engleski

Parenting Styles and Peer Relationships in the School Context: The Role of Social Status

A greater number of previous studies have clearly demonstrated that parents and their parenting behavior, specifically their relationship with their own children, have a very strong influence on desirable child socialization outcomes. Parental behavior toward the child can have both good and bad effects on the psychological and social development of the child. In a review of research related to the social status of adolescents in a group of peers, it is evident that the child's acceptance or popularity among peers is often associated with parenting behavior and family atmosphere. This study presents research on the relationship between some aspects of parenting styles and peer relationships in the school context, especially in the classroom settings. Specifically, in the two groups of adolescents – a high and low social status group- the relationship between some aspects of parenting styles and peer acceptance were examined. The research involved 345 participants (109 boys ; 236 girls), students from a few high schools in Croatia. The average age of all participants was 17.7. Results related to parenting styles, peer relationships and adolescent social status in the peer group were obtained by the use of psychometrically validated psychological instruments. Parenting styles are operationalized by using a Croatian version of perceived parental child-rearing practices (Raboteg-Saric et al. 2004). For accessing the quality of peer relationships a scale rating technique was used and a standard nomination procedure was used for social status measurement as described by Frederickson and Furnham (1998). The obtained results shows that the most frequent parental behavior, as perceived by adolescents, among the measured ones, are mother’s emotional support and control together with father’s emotional support. To verify the connection between perceived parental child-rearing practices and peer relationships, findings show that parental child-rearing practices in different ways are related to what degree male or female adolescents are accepted within peer groups. In other words, the acceptance of male adolescents within a peer group will be less if father’s support and joint decision-making with father is greater while acceptance within a peer group is greater among girls if mother’s and father’s support is greater. The obtained results show that parental rearing approaches can be related in different ways depending on whether the male or female adolescent is accepted within a low and high social status group. The study also tries to point out certain problems that need to be solved in future studies on this matter as well as some practical implications of findings on educational practices.

parenting styles ; social status ; school

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