior problems. Differences in adjustment associated with variations in parenting are either maintained or increase over time. However, whereas the benefits of authoritative parenting are largely in the maintenance of previous levels of high adjustment, the deleterious consequences of neglectful parenting continue to accumulate.