Awareness of Parenting Style/Practices and the Effect on Adolescent Identity

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Adolescents are involved in the difficult task of identifying themselves and making important life decisions. (Smits, Soenens, Vansteenkiste, Luyckx, & Goossens, 2010). The support from parents seems to greatly assist adolescents in their identity formation process. Two theories that have been used in research to examine adolescent identity are the psychosocial development of adolescents and Bandura’s social learning theory. Psychosocial development as theorized by Erikson has eight stages through which a healthily developing human should pass from infancy to late adulthood (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2010). Adolescents fall into stage five, Identity vs. Role Confusion, in which the question of “Who am I” is trying to be answered. In trying to discover the answer to this question adolescents tend to gravitate to groups they feel they fit into. Social learning theory focuses on the learning that occurs within a social context (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2010). Bandura’s theory considers that people learn from one another, including such concepts as observational learning, imitation, and modeling (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2010). These two theories will be used as a framework for this study. Both emphasize the importance of environmental influences as a basis for understanding the relationship between parents and adolescents. In early 1960, psychologist Diana Baumrind conducted a study in which she suggested that the majority of parents display one of four types of parenting styles (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2010). The construct of parenting style is used to capture normal variations in parents’ attempts to control and socialize their children (Darling, 1999). Two points are critical in understanding this definition. First, parenting style is meant to descri... ... middle of paper ... ...2006). Patterns of Competence and Adjustment Among Adolescents from Authoritative, Authoritarian, Indulgent, and Neglectful Homes: A Replication in a Sample of Serious Juvenile Offenders. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 16(1), 47-58. doi:10.1111/j.1532-7795.2006.00119.x Vieno, A., Nation, M., Pastore, M., & Santinello, M. (2009). Parenting and antisocial behavior: A model of the relationship between adolescent self-disclosure, parental closeness, parental control, and adolescent antisocial behavior. Developmental Psychology, 45(6), 1509-1519. doi:10.1037/a0016929 Smits, I., Soenens, B., Vansteenkiste, M., Luyckx, K., & Goossens, L. (2010). Why Do Adolescents Gather Information or Stick to Parental Norms? Examining Autonomous and Controlled Motives behind Adolescents' Identity Style. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 39(11), 1343-1356. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

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