Parenting styles and school success of adolescents

Abstract

Starting from the advanced variant of Diana Baumrind's model of parenting styles (PS) elaborated by Eleanor Maccoby and John Martin (1983), a typologically oriented research was conducted. This paper presents the results of verifying the relationship between PS as constellations of parenting procedures and school success (GPA) at the end of the school year in Serbian students. The respondents were students of all four grades from two secondary schools in South Banat (N = 282, mean age 16.9 years). Data on PS were collected using the Parenting Style Scale by Susie Lamborn et al. (1991), and on school success and relevant socio-demographic variables using a specially constructed questionnaire. Both bivariately and multivariately with control variables in analysis, the results indicate a significant positive relationship between authoritative and, to some extent, permissive PS and school success. In terms of strength and direction, the relationship is largely in line with the results obtained by other researchers in Serbia and abroad. Although respondents from authoritative and permissive families tend to have better, and those from families with neglectful PS poorer school performance than others in the sample, 4 out of 10 respondents from families with neglectful PS had excellent school success. This confirms Diana Baumrind's observation that a fairly high academic achievement, due to the influence of some other factors, is also possible with some other PS, and not only with authoritative and democratic (permissive) PS. After considering the significance of the results obtained and the limitations of the study, recommendations for further research are given.