The Role of Parenting Styles in Predicting Adolescent Behavioral and Emotional Problems

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the role of parenting styles in predicting behavioral and emotional problems in adolescents.  Methods: This study is a descriptive, cross sectional, and correlation research. All students enrolled in the first grade in boys’ guidance school of District 3 in Tehran city and their parents constituted the population. One hundred and eighty participants comprising 60 adolescents (boys) and their parents participated in the study. Convenience sampling method was used for recruiting these participants. Parents completed Baumrind’s Parenting Styles Questionnaire (PSQ Baumrind, 1972) and students responded to the Seattle Personality Questionnaire for Children (SPQC Greenberg & Kusche, 1990). A stepwise regression analysis was utilized to address the prediction power of Behavioral and emotional problems  Results: The results indicated that authoritarian style in fathers is associated with depression, as well as behavioral and emotional problems (total score). However, the authoritarian style in mothers is related to anxiety, depression, as well as behavioral and emotional problems (total score). Moreover, permissiveness in mothers is associated with conduct problems.  Conclusion: The results are consistent with the results of previous studies stressing the role of parents in predicting children’s behavioral-emotional problems.