May 18, 2016 - for letting me a part of her Ph.D. Journey which taught me more than anyone ever could have about several ..... Schooling years include that time of life where the child learns ..... behaviour and accomplishments of their children by an 'absolute standard' .... Indian context, on the basis of qualitative analysis.
“A STUDY OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARENTING AND COMMUNICATION STYLES OF PARENTS AND THE PERSONALITY OF THE ADOLESCENTS WITH PERCEIVED PARENTING STYLE AS A MEDIATING VARIABLE” A THESIS SUBMITTED TO SAVITRIBAI PHULE PUNE UNIVERSITY
FOR AWARD OF DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (PH.D.) IN THE FACULTY OF MENTAL, MORAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
SUBMITTED BY
KSHIPRA V. MOGHE UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF
DR. ANAGHA LAVALEKAR
RESEARCH CENTRE DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY, SAVITRIBAI PHULE PUNE UNIVERSITY PUNE
MAY 2016
CERTIFICATE OF THE GUIDE (Form „A‟)
CERTIFIED that the work incorporated in this thesis A Study of Relationship Between Parenting and Communication Styles of Parents and the Personality of the Adolescents with Perceived Parenting Style as a Mediating Variable, submitted by Kshipra V. Moghe was carried out by the candidate under my supervision/guidance. Such material that has been obtained from other sources has been duly acknowledged in the thesis.
Date: May, 2016
Dr. Anagha Lavalekar (Research Guide)
ii
DECLARATION BY THE CANDIDATE
I declare that the thesis entitled A Study of Relationship Between Parenting and Communication Styles of Parents and the Personality of the Adolescents with Perceived Parenting Style as a Mediating Variable, submitted by me for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy is the record of work carried out by me during the period from May 19 2011 to May 18 2016 under the guidance of Dr. Anagha Lavalekar and has not formed the basis for the award of any degree, diploma, associateship, fellowship, titles in this or any other University or any other institution of Higher learning. I further declare that the material obtained from other sources has been duly acknowledged in the thesis.
Date: May, 2016
Kshipra V. Moghe Researcher
iii
FORWARDED THROUGH
DR. R. S. MHASKE Head Department of Psychology Savitribai Phule Pune University Pune- 411007
Place: Pune Date: May, 2016
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Words are never enough to acknowledge the ways in which people contribute in any endeavour. Nevertheless, being thankful that is inevitably taught to us is equally important. I begin this note by thanking Dr. S C Abhyankar, Dr. I S Mulla and Dr. A D Sahasrabuddhe for instilling the idea of pursuing Ph. D; they must have seen something in me that I could not! Next, my sincere thanks to Dr. B R Shejwal for the constant support during his tenure and Dr. A J Wadkar for introducing me to my Guide-Dr. Anagha Lavalekar. I really fall short of words while thanking her. She has not just been a source of constant inspiration in the domain of research but her motherly concern, care and considerations came at a time when I was in dire need of the same; contrary to the various versions I heard earlier, it was a revelation to learn in these years what a relationship with a mentor means, solely because of this one fortunate relationship that happened by chance.
Next I thank my source of support, encouragement and belief- all my dear most colleagues at College of Engineering, Pune (CoEP), with special mention of Dr. M Y Khaladkar, Dr. J A Kher, Mrs. N V Iyer, Mrs. V M Karve, Mrs. A S Khandekar, and Mrs. Poorva Kulkarni for their staunch conviction and constant pressure- it worked! A special thanks to Namrata Saraf for letting me a part of her Ph.D. Journey which taught me more than anyone ever could have about several administrative aspects. I also am deeply thankful to Dr. M R Shindikar, Dr. M K Ranjekar and Mrs. T J Kher and Dr. K S Suranje for their guidance and continuous help in several unsaid ways. Further, I will always be grateful to the authorities at CoEP, specifically to the Director Dr B B Ahuja and Deputy Director Dr. B N Chaudhary, for giving me all the necessary permissions and absolute freedom to proceed with my work and finish it within time. I also am sincerely thankful to the wonderful team at Jnana Prabodhini’s Institute of Psychology, for being a never ending resource for everything I needed as part of the research; special mention for Dr. Sujalatai Watve, Deepatai Bokil, Jyotsanatai, Kale sir, Neha and Veena. Similarly, I extend my sincere thanks to the Head, Dr. R S Mhaske and the entire office staff at University’s Department of Psychology, for their invaluable guidance, timely help and efforts. I must also thank all the authorities of the schools that gave me their precious time for data v
collection; special mention for Mrs. Swapnila Sethia, Mrs. Suchitra Date, Mrs. Jayashree Desai and Radhika ma’am for their personal involvement in the process of data collection.
A special thanks to those who guided me in the most difficult aspects of research, i.e. methodology and statistics- Dr. Vaishali Mardhekar, Dr. Anjali Radkar, and most importantly to Ms. Hansika Kapoor and Ms. Rupa Kalahasthi from the Monk Prayogshala, Mumbai- my attitude towards research has never been the same ever since. Similarly, some resources came to my aid in the times of utter crisis; a genuine thanks to Google.com and YouTube.com and all those scholars who laboriously created educational videos for students like me, especially YouTube channels from Dr. Andy Field, Dr. Kent Löfgren, and howtostats.com. I also thank Ms. Pooja and Ms. Dipali from the Vidyarthi Sahayak Samiti for assisting me in a crucial part of the analysis. Also, thanks to Mrs. Rajshree Kapure, Mrs. Anjali Kedari and Mr. Bhupinder Singh for their timely guidance which helped me sail through some particularly tough situations.
My dear friends Manasi and Shreyasi, who believed in me incessantly, must be mentioned here. I am thankful to my amazing in-laws who acknowledged the importance of my work and resolutely stood by me throughout; especially my dearest mother and father in-law in whom I have found additional set of parents. My beloved maiden family members who unconditionally and undoubtedly supported me; special mention of my dearest sisters, brother-inlaws and my Aai-Baba whom I consider as people I can put a claim and fall back on any day. As customary it is, I thank the Almighty for giving me this wonderful life full of opportunities. And lastly, my profound thanks to my best friend, believer, supporter and a true partner- my husband, without whom I could never have dreamed of anything bright, positive and possible.
With this I dedicate my work to all the parents and parents to-be; to celebrate their wonderful journey of parenthood and to explore a new chapter in their lives.
vi
TURNITIN REPORT
Dr. Anagha Lavalekar (Research Guide) vii
ABSTRACT This study tried to explore new avenues in the area of parenting with evidence based review. It focused on multiple layers of three important aspects of in the mother-daughter relationship— parenting styles, communication styles (as parenting practices) of mothers and personality factors of adolescent daughters; it also considered perceived parenting styles as possible mediator in the relationship. Due to the multiple levels in each variable and to restrict the span of analysis, hypotheses were framed considering authoritative parenting style and dominant, relaxed, friendly, attentive and open communication styles of mothers with five major factors of adolescent
daughters’ personality, viz. emotional stability, assertiveness,
adventurousness, self-assurance and self sufficiency. The analysis was conducted using multistrategy survey research and the total sample size for quantitative analysis was N=242 (nmothers=121, ndaughters= 121) while for qualitative was N=14 (nmothers=7, ndaughters=7). The Parenting Style Inventory (a two way form to measure perceptions of mothers and daughters), Communication Style Measure, and High School Personality Questionnaire were administered to collect data for analysis. Analysis included initial data scrutiny and cleaning, followed by descriptive and inferential statistical methods. It was found that authoritative parenting was most commonly used parenting style, albeit with some differences. While there was total consensus regarding permissive style, obvious differences were seen in the perception about authoritarian parenting. Mothers seem to be adopting open, dramatic and dominant communication in varying degrees. Relaxed, open, precise, and dramatic, communication styles were most significant predictors to influence daughters’ emotional stability, assertiveness, conscientiousness, adventurousness, self assurance, and self-discipline. Perceived parenting styles contributed in influencing personality factors but were not found to mediate the mother-daughter relationship. Factors such as family environment, perceived role of fathers, communication pattern in the family, mothers’ background and most importantly cultural and societal factors were found to be highly contributing in the mother-daughter relationship through qualitative analysis. Four possible parenting outcomes were proposed after final observations that highlighted the role of culture and background, changing times and role of communication, and idea of imitational parenting.
viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLES
Page No.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
v-vi
TURN-IT-IN REPORT
vii
ABSTRACT
viii
LIST OF TABLES
xii
LIST OF FIGURES
xiii
CHAPTERS I
INTRODUCTION
1-19
1.1
Overview
1.2
Concepts and Theoretical Background
2-17
1.3
The Present Study
18-19
1
Statement of the Problem Significance of the Study Objectives 19
1.4
Summary
II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
20-42
2.1
Introduction
20-21
2.2
Review on Parenting Styles
21-29
2.3
Review on Communication Styles
29-33
2.4
Review on Personality of Adolescents
33-36
2.5
Review on Perceived Parenting Style
36-38
2.6
Review on Role of Cultural Aspects
38-42
2.7
Summary
42
ix
III
METHODOLOGY
43-65
3.1
Introduction
3.2
Variables, Definitions and Hypotheses
43 44-50
Variables and the Rationale Operational Definitions Research Design Hypotheses 3.3
50-64
Method Sample Characteristics Tools Procedure Proposed Analysis
65
3.4
Summary
IV
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
66-182
4.1
Introduction
66-67
4.2
Sample Characteristics
68-72
Parenting Styles Communication Styles of Mothers Personality Factors of Adolescent Daughters 4.3
72-90
Data Scrutiny Normality Testing for Distribution of Data Homogeneity of Variance Interval Data Independence
4.4
Difference Between Means
90-92
4.5
Correlation Analysis
92-130
4.6
Regression Analysis
130-148
4.7
Mediation Analysis
148-153
4.8
Inductive Thematic Analysis
154-157
4.9
Themes and Analysis
157-181 x
4.10 Summary
181-182
V
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
183-204
5.1
Introduction
5.2
Summary- Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis
184-195
5.3
Summary of Observations-
195-198
183
Outcomes and Contributions of This Study 5.4
Final Conclusions
199-202
5.5
Limitations
202-203
5.6
Scope for Further Research
203-204
REFERENCES
205-222
APPENDICES
223-243
A. Demographic Data Sheet B. Permission Letter from School (Sample) ample Items from tests C. Permission Letter from Mothers (Sample) D. Instructions for Test Administration E. Sample Items from Tests F. Sample Items Communication Style Measure- Marathi translated G. Answer-sheets H. Report to School and Mothers (Sample) I. Questions of Semi-Structured Interview
xi
LIST OF TABLES
Table No.
TITLE
Page No.
1.2.1.1
Parenting Styles by Diana Baumrind
4
3.3.2.1
High School Personality Questionnaire Dichotomies
55
4.2.1-4.2.3
Descriptive Statistics
69-71
4.3.1-4.3.2
Tests of Normality and Skewness and Kurtosis for Parenting & Perceived
74-75
Parenting 4.3.3-4.3.4
Tests of Normality and Skewness and Kurtosis for Communication Styles
81
4.3.5-4.3.6
Tests of Normality and Skewness and Kurtosis for Personality Factors
4.5.1
Correlation Coefficients for Cluster 1
94
4.5.2
Correlation Coefficients for Cluster 2
98
4.5.3
Correlation Coefficients for Cluster 3
101
4.5.4
Correlation Coefficients for Cluster 4
104
4.5.5
Correlation Coefficients for Cluster 5
107
4.5.6
Correlation Coefficients for Cluster 6
110
4.5.7
Correlation Coefficients for Cluster 7
114
4.5.8
Correlation Coefficients for Communication Styles and Personality
119
84-85
Factors 4.5.9
Correlation Coefficients for Parenting and Communication Styles
123
4.5.10
Correlation Coefficients for Perceived Parenting and Personality Factors
127
4.6.1-4.6.5
Regression Parenting & Communication Style and Factor C, E, H, O and
132-136
Q2 4.6.6-4.6.10
Regression Parenting & Communication Style and Additional Factors D,
137-141
G, I, J and Q3 4.6.11-4.6.15
Regression Daughters’ Perceived Parenting and Factor C, G, Q3, O and Q4
4.7.1
Proposed Combinations for Mediation Model I
151
4.8.1
Coding Process in Inductive Analysis
157
xii
143-147
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure No. 1.2.1.1
TITLE Conceptual Model of Parenting Styles
Page No. 6
3.3.1.1 – 3.3.1.8 Pie Charts for Data Details
52
3.3.4.1
Typology of Qualitative Research
64
4.3.1 – 4.3.8
Histograms- Parenting Style (Mothers and Daughters)
4.3.9 – 4.3.12
Box Plots- Parenting Style (Mothers and Daughters)
77
4.3.13 – 4.3.14
Histograms- Uninvolved Parenting (Log Transformation)
79
4.3.15 – 4.3.24
Histograms- Communication Styles (Mothers)
82-83
4.3.25 – 4.3.38
Histograms- Personality Factors (Daughters)
86-88
4.3.39
Histograms- Factor I-Sensitivity (Log Transformation)
88
4.4.1
Histogram- Mean Differences in Parenting Styles
91
4.7.1
Proposed Mediation Model I
150
4.7.2-4.7.3
Proposed Mediation Model II and III
152
4.9.1
Perceptual Process in Parenting by Mothers
177
xiii
76-77
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 OVERVIEW
Parenting has been the topic of research for the past many years. Family is a place where a child gets his initial social education. It serves as the basis of socialization as it is here that the child learns social norms, creates assumptions about the world and learns to be a suitable and acceptable member of the society. In the process of socialization, the child comes in contact with a number of people who may or may not be related to blood, and thus establishes various relationships. However, the most important relationship that makes maximum impact on the child’s development is the parent-child relationship.
Many longitudinal studies indicate the influence that parenting holds diverse aspects of children’s development even after controlling children’s earlier characteristics (Bornstein et. al. 1996; Carlson, 1998; Laird et al., 2003). These findings suggest that the influence of parents is profound and everlasting (Berk, 2007). The shaping of personality starts at a very early age, an age where the child spends most of his time with his parents. Parents’ child-rearing styles play an important role in the growth, personality development, and behaviour of children (Jessor & Jessor, 1974; Maccoby & Martin, 1983; Niemi, 1988). Parenting is a complex activity that includes many specific behaviors that work individually as well as together to influence child outcomes (Darling, 1999). Growing up in a comforting home and experiencing a stable and secure relationship with one’s parents is an important prerequisite for socialization. Child-rearing styles are combinations of parenting behaviours that occur over a wide range of situations, creating an enduring child-rearing climate (Berk, 2007). This chapter discusses the important theories and concepts that served as the basis for the present study.
1
1.2 CONCEPTS AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Research is a domain that requires substantial theoretical background, even when the area of research is new. Other than the primary variables, this section also discusses the roles of underlying aspects that were considered crucial while designing this study. It also discusses the novelty mother-daughter dyad and cultural aspects brought to the parent-adolescent relationship, which was explored with respect to the primary variables.
1.2.1
Parenting Style Parenting style has been defined as a global climate in which a family functions and in which childrearing takes place (Darling & Steinberg, 1993). Most of the research on parenting is based on the landmark series of studies conducted by Diana Baumrind, who gathered information on child rearing by watching parents, interact with their preschoolers (Baumrind, 1971a; Baumrind & Black, 1967). Baumrind’s findings resulted into the conceptualization of four parenting styles, originally based on two aspects of parental behaviours: parental warmth and parental control. Parental control (also known as parental demandingness; Maccoby & Martin, 1983) refers to the degree to which parents manage their children’s behavior—from being very controlling to setting few rules and demands (Kopko, 2007). This generally promotes maturity in the behaviour of the child (Berk, 2007). Parental warmth (also known as parental responsiveness; Maccoby & Martin, 1983) refers to the degree to which parents are accepting and responsive of their children’s behavior as opposed to being unresponsive and rejecting (Kopko, 2007). A third aspect was added later as an extension to Baumrind’s work- named autonomy granting, to encourage selfreliance and was conceptualized as being the opposite of psychological control or democracy (Steinberg, Elmen & Mounts, 1989).
The four parenting styles are thus, based on the different combinations of these three aspects. The authoritative style includes high warmth and control as 2
well as autonomy granting. The authoritative parents encourage their adolescent to be independent while maintaining limits and controls on their actions. They engage in discussions when a decision is to be taken and consider the adolescent’s viewpoint, although the ultimate responsibility resides with the parent. Throughout childhood and adolescence, authoritative parenting is linked with the development of competence, responsibility and autonomy which leads to high self-esteem, social and moral maturity, etc. (Berk, 2007). The authoritarian style includes less warmth, high control and low autonomy granting. These parents are strict disciplinarians, use a restrictive, punitive style, and insist that their adolescent follow parental directions (Kopko, 2007). They appear cold and rejecting, do not engage into discussions with their teens and value strict discipline over independent behaviour. Children of authoritarian parents may be anxious and unhappy, have low self-esteem and may become rebellious or dependent as they reach adolescence. The permissive style involves high warmth but less control and instead of granting autonomy, they allow children to take decisions for themselves even when they are incapable of doing so. They are lenient and not very active in their parenting, and believe that the way to demonstrate their love is to give in to their adolescent’s wishes (Kopko, 2007). As a result, the children may become impulsive, disobedient, demanding and rebellious. The uninvolved style involve less warmth, little control and indifference towards granting autonomy. These parents are unconcerned about parenting, too busy in their own stresses to spend time and energy for their children (Maccoby & Martin, 1983). They may respond to the demands of accessible objects made by the children, but lack any parenting strategies, such as control, discipline, interaction, listening, guidance and expressing love and care. Children of such parents generally display poor emotional self-regulation, difficulties in academic performance, and antisocial behavior (Berk, 2007). Baumrind’s model of parenting has been used for the purpose of studying parenting styles in the present study and can be summarized as:
3
Table 1.2.1.1: Parenting Styles by Diana Baumrind Parental Warmth
Parental Control
Autonomy-granting
Authoritative
High
High
High
Authoritarian
Low
High
Low
Permissive
High
Low
Allow decisionmaking
Uninvolved
Low
Low
Low
Parenting style provides a robust prediction of the child’s personality and thus should be the one comprising of warmth, control and granting autonomy. Among the parents, it is the mother with whom the child spends most of his/her time, at least until s/he is in schooling years (i.e. until middle adolescence). The role of mother or the style of upbringing is largely associated with the development of personality because a child first comes in contact with his/her mother and largely depends on her to satisfy his/her basic needs. The role of mother shows better control over the children. Schooling years include that time of life where the child learns everything that would be required in the future and it is at this stage that the child, being depended on parents, is in maximum contact with the parents. Generally, it is seen that fathers are considered to be the providers, responsible for arranging all the necessities for a good life for their family. Fathers, according to gender roles, need to work and thus, get to spend less time with children. Mothers, on the other hand, are considered to be responsible for the overall development including social, moral, cultural, emotional as well as academic aspects of the child’s life. Irrespective of whether they work or not, mothers are perceived to be responsible for how and what kind of a person the child becomes.
Thus, it is expected of them to spend maximum time with their children so as to focus on their everyday needs and help them become better individuals. Therefore, it may be possible that the influence of mother’s parenting style 4
contribute more to the development of the child’s personality. Research indicates that mothers, socialized to be nurturing, may contribute more to a child’s development of interpersonal skills and humanistic concerns than fathers (Richards, et al, 1991). With this background, the focus of present study with respect to parenting styles was mothers of the adolescent sample.
Other than the concepts suggested by Baumrind, another model that has been considered as a strong base for analyzing parenting styles is the integrative model given by Darling & Steinberg (1993). In their work, Darling and Steinberg differentiated between parenting styles and parental practices (behaviours defined by specific content and socialization goals). Parenting style convey parent’s attitude whereas parental practices conveys the behavioural aspect of parent-child interaction. The integrative model by Darling & Steinberg, where they consider style as a context, is based on the notion that parenting styles and parenting practices are the outcome of the goals and values parents establish as part of socialization of their child; the model specifically discusses the adolescent age group. These goals of socialization include the development of individual characteristics (like social and academic skills and mannerisms) and global characteristics (like curiosity, critical and independent thinking, spirituality and happiness). They suggest that parenting style act as an indirect but primary mechanism which influences adolescent development and parenting practices have a direct effect on the development of these specific behaviours and characteristics in the child. In other words, parenting styles act as a moderator in influencing parenting practices on adolescent development. Further, the model also reiterates Baumrind’s idea that the overall socialization also incorporates children’s contribution in their development by influencing their parents; this suggests the reciprocal nature of parent-child relationship, where the compliance of children is necessary to receive the style/practices adopted by parents. The result as suggested by the integrative model is that the adolescent outcomes are depended directly and indirectly on: i) parenting styles, ii) parenting practices, and iii) the adolescent’s contribution in their own development. This can happen 5
in two ways: i) the pattern of parent- adolescent communication transforms, and ii) this will in turn moderate the influences of practices which result in specific adolescent outcomes. This can be depicted figuratively as:
Fig.- 1.2.1.1: Contextual model of parenting style, Darling & Steinberg (1993), pg. 493
Adapted with permission guidelines from American Psychological Association
Thus, the resulting psychological and behavioural characteristics or outcomes in an adolescent will depend on the combined result of the extent to which adopted parenting practices are correlated with those outcomes and the degree of effectiveness of the adopted parenting style that influences the adolescent in general, as well as the adolescent’s openness to accept parental influence. This model seems quite appropriate with the ever-changing patterns of parent-child relationship. Since parenting practices tend to directly affect adolescents’ behaviour and characteristics, it is more or less expressed or explained and understood from the parent-child interactions. Therefore, the communication pattern of mothers was considered as a measure of parenting practice in this study. Furthermore, before labeling the authoritative style as the most effective one, the integrative model also purported that there could be certain undeniable variations in the goals with which parents try to socialize their child; these may certainly vary according to cultural differences. This study, therefore, was an attempt to amalgamate these peripheral issues as well. This study, also tried to explore the applicability of parenting style v/s parental practices in the Indian context, with specific focus on mother-daughter dyad.
6
1.2.2
Communication Style Apart from adopting a particular parenting style, it is very important to communicate this style with equal caution. Since any relationship is based on a strong and effective communication, it can be said that the communication style of the parents may have some relation with that of the child’s personality. Communication is the process by which an understanding is created between those who are a part of the process. It can be called as a blend of verbal and nonverbal language and behaviour, which aims at creating a mutual understanding and serves as the basis for a healthy relationship. Numerous studies demonstrate that the type and quantity of family interaction are directly related to children's social and moral behavior (Belsky, Rovine & Taylor, 1984; Doane, 1978; Easterbrooks & Goldberg, 1984; Perkins, 1989). A parent-adolescent relationship is such that requires more attention with respect to the communication pattern between them. Furthermore, these activities, collectively referred to as "parental communication style" (Pearson, 1989), create an atmosphere that can either speed up or slow down the development of important skills, for example language, understanding and emotional as well as social. The parental communication style creates an impact on various aspects related to development in their adolescent children.
Literature suggests that parents may not sufficiently recognize the importance of their indirect methods of influence i.e. cultivating communication patterns within the family, which in turn do not help children develop effective decisionmaking skills (Fujioka & Austin, 2002). According to Baumrind, authoritarian parents seek strict obedience (control of power) from the child and discourage give and take (communication). Authoritative parents, however, might make rules but demonstrate more openness towards their child’s opinions and more willingness to adjust their behavior accordingly, reflecting an emphasis on power yet encouraging communication. Since communication is an interpersonal process, it encompasses all the means by which individuals can convey their message. Needless to say it may take several forms and manifestations that 7
emerge from the various levels of consciousness; this intercommunication when happens in a family tend to strengthen family bonding (Cervantes, 1966). However, with the constant exposure to media and other technologies, the interaction between parents and children seems to have reduced largely. It has become increasingly difficult for parents to interact with their adolescents, what with the continuously developing techniques and bombardment of gadgets. The pattern of interaction may contribute to the adolescent’s association with technology and media, for instance children's perceptions of the reality of television programs and the type of social information they extracted and applied to their own life situations do affect interpersonal skills (Abelman, 2010). This surely calls for a constant need of parental monitoring, management and involvement on the parents’ part (LeMoyne & Buchanan, 2011).
The kind of communication style parents use while interacting with their child may influence certain personality characteristics, which might show up noticeably in their personality. The need and advantages of openness in family communication has been generally endorsed in the research literature and so has been the impact of a balanced parent-child interaction on several personality and social outcomes in adolescents’ behaviour, like social skills, coping skills, involvement in a wide range of risk behaviours, conceptualization of sexuality, and also delinquent behaviours. Many a times the impact of communication style of the parents is reflected in the form of conflicts that arise in a parent-child relationship. Therefore, both parenting and communication style can be called as the major contributing factors in shaping an adolescent’s personality. Since the communication pattern in Indian families appear quite different and may be largely culturally loaded, it is important to study the various facets of the same.
The present study aimed at combining the parenting styles and communication styles of mothers, the reason being that a mother may adopt a particular parenting style but may not be able to convey it in the same way. As discussed earlier, parenting style could be considered as an attitude that a parent adopts in theory, 8
while parenting practices are those behaviours that are the result of that theory put into practice. One of the most relevant ways to assess any relationship is the kind of communication existing in that relationship, which with respect to this study was considered as a parenting practice. There would, undoubtedly, be other factors that function as part of parenting practices that could be analyzed but communication style being most significant and obvious was considered for the assessment of parenting practices.
In order to measure the communication style of mothers, the Communicator Style Construct theory, by Robert W. Norton has been adopted in this research. Norton conceptualized communicator style as “the way one verbally and paraverbally interacts to signal how literal meaning should be taken, interpreted, filtered or understood” (Norton, 1978). He refers to the communicator style as a function of “consistently recurring communicative associations,” where a person adopts a stable pattern of interaction. Since this pattern or style is continuous and quite established, it can be possible to ascertain the personality of an individual on the basis of “the ‘way’, in which one behaves, thinks, perceives, remembers images or experiences” (Norton, 1983, p. 45). Norton’s attempt of developing a communicator style measure was based on the notion that any theory of interpersonal communication must focus on both what is communicated and how it is communicated. Communicator style could be defined as “the signals that are provided to help process, interpret, filter, or understand literal meaning” (p. 47). He also mentioned that style might not be a fixed portrayal of a person’s style of communication; a person could divert from his usual pattern depending on the type of interaction he is involved in. Based on the major contemporary studies in interpersonal communication, Norton established ten communicator style constructs namely, Friendly, Impression Leaving, Relaxed, Contentious, Attentive, Precise, Animated, Dramatic, Open and Dominant, as independent variables and one dependent variable, i.e. Communicator Image. The styles are described as follows (Norton, 1978):
9
1. Friendly: involves the range of lacking hostility to having deep intimacy. It is something that deeply connected with the love-hate dimension, affection, impulse, conformity, and positive stroking. Thus, friendly communicator is one who confirms, strokes, and positively recognizes others. The presence of these characteristics in a person generally can be associated with attraction, sociability, leadership, and social status. 2. Impression Leaving: includes communication directed towards creating an impression and being remembered by others. This style, however, is dependent on both the sender and the receiver in the communication process. Impression leaving can be understood from the very famous quote ‘first impression is the last impression,’ which also means that the initial impression determines the effect of this style in a communicator. This is marked by the amount of verbal communication, expressiveness, information seeking, level of intimacy, reciprocity, similarities and liking between sender and receiver. This style usually helps the communicator leave a memorable or visible impression. 3. Relaxed: This style can be best understood in reference with anxiety. A communicator with low anxiety levels will be more relaxed and vice-versa. Since anxiety levels vary from person to person and situation to situation, the relaxed style can send multiple messages to the receiver. For example it can make a communicator appear calm, serene, peaceful and also, confident and comfortable. The lack of tension or anxiety in such varied messages or signals may also be interpreted in different ways. 4. Contentious: involves being argumentative in communication. It refers to having negative components in an interaction and emerges usually in association with dominant style and thus provides a better understanding of the dominant style. 5. Attentive: involves making sure that the other person knows that he or she is being listened to. It is generally associated with terms like, empathy and listening, where one is actively involved in the communication process. It has been suggested that active listening or being attentive can be curative in interpersonal communication. Non verbal correlates of attentiveness include the duration of
10
gaze, or eye contact. Attentive style can also be considered to relate inversely with dominant and dramatic styles. 6. Precise: refers to accuracy or correctness. This style has not been explained exclusively in Norton’s extensive work on communicator constructs, but it is very much a part of the tool he developed to measure communicator styles. However, among a number of studies he did related to the application of various aspects of communication, he mentioned precise style in his study on measuring teacher’s effectiveness/ineffectiveness
(assessing
teacher’s
communicator
styles).
According to this study (Norton, 1977) precise style was perceived as something that eliminates vagueness in the subject matter taught, as well as something that clearly defines the expectations from the work assigned to students. From this small reference, one can say that precise communicator style is the ability to be correct and clear in the way words are used or expressed. 7. Animated: involves using many facial expressions and gestures, making continual eye contact, and demonstrating non-verbal cues while communicating. This type of communicator is associated with one being verbally/non-verbally attractive and one who speaks the truth. An animated communicator’s face readily gives away his/her emotions. S/he uses body language to exaggerate or understate the content, like smiling (in an approving manner), head nodding, and a high level of gestural activity. 8. Dramatic: includes communicator who “manipulates exaggerations, fantasies, stories, metaphors, rhythm, voice and other stylistic devices to highlight or understate content.” This style is considered as a function which is often unconscious, yet intentional, complex and interactive, since it is an extremely conspicuous style. The person may not realize it but dramatic style often reveals true feelings. It has been found to be related with how one copes with anxiety, have a positive self image, status, popularity, tolerance for vagueness and crucial functions of a group. 9. Open: involves “communicative activity that is characterized by styles that are conversational, expansive, affable, convivial, gregarious, unreserved, unsecretive, somewhat frank, possibly outspoken, definitely extroverted, and obviously 11
approachable.” The open communicator readily reveals information about self. It can be said that open communicator is found to be attractive, trustworthy, and reciprocal and therefore is liked by others easily. 10. Dominant: includes taking charge of social communication, behaving in a physically, psychologically and non-verbally dominant manner. There can be physical and psychological manifestations of this style, which may be apparent by one’s eye contact, congruent body movements, voice volume, pitch and modulation, etc. This style can predict a person’s behaviours, attitudes and perceptions. Dominant communication is also related to assertiveness, i.e., a dominant communicator appears confident, active, competitive, forceful, and businesslike. 11. Communicator Image: This sub-construct represents the only dependent variable in this model. It represents “an overall evaluation of a person’s perception of whether the self is a good communicator.” A person who has a good communicator image finds it easy to interact with others, irrespective of the interpersonal relation. This variable is something that acts as a test for one’s perception about his/her communicative ability. The person may not be able to identify exactly why the self is perceived as a good communicator, however, it is enough to note that a perception exists. Since it is a sub-construct depended entirely on the independent sub-constructs discussed above, its relevance in measuring communicator style is limited. The present study incorporates the analysis of data obtained for the ten independent variables so as to identify the pattern of communication in mothers of the adolescent daughters.
1.2.3
Personality of Adolescents Personality is dynamic and undergoes various modifications throughout one’s lifecycle. Of all the stages that an individual goes through, adolescence is considered to be given special importance. Adolescence is an age of tremendous changes, both physical as well as psychological. It is said to be a difficult phase as the child finds it confusing and complex to first of all understand, and then accept 12
the physical and psychological changes taking place within him. Adolescence is unique, not so much in the fact that it is a distinct period of growth and development, but in the types of tasks and expected events that are a part of the process of becoming an adult (Ingersoll, 1989). The physical changes are largely associated with hormonal fluctuations leading to changes in the physical and thus, observable appearance. There is a need for identifying uniqueness and differentiating self from others, which may prove to be a base for the development of certain personality characteristics, like self-efficacy and competence in later years. Children and adolescents whose parents are authoritative rate themselves and are rated by objective measures as more socially and instrumentally competent than those whose parents are non-authoritative (Baumrind, 1991; Weiss & Schwarz, 1996; Miller, et al, 1998). Teens undergo a number of developmental adjustments including biological, cognitive, emotional and social changes on their way to becoming adults. Effective parenting during the teen years requires a thorough understanding of these normative developmental changes. From the developmental point of view, the priorities keep changing at each phase of adolescence and the overall idea of self largely depends on which part of self-concept the adolescents focus. During the first phase i.e. early adolescence (13-15 years), young people try to depart from the dependence on parents, and this phase is characteristic of rapid physical growth and development. Therefore, the focus here is physical acceptability, both of themselves as well as peers since it is also the phase strongly governed by conformity to peers. The middle adolescence (15-17 years) is a period of intellectual growth. Although the importance of peers exists, the adolescents become more self-directed. This is a period of new thinking and challenging of ideas and it is here that the adolescence finds himself/herself capable of making decisions, thereby preparing themselves for adult roles. They also focus on getting accepted by the peers of opposite sex. This phase is marked by a sense of maturity in behaviour and control over impulsiveness. However, if misdirected it might lead to delinquency and other ills of adolescence, for example drug indulgence (Chassin et.al, 2005). The late adolescence (17-19 years) characterizes the young 13
people with a sense of personal identity. They achieve clarity about their identity, vocational goals as well as relationships. The shift to adulthood is nearly complete but assuming that personality is crystallized once adolescent years are ending would be faulty, as personality is a dynamic concept and keeps changing according to the experiences one face throughout the life cycle. Amongst these stages of adolescence, early adolescence has been regarded as a phase that undergoes rapid changes and also one which serve as the basis for the adolescent development as well as for the resulting parent-child relation (Collins & Steinberg, 2006). This is the stage that has been regarded as the most crucial one to explore parent-child relations and its interaction with the environment (Lerner, 1985), and also the stage in which conflicts and tension levels are at its peak (Collins, Gleason, & Sesma, 1997; Furman & Buhrmester, 1992). The changing patterns in the antecedents that influence parent-adolescent relationships have long been the interest of several researchers. It is important to mention the various facets of relationship shared between mother and adolescents. In her review, Galambos (1992) mentions studies suggesting that conflicts in parentadolescent relationship exist more often between mothers and adolescents, especially mother-daughters. These findings of course varied with differences in cultural and ethnic changes. Nevertheless, it has been consistently observed that conflicts and problems in parent-adolescent relationships were at peak during early years of adolescence and gradually reduced as it progressed to middle and late adolescence. The onset of puberty has been studied as a determining factor that leads to more conflict and reduced closeness, especially in case of mothersdaughter dyads. This distancing from mothers might lead to early maturation in girls more as compared to boys (Steinberg, 1988). A lot happens during the adolescent years that contribute to the overall development of personality in an adolescent. It is absolutely essential that during these highly constructive as well as vulnerable years, the adolescents are given much attention and support to tackle the ever-changing dimensions of their personality. It has been time and again suggested that socialization contribute the most in the personality development and the most important aspects of 14
socialization are undoubtedly the parenting style, parenting practices or communication styles of the parents. It is thus necessary for the parents to take extra care once the child enters adolescence as it is this period that leaves maximum impact on the future of the adolescents. Since this study focused on the mother-daughter dyad, the personality outcomes in adolescent daughters were studied from the parenting and communication styles of their mothers.
1.2.4
Perceived Parenting Style A study about relationships of any kind should be not just unidirectional, since relationship formation itself is a reciprocal process. Similarly, in a parent-child relationship the perception of the child cannot be ignored. Especially in adolescence, where the adolescent is keen to attain freedom and take his/her own decisions, it matters most how s/he perceives his/her parents’ parenting style. Also, the adolescents’ contribution in their own personality development depends a lot on whether they allow and accept their parents’ parenting style and practices as well as communication style (Darling & Steinberg, 1993). For instance a parent may adopt a ‘discipline based parenting style’ but the adolescent may perceive it as one of total control and imposed restrictions. If this be the situation there could be serious implications on both his personality as well as his relationship with the parent. In extreme cases it may lead to pathological problems. Almost every study on parenting style revolves around the idea of parenting and its implications and/or relationships with adolescent’s personality development. With this study, a further attempt was made to consider both sides of the mother-daughter dyad. Apart from adding parental communication style to the area of parenting, the present study aimed to incorporate the adolescents’ viewpoint by studying the perceived parenting style. Perceived parenting style may be described as the interpretation and understanding of parental behaviour by the adolescent. Noteworthy here is the idea that the parenting style adopted by the parent and the perceived parenting style may not be the same; they may differ. This situation might lead to a different approach towards understanding the personality development of adolescents. A number of studies have analyzed the relationships 15
between perceived parenting style and several factors that contribute to adolescent development. For example, research suggests that the development of temperament in adolescence, though heritable to some extent, is partly determined by how people were raised during the early years of life (Takeuchi et al., 2011). Wagner, Cohen, and Brook (1996) emphasized that adolescents with perceived warm parenting style were less likely to suffer from symptoms of depression after stressful life events than adolescents who reported more rejecting and reproaching parenting styles. The depression, therefore, cannot be entirely attributed to the parenting style adopted by the parent. Perceived parenting style has been studied with development of hope and self-esteem in adolescents. Perceived authoritarian parenting was related to low self-esteem; authoritarian parents tend to judge the behaviour and accomplishments of their children by an ‘absolute standard’ derived from and motivated by a ‘higher authority’ (Baumrind, 1971, p. 22). Thus, children are not always able to meet exacting standards, yet authoritarian parents typically respond in a punitive and forceful manner in an attempt to shape children’s behaviour (Heaven & Ciarrochi, 2008). Looking at these studies, one can purport that the overall resulting personality of the adolescent may depend on the coordination and harmony between parental factors adopted by mothers and the perceived parenting style of adolescent daughters. Interestingly, most of the research studies on parenting styles and parenting practices have been conducted from the child’s or adolescents’ perspective, in the sense that how they perceived their parents and how this might have influenced their personality or other emotional and behavioural outcomes. The number of studies conducted from both parents’ and adolescents’ perspectives together have been relatively scanty. This study, therefore, attempted to look at the mother-daughter relationship from both the angles and explore the outcomes. A parent-adolescent relationship is so enriching that it deserves attention from several angles. Although research in this area has been largely conducted in Western societies, there has been a significant increase in the studies that have focused on the differences in parenting with respect to ethnic and cultural 16
differences, socioeconomic status and structures of the families, and contribution of neighbourhood and societies (Hoskins, 2014). For example, most research studies conducted on Western population have concluded that authoritative parenting or high parental warmth and control leads to positive behavioural outcomes in adolescents, as opposed to authoritarian parenting that generally leads to problem behaviours. Therefore, parents in the West abide by adopting the authoritative parenting, which has been considered the best parenting style. However, parenting styles and practices might be manifested and interpreted very differently across cultures and also between ethnic groups of the same regions. For example in Asian cultures, specifically Chinese, the authoritarian parenting has been found as the prominently adopted, practiced and influential style (Chang, 2007). This parenting practice marked by strict and controlling behaviours has been accepted as most effective, leading to child obedience, close involvement, as well as sacrifices and dedication of parents in the development of the child (Chao, 1996). Needless to say, the same pattern was expected to have been successful in all other Asian countries as well. This is true to an extent; considering the studies that have reported that Indian parents might not consider their adolescents are not old enough to take independent decisions. Thus, sticking to the old patterns where methods of discipline and control dominate a large part of their parenting practices is commonly seen (Segal, 1992; Kurian & Ghosh, 1983). However, there is also evidence that with the rapid changes that India as a country is undergoing, the need to change parenting styles and practices has not gone unnoticed. These changes, especially technological, show significant deviation in parenting styles that were traditionally autocratic (Dasgupta, Hennessey & Mukhopadhyay, 1999; Tisdell, Roy & Regmi, 2001). With these differential evidences, it was attempted that this study identifies the parenting patterns adopted and followed by mothers while dealing with their daughters, and whether culture contributed to these differences or not.
17
1.3 THE PRESENT STUDY
1.3.1
Statement of the Problem To study and analyze the relationship between parenting style and the communication style adopted by mothers and the personality of the adolescent daughters where the adolescent’s perceived parenting style may act as a mediating variable.
1.3.2
Significance of the Study Despite having been studied for decades, it can be assumed that the parenting styles and practices have undergone changes. Most researches have focused on studying parenting styles and practices from either the parents or adolescents’ perspective with respect to assessing specific aspects of personality. This study tried to expand the scope further by incorporating several aspects of parentadolescent relationship, especially in the mother-daughter dyad. Research also suggest and propagates the importance of cultural factors in affecting parenting and parent-adolescent relationship. Thus, this study also explored certain facets related to culture and society when it came to parenting styles and parenting practices.
1.3.3
Objectives
1. To identify the parenting styles having a positive correlation with the personality traits of adolescents (namely emotional stability, assertiveness, adventurousness, self-assurance and self sufficiency)
2. To identify the communication styles having a positive correlation with the personality traits of adolescents (namely emotional stability, assertiveness, adventurousness, self-assurance and self sufficiency)
18
3. To identify which parenting style has a high correlation with which of the five communication styles (namely dominant, relaxed, attentive, open and friendly)
4. To find out whether the perceived parenting style of the adolescents acts as an intervening variable in shaping their personality
5. To explore the parenting practices adopted by mothers and cultural aspects in the Indian context, on the basis of qualitative analysis
1.4 SUMMARY
Considering the factors mentioned above, there was a need to understand the various layers of parent-adolescent relationship. There has been considerable amount of research already to understand parenting style and its relationship with various aspects of child development. However, keeping mother-daughter dyad as the central theme, it was considered worthwhile to go one step ahead and discover the same research with a new angle with that of the communication style of the parents, how parenting styles are practiced in behaviour, as well as the perception of adolescent. It could be assumed that a large part of the adolescent’s personality development is a result of not just parenting style but also the way s/he perceives it. Since adolescence is the age which is dominated by a need for freedom of thought, these young adults may take impulsive decisions, including the way they see their parents parenting them. Further, the kind of communication style parents adopt may lead to the development of a certain kind of personality traits in the adolescents.
Since
communication is inevitable in a relationship, it was necessary that the motherdaughter relationship was studied from the practical angle of how the relationships actually functioned by way of interpersonal interaction. Considering all these factors, it could be concluded that it was enlightening to gain new insights and broaden the scope of research in the area of parenting and child development.
19
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 INTRODUCTION
The topic of this research study was to explore the relationship between the parenting style and communication style of mothers and personality of their adolescent daughters. Several research studies indicate strong relationship between parenting styles and communication style and factors associated with the adolescents, like academic achievement, self-esteem, conflicts, risk behaviours, openness about sexuality, etc. Most of the research studies give evidence of the influence/effect of perceived parenting style on the mother-daughter relationship. Although, these aspects have been explored in many different contexts, it was interesting to study the results when the varied aspects were blended from both the mothers’ and daughters’ perspectives.
In her review paper, Maccoby (1992) reviewed all the approaches that explored the parent-child relationship. She discussed these studies which ranged from behaviourism
that
studied
learning,
reinforcement
and
socialization,
the
psychoanalytic approaches that focused on the early childhood experiences and the role of sexuality and aggression, stages of development during childhood, to an empirical methodology for studying parenting and child development, to the ones that focused entirely on developmental stages, as well as the Vygotskian thinking that lay emphasis on cognitions and emotions. Needless to say, it also reviewed Diana Baumrind’s typology and termed it as the optimal parenting most successful for the development of a child. It was suggested that parents’ parenting style is subject to change according to the various stages their child goes through— it will be different for an infant, a toddler, a preschooler, an early adolescent and an adolescent. The impact and influence of authoritative parenting style remained unquestioned although
20
other parenting styles were very much practiced. Maccoby concluded the discussion by highlighting the importance of interaction, child’s view of the parent as a parent, and the need for the parents to “… use their greater interactive skills to adapt themselves to the child’s capacities and current states” (Maccoby, 1992). From this one remarkable study, it was observed that a parent-child relationship has been considered very special ever since its conception and has been studied quite extensively so far.
Throughout the process of socialization, the development of a child depends on his/her environment and during this process s/he comes across several relationships. It can be strongly argued that until the age of middle adolescence, the child spends maximum amount of time with his/her mother. The time spent in the company of mothers may involve verbal exchange (communication), activities, or just being around but not being necessarily involved in a verbal conversation. This chapter examined the research studies conducted with respect to the important aspects of mother-daughter relationship and attempted to review the evidence that research literature suggested.
2.2 REVIEW ON PARENTING STYLES
The role of parent-child relationship in the unique socialization of a child has been reviewed time and again by many researchers. In an extensive review of the development of parenting practices, Spera (2005) covered the history of parenting and mentioned that the focus on this area of research was initiated by pioneers like Sears, Maccoby and Hoffman. Based on their observations of one-to-one interviews, Sears, Maccoby & Levin (1957) identified patterns and processes adopted for child-rearing. They specifically classified maternal disciplinary methods as love-oriented, where mothers used “warmth, praise, and emotional affection” and object-oriented which involved the mothers using tangible things like toys to respond to the child’s needs. The findings concluded that children raised with love-oriented pattern would internalize these values more as compared to those reared with object-oriented 21
pattern. Other than these, Hoffman suggested that when parents had clear explanations about their disciplinary techniques, also called as “induction” (Hoffman, 1970), the child would learn to focus on the reasons behind the discipline they needed to follow, helping them internalize parental values better. Thus, the topic of parenting was initially explored using various dimensions, based on acceptance and dominance (Symonds, 1939), responsiveness, democratic/autocratic, emotional involvement (Baldwin, 1948; Sears, et al, 1957), control (Schaefer 1959), granting permissions (Becker, 1964) and many more. All these researchers pointed towards the many benefits of optimal parenting based on being democratic, which was later called as authoritative parenting style. Baumrind’s ideas brought a revolution in the area of parenting since it gave a systematic approach to what was being done in a scattered format by earlier researchers. It began with critically examining parental control and freedom with respect to authoritative parenting style. Baumrind’s consistent work led to the conceptualization of parenting styles based on the notion that the values, affects and practices that parents adopt as a pattern of behavior with their children depended on their perceptions about themselves as parents and on the nature of children, that the way in which parental control was exercised decided the type of parenting style parents adopted, that in the process of socialization it was imperative to note how children contribute to their own development and that all this considered together enabled one to study the parent-child relationship in its true sense (Baumrind, 1967, 1968, 1971a, 1971b). Her critical analysis of parents’ child-rearing practices led to the development of a landmark theory in the area of parenting. Baumrind’s idea of a theory for parenting was based on her hypothesis that “…the parenting style used actually altered how open children are to their parents’ attempts to socialize the child.” Although theoretically this typology was based on variations in parental control/authority, Baumrind also distinguished the importance of other attributes of parenting, like parental warmth. The parenting styles were based on two aspects of parental behaviours: Parental Control (or parental demandingness) and Parental Warmth (or parental responsiveness). Baumrind explained that “demandingness 22
refers to the claim parents make on the child to become integrated into the family whole by their maturity demands, supervision, disciplinary efforts and willingness to confront the child who disobeys. Responsiveness refers to actions which intentionally foster individuality, self-regulation and self-assertion by being attuned, supportive and acquiescent to the child’s special needs and demands” (Baumrind, 1991, p.748). While Baumrind’s typology or the tripartite model was limited to the parenting style in well-functioning families, Maccoby and Martin (1983) tried to extend the same to a broader population so as to increase the generalizability of the model. Nevertheless, all these researchers explained parenting with the perspective of social learning, where the demands made by parents as well as parental reinforcement acted as major underlying processes.
Based on these dimensions the three archetypical styles that emerged were authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive. In her later works, Baumrind (1991) extended two aspects of demandingness: a) restrictiveness (or psychological control; Schaefer, 1965), and b) firm control (or behavioural control; Steinberg et al., 1989). With this it was purported that authoritative and authoritarian parents were high on control, however, restrictiveness was seen more in authoritarian parents. Further, although the permissive style was well defined previously, Maccoby & Martin (1983) distinguished
between
indulgent
(or
permissive,
high
responsiveness-low
demandingness) parents and neglecting (uninvolved) parents who were low on both dimensions. Thus, their discussion on parenting style explicitly reflected the importance of parental communication rather than parenting style. This led to extension of Baumrind’s typology to the addition of the fourth style, i.e. uninvolved. Baumrind’s work on parenting has been largely related to the effectiveness of the authoritative style and its merit over the other styles that parents adopted for regulating control, providing warmth and support, and giving freedom in the process of socializing children. However, another factor was considered crucial and was emphasized by Steinberg, et al (1989). They proposed that despite being authoritative and adopting this optimal parenting style, a large part of effective parenting would depend on the amount of joint involvement in decision making especially in parent23
adolescent relationship, which would determine the adolescents’ self-regulation and control on impulses. This led to the inclusion of the autonomy granting dimension in the classification of parenting styles. Thus, on the basis of the three dimensions of parental warmth, control and psychological autonomy granting, the four parenting styles materialized depending on how much these dimensions were practiced by parents. Despite the ubiquitous application of Baumrind’s typology, Lewis (1981) pointed out the difficulties with the model by emphasizing the difficulty in understanding the ways in which underlying characteristics of differences functioned among children from different family types. Baumrind’s emphasis was on the external control by parents on children, which after internalizing led to the development of an independent sense of self. Lewis argued, by referring to the attribution theory, that it was not only the high control characteristics in authoritative parents that led to the child’s independent understanding of accepting rules, but rather the interaction or reciprocal communication that took place in such families. Also, a lot depended on the resulting modification of parental rules when children voiced their concerns and argued about following norms. Lewis did not question the validity of Baumrind’s typology, but she brought to notice the mutual adjustment existing in a parent-child relationship. Considering the role of communication or interaction which was time and again highlighted by researchers in the area of parenting, it was only obvious that the importance of family interaction as well as the role of adolescents was studied as a whole in contributing to the overall parent-child relationship.
The discussion on parenting style would remain incomplete unless the noteworthy observations by Darling & Steinberg (1993) are mentioned. They discussed parenting styles and its application elaborately as “a constellation of attitudes towards the child that are communicated to the child and create an emotional climate in which the parents’ behaviours are expressed. These behaviours include aspects of the behaviours that encompass parenting practices as well as other aspects of parent-child interaction… thus, global parenting style is expressed partly through parenting 24
practices (pg. 493).” They not only reiterated Baumrind’s idea of parental control in parenting, but suggested that “differences in the quality of control between authoritative and authoritarian parents may not be captured in models that rely solely on the measurement of responsiveness and demandingness, because they do not include
assessments
of
other
important
distinguishing
features,
such
as
restrictiveness, autonomy granting, warmth and coerciveness (p. 492).” Baumrind’s typology of parenting styles was independent of the parents’ behavioural aspect; two authoritative mothers may adopt two different ways of demandingness and responsiveness, which would be different according to the situation at hand. Darling and Steinberg proposed parenting style as a context, which should be studied from the family setting and not just from the parents’ perspective. Their holistic approach towards defining the application of parenting style made the integrative model a crucial aspect of several research studies in the area. Using the widely acclaimed focus on the positive relationship between authoritative parenting and academic achievement, they suggested that the explanations, encouragements in discussions, influence on the adolescents’ acceptance of socialization, and acceptance of adolescents’ opinions used by authoritative parents helped the adolescents in making sound decisions. Thus, a parenting style enhanced the success of parenting practices, and therefore determined the effectiveness of the parenting practices which would have been different in case of a different style, if adopted. They concluded their postulated model by stating that the adolescents’ interpretation and acceptance of a psychological/behavioural characteristic would depend on the joint function of how much
the
parenting
practices
are
correlated
with
the
expected
psychological/behavioural outcome and the effectiveness of the parenting style used on influencing the adolescent in general.
Literature is full of studies that have focused on exploring the impact of parenting styles and practices on the development of adolescents. One of the most studied aspects has been academic achievement, which was initiated by Baumrind herself in a longitudinal study, where authoritative parenting was found to be most successful for better school achievements (Baumrind, 1989). Following this study other researchers 25
too conducted similar studies, which again found that authoritative parenting was positively related to adolescents’ grade point average (Steinberg et al, 1989). Following this trend many other studies were conducted that highlighted the positive role of authoritative parenting style as well as the influence of other parenting styles based either on Baumrind’s typology or on parenting style that were similar, not just with
academic achievement but also with various other factors of adolescent
development. Crucial elements of family, specifically parenting styles and practices, affect the psychological, social and overall personality development of adolescents.
Other than academic achievement, a lot of research has been conducted on the use of various parenting styles and personality aspects of adolescents. In these aspects too, authoritative parenting has been found to have scored over the other parenting styles. A combination of parental warmth, control and autonomy granting, when this style was continuously practiced has been found to enable children to bring a positive behavioural change (Wahler & Williams, 2010). These positive behavioural changes include the development of high self-esteem, life-satisfaction (Milevsky, et al, 2008), self-worth, lowest levels of depression (Simons & Conger, 2007), and positive wellbeing and low substance abuse (Gonzalez, Holbein & Quilter, 2002; Steinberg & Silk, 2002; Fletcher & Jefferies, 1999). Authoritarian parenting, based on high control and low warmth and autonomy granting, has been associated with low selfesteem, inadequate social skills, unsatisfactory academic achievement, depression, low optimism and independence, as well as external locus of control (Betts, Gullone & Allen, 2009; Awong, Grusec & Sorenson, 2008; Marsiglia, et al, 2007; McClun & Merrell, 1998). Permissive parenting, in which parents seem to rarely go for disciplinary practice and mostly lead towards avoiding confrontations, has been found to develop symptoms of anxiety and depression in children (Hamon & Schrodt, 2012). This parenting style, although seemingly quite friendly, may hinder the child’s understanding of the consequences of his/her actions (Rowinski & Wahler, 2010; Wahler & Williams, 2010; Moore, 1992) since the child may not have encountered negotiation, discipline, and denial; thus, they might lack the training of compromising and dealing with difficult situations and probably becoming impulsive and 26
aggressive. This style has been found associated with adolescents’ substance use, misconduct at school and less engagement and positive orientation (Querido, Warner & Eyeberg, 2002). Uninvolved parenting style, with low parental control, warmth as well as autonomy granting, has been associated with negative outcomes in children and adolescents, like low self-esteem (Milevsky, et al, 2008), high depressive symptoms and criminal victimization (Simons, et al, 2002), delinquent activities like vandalism, theft, assault and also rape (Hoeve, et al, 2009), and risky behaviours such as smoking and drinking (Luyckx, et al, 2011), etc. A major aspect of today’s adolescents’ life is the undeniable involvement in and impact of technology. The acceptance and engagement of parents in the same has been found influential in the parent-adolescent relationship. Authoritative parents seemed to evaluate or discuss about the content as well as adopt restrictive techniques regarding internet usage. Also, they were found to be more aware of the mediators in internet usage to have control over adolescents’ internet activity, such as software blocking, as compared to authoritarian and uninvolved parents (Eastin, Greenberg & Hofschire, 2006). All in all, authoritative parenting style has been found as the most influential across adolescents’ outcomes. However, whether the same is applicable across cultures and ethnic differences has been discussed in a later section.
In their review, Russell & Saebel (1997) studied the research work conducted on parent-child relationship with respect to gender differences. They emphasized the role of mothers and father in the family with respect to adolescent development and classified these relationships into four dyads including mothers-fathers-sonsdaughters, thereby exploring the differences that might exist when adolescents were reared by separate dyads in different situations and family settings. Despite the weak evidence about the effect of dyads on adolescents, they concluded that the impact of a dyad would largely depend on the individual characteristics of the mothers or fathers in questions. The relevance of parent-child dyad and its impact was first noted by Steinberg (1990) where he highlighted that the four dyads could be of entirely different natures and thus may change in adolescence. Similarly, Kerig, Cowan, and Cowan (1993) also suggested after their longitudinal findings that unless it was 27
specified which gender was being considered, the outcome of any research on parentadolescent relationship could not be described. Out of the four dyads, the motheradolescent relationship has been considered important. Russell & Saebel (1997) highlighted several such aspects where mother-daughter relationship had been studied related to problems and support during adolescence, according to work and socioeconomic status, female subjectivity, etc. It has been highlighted that the mother-daughter relationship is unique since women’s ability of “connected knowing” emerge easily in this dyad as there is high intimacy, involvement in relationship and understanding rather than a goal, making this relationship quite distinct from others dyads (Belenky, et al, 1986). Various studies have highlighted the importance of mothers’ role in the adolescent development of personality traits. The mother provides primary and relationship oriented care, while the father provides secondary and instrumental oriented caretaking (Power & Shanks, 1989). The role of mother stands for friendship with less punishment and dominance, a symbol of emotional support, interpersonal sensitivity and help and plays an important role in making a person more productive and imaginative (Biradar, 2006), whereas patterns of inadequate maternal behaviour seem to be responsible for the problem of children’s behaviour and chemical dependence (Bharadwaj, 1995). Greaven, et al (2000) found that mother’s parenting style was related with self-handicapping and the levels of dysphoria (depressive affect) in adolescents. The study suggested that the daughters of high caring style mothers show less self handicapping, irrespective of the depressive affect and mothers’ perception of high stress influenced dysphoria in girls, in turn leading to self-handicapping. Maternal parenting style has also been associated with adolescents’ self-worth and conflict resolution. Garber and Flynn (2001) found that high maternal psychological control (i.e. stimulating guilt, shame, anxiety, withdrawal of love etc.) significantly predicted negative attributional style (internalizing negative events) leading to self-blame in the adolescents. In another interesting study, it was found that conflict resolution style of adolescents changed depending on whether it was with respect to mothers or fathers. The levels of 28
conflicts with mothers during early adolescence were more as compared to once the middle adolescence set in. These conflicts included verbal abuse, anger, being defensive or attacking and losing control over self. Although conflicts were high during early adolescence with mothers, with positive problem solving this relationship underwent a positive change (Doorn, Branje and Meeus, 2011). Considering all these evidences, the present study was conducted with focus on the mother-daughter dyad, albeit with additional characteristics.
2.3 REVIEW ON COMMUNICATION STYLES
Communication is the foundation of any relationship. A parent-adolescent relationship is such that requires more attention with respect to the communication pattern between them. Communication is a dynamic process in which organisms strive to convey meaning to one another (and to oneself, one can argue), and which is fundamental in gaining understanding of events, objects, and other people (Slater, 2001). The relevance of communication in the family and its impact on the development of children has long been noted in research literature. Especially while studying the adolescent age group, the importance of communication is highlighted all the more since it is in this age that the adolescent establishes his/her position as a family member and gets sensitized towards others; healthy communication pattern instills individuality and bonding which are two crucial aspects of personality development (Grotevant & Cooper, 1986).
Studies on the relationship between parent-child communication and impact on adolescents have been studied since long. Various studies provide evidence for its importance and resulting positive outcomes in adolescents. Parental communication style affects the ways in which parents interact with their children which in turn foster social competencies, especially during early years of development (Maccoby & Martin, 1983; Taylor, Clayton & Rowley, 2004; Aronen & Kurkela, 1996). Openness in communication has been found as a strong link between family and high satisfaction in adolescents; however, differences between parents and adolescents 29
about parenting practices or communication styles were also evident where parents reported of being more positive than adolescents (Givertz & Segrin, 2014). Jackson, et al (1998) found that family communication was effective for positive outcomes on adolescents; open communication channels within the family were helpful in fostering self-esteem and better coping mechanism in adolescents. Although communication was not necessarily effective in strengthening decision making ability, it surely enhanced level of family satisfaction.
A study by Smetana, et al (2009) reported several crucial aspects related to disclosure in parent-adolescent communication. This study examined various levels at which adolescents chose to share information with their parents: partial disclosure, avoidance to disclose or lying/creating a story. It was found that adolescents disclosed more about “prudential issues” (related to health, safety, comfort, self-harm and risk behaviours) and “personal issues” (body, privacy, personal choices about appearance, activities and friends) as compared to “multifaceted issues” (a combination of prudential and personal, with an addition of activities that were not conventionally accepted, like watching R-rated movie). Adolescents chose not to disclose due to the concern of facing disapproval from parents for prudential acts, considering that personal issues were a matter of personal choice that need not be shared; thus, they many a times avoided discussions on personal acts or created a story to cover it up. Families where full disclosure was practiced led to better parent-adolescent relationships as compared to families where parental control led to poorer relations as well as increased levels of depressive symptoms in adolescents. In another study on disclosure (Cumsille, Darling & Martinez, 2010), disclosure strategies were directly related to adolescent development— tell-all strategy led to positive attributes like obedience, legitimacy and agreements) and lying led to decrease in these positive attributes and increase in problem behaviour as well as high parental monitoring. These studies suggested that having an open communication channel motivated adolescents to share more with their parents leading to not just a healthy parentadolescent relationship but also to the development of positive self-attributes. Disclosure has also been associated with the prediction of self-harming behaviour, 30
where the absence of a confidant in the family, poor parent-adolescent communication, and an internal locus of control were found to be a significant predictor of high self-harming behaviour in times of life-threatening situations (Tulloch, Blizzard & Pinkus; 1997).
One of the most crucial issues related with adolescence is the physical growth, thereby leading to the knowledge of sexuality. Literature on parent-adolescent communication has been dominated by studies on adolescents’ risk behaviours. Parents being the primary educators of sexuality have a huge responsibility in establishing a sound parent-child communication pattern to reduce risk behaviors. Wang, et al (2013) found that disclosure played a significant role in predicting reduced risk behaviours; consistent problems in parent-adolescent communication were found to increase substance use, delinquency as well as sexual risk behaviours especially during middle adolescence. Consistent open communication style has been found to reduce the risk behaviours and sexual involvement in adolescence whereas problem communication was found to be associated with increase in the same (Stanton, et al, 2002). Many a times it comes as a shock to the parents that their adolescent is romantically involved as they overlook the cues in their changing behaviours (Bruckner & Bearman, 2003). By the time parents recognize their teenagers’ romantic involvement and feel it is appropriate to discuss these topics, they may have missed important opportunities to guide them about protective sexual behaviours (Eisenberg, et al, 2006).
Parent-adolescent communication has also been studied considering the gender differences. In a study on the contribution of mother-father-daughter-son dyads, Noller and Callan (1990) found that overall females in early adolescence had better understanding with their mothers, since mothers were responsible for initiating conversations on various topics as compared to fathers. The role of mother or the style of upbringing is largely associated with the development of personality because a child first comes in contact with his/her mother and largely depends on her to satisfy his/her basic needs. Even in adolescence, when the focus largely shifts to 31
spending time with peers, adolescents (especially girls) report of spending more time with mothers (Larson & Richards, 1991), seeking advice from mothers rather than fathers (Greene & Grimsley, 1990), and communicating more openly with mothers (Barnes & Olson, 1985). Literature suggested of reports from adolescents being more comfortable sharing with mothers particularly, since they were understanding and accepting than fathers who were considered as judgmental, authoritarian and less open to discuss personal issues (Youniss & Smollar, 1985). Also mothers’ positive communication style was directly influential in enhancing the self-esteem in adolescents (Kernis, Brown & Broody, 2000). This open communication with mothers allowed adolescents, especially girls, to discuss about issues related to risk behaviours; the most commonly discussed topics included sexual risk behaviour and their implications, followed by issues related to sexuality like reproduction, use of contraceptives, and sexual partners (Miller et al., 1998). Thus, adolescents who could discuss about problem behaviours with their mothers were found to be less involved in risk behaviours (Cleveland et al, 2005; Guilamo-Ramos, et al, 2006).
Despite having the advantages of an open communication on positive outcomes and risk behaviours, conflicts are inevitable when it comes to adolescent age group. Kraemer (2006) studied the various transitions that a mother-daughter relationship goes through with respect to communication. It was found that listening behaviours, interpersonal disclosure, distance vs. closeness and interpersonal conflict were the most crucial aspects of this relationship. When daughters’ openness was accepted, it was usually helpful as compared to when they were ignored leading them to closing up and thus, choosing to disclose more with peers. Also, sometimes mothers might, unknowingly barge on daughters’ alone time by asking persistent questions. There were also differences between the kinds of language used by daughters as well as overreaction by mothers related to simple things. Similarly, Branje (2008) found that managing conflict depended on how the relationship was perceived; when mothers were more compliant, daughters perceived them as critical and dominant using less open communication leading to conflicts in the mother-daughter relationship. It can be thus said that parental communication style, especially mothers’, play diversified 32
role in the shaping of certain vital personality characteristics as well as in determining behavioural outcomes in adolescents, especially daughters. Thus, this study attempted to explore the multifaceted role of parent-adolescent communication with the motherdaughter dyad as its central theme.
2.4 REVIEW ON PERSONALITY OF ADOLESCENTS
Adolescence can be defined in many different ways, none of which can possibly sum up the variety of issues this phase encounters. However, according to Ingersoll (1989), adolescence is a period of personal development during which a young person must establish a sense of individual identity and feelings of self-worth which include alteration of his or her body image, adaptation to more mature intellectual abilities, adjustments to society’s demands for behavioural maturity, internalizing a personal value system, and preparing for adult roles. It is an age of changes, both physical as well as psychological, of “moving from dependence and restrictions of childhood to adult independence and freedom from parental restrictions…a time when personality development is ascertained (Mehta, 2000).” Parenting style provides a robust prediction of the child’s personality and thus should be the one comprising of warmth, control and autonomy granting. There is a huge amount of research where the impact of parenting styles on the development of adolescents’ personality has been studied. Among the four styles of Baumrind’s typology on parenting, the authoritative style has been found to have a positive influence on several factors, ranging from academic achievements, to personality factors and behavioural outcomes.
In a study on family rituals (Constantin, 1995), it was found that authoritative families practiced more meaningful ritualistic behaviours as compared to indulgent (permissive) or neglectful (uninvolved) families; these parenting styles and the related ritualistic behaviours were found to predict adolescent adjustments (like internalizing and externalizing behaviours, global self-worth as well as social skills), when they were ranked starting with authoritative. Talking about parent-adolescent relationship, 33
it was found that children with authoritative, permissive and uninvolved parents take initiatives in discussions as they reach adolescence, whereas this is not seen with adolescents having directive (authoritarian) parents (Gauvain & Huard, 1999). Similarly, Aunola, Stattin & Nurmi (2000) found that authoritative parents being highly responsive and child-centered were more likely to foster disclosure, selfesteem and adaptability; adolescents reported high parental control in authoritative parenting as compared to permissive, but less parental control when compared with authoritarian. Uninvolved parents, on the other hand, were perceived as distrustful and with less involvement, monitoring and control.
A recent review by Hoskins (2014) effectively covered the consequences of several aspects of parenting on various adolescent outcomes. It discussed the impact of authoritative parenting on high academic achievements, well-being, self-esteem, and life satisfaction, authoritarian parenting on poor social skills, low self-esteem, permissive parenting on externalizing behaviours, substance abuse, school misconduct, and of uninvolved parenting on lack of inter-personal closeness as well as several delinquent acts like vandalism, petty thefts, assault, and drinking, smoking and sexual behaviours. Similarly, the importance of communication and other parenting practices was explored with respect to parental monitoring on risky behaviours and disclosure from adolescents, parental discipline on adolescents’ psychological adjustment and externalizing behaviours, parental warmth and support on high self-esteem and low aggression, and finally effective parent-child communication on lower risk behaviours and openness about discussions on sex. In another study, adolescents belonging to families with positive parenting were found to be less likely to received punishments which were directly related to them indulging into delinquent activities; wherever high conflict was experienced by adolescents, self-esteem decreased while juvenile delinquency increased (Balogun & Chukwumezie, 2010). Thus, studies have reported the occurrence of aggression and delinquent acts where family environment was dominated by severe punishments, excessive discipline and control; environments with high levels of care and protection
34
led to increased conscientiousness which ultimately facilitated adolescents attitudes towards self-assessment (Heaven, et al, 2002).
Other than the personality factors, parenting styles have also been found to influences adolescents career development, where a secure and attachment oriented parenting fostered more involvement and self-exploration by adolescents which allowed them to take risks in challenging situations (Huver, et al, 2010). Also, adolescents from authoritative families were found to have developed a strong entrepreneurial personality that enhanced their entrepreneurial competence; these adolescents scored high on not just entrepreneurship skills but also curiosity and leadership (Schmitt-Rodermund, 2004). The influence of technology cannot be ignored when adolescents in today’s times are being discussed. Parents are becoming increasingly aware about the problems associated with social networking and internet browsing, which has created a need for parental monitoring and limit setting. Rosen, Cheever & Carrier (2008) reported in their study that parents restricted internet usage in the family but more for young teens as compared to older, probably because young teens are more gullible and susceptible to possible online afflictions. Also, they found that spending time outdoor as against social networking affected daughter more than sons; It was also found that authoritative and indulgent (permissive) parents were more likely to be aware of their adolescents’ online activities, which led to better communication thus reducing the adolescents’ risk behaviour. Despite this the negative effects of internet and technology has been a matter of concern especially during adolescence. Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) has been found to increase manifolds, leading to several problems ranging from personality issues like increased shyness, introversion, social withdrawal, aggression as well as narcissism (Griffiths & Dancaster, 1995; Kim, et al, 2008), to psychological issues like, anxiety, psychotic symptoms and attention-deficit hyperactivity (De Berardis, et al, 2008). As discussed before, the role of mothers’ parenting style and practice has been found to have major impact on the personality of the adolescents. Authoritative mothers were found promote better academic achievement and study skills and lower 35
the chances of risk behaviours in adolescents; thus, high level of control, or being authoritative, was specifically helpful when it came from mothers (Abar, Carter & Winsler, 2009). Parenting practices have also been found to influence on child’s social environment. Especially with respect to maternal parenting styles, Georgiou (2008a & 2008b) studied maternal responsiveness, over-protection (permissiveness) and its influence on the child’s experiences of bullying and victimization at school. It was found that high responsiveness of mothers predicted low bullying behaviour and better adjustment at school (academic and social), however, excessive responsiveness or high permissiveness and over-protectiveness led to increased experiences of victimization and bullying by the child. All these studies indicate and emphasize the importance of parenting and communication in the development of various facets in the adolescents’ personality. This study was an attempt to see if parenting and communication styles did contribute to various other domains of adolescents’ personality, other than those already found in the research literature.
2.5 REVIEW ON PERCEIVED PARENTING STYLES
From all the research evidence mentioned so far, it can be said that parenting styles exert a strong influence on children’s psychological development as well as personality development. Apart from adding parental communication style to the area of parenting, the present study aimed to incorporate the adolescents’ viewpoint by studying the perceived parenting style. This was in line with the integrative model by Darling and Steinberg (1993). Noteworthy here was the idea that the parenting styles adopted by the parent and the perceived parenting styles might not match, leading to different manifestations in the adolescents’ personality. Perceived parenting styles have been studied for long to identify the differences between parents’ and adolescents perceptions as well as to analyze the implications each of these have on the adolescents’ life. Smetana (1995), in her study, found differences how parents and adolescents perceived the parenting; while parents considered themselves as authoritative,
adolescents
found
them
more
authoritarian
and
permissive.
Authoritative parents were also found to be more inclined towards obliging 36
adolescents to follow moral rules, while authoritarian parents considered both moral and conventional rules as necessary, highlighting the differences in approaches of the two parenting styles, where authoritative parents granted autonomy easily compared to the other. Further, it was also found that permissive and uninvolved parents believed that following rules was not obligatory, rather they allowed adolescents to take control over their actions. However, this also meant that when boundaries were not well-defined and excessive autonomy was allowed, adolescents lacked the ability to negotiate their way out in conversations, leading to conflicts.
Several other studies have highlighted the role of perceived parenting styles on various other aspects. Other than the area of academic achievement, several studies have highlighted the impact of positive perceived parenting on predicting high selfesteem in adolescents (Hazzard, Christensen & Margolin, 1983; Buri, 1989) as well as a mutual agreement on values and cultural norms that the adolescents were expected to follow (Knafo & Shwartz, 2003). This was found to indirectly influence adolescents’ perception of body image; when parents encouraged and practiced responsiveness, it affected the adolescents’ satisfaction with their body which in turn led to high or low self esteem (Taylor, et al, 2012). Perceived parenting has also been found influential in both enhancement of personality and getting victimized. Perceived positive parenting was found to elevate mood, increase concentration, reduce sleepiness and instill alertness, as opposed to those who perceived problems in parenting; this was found to significantly affect levels of anxiety, depression, selfconfidence, as well as an overall attitude to deal with challenging situations in life (Brand, et al, 2009). On the other hand, adolescents who perceived low levels of responsiveness or neglectful parenting were the ones found to be more cyberbullied as well as victimized, followed by those with perceived authoritarian and lastly permissive and authoritative (Dehue, et al, 2012).
Further, studies have reported that perceived low levels of parenting monitoring led to an increased chance of adolescents indulging into risk behaviours, such as school truancy, unsafe sexual behaviour, substance use, drug indulgence, violence, 37
etc. (Li, Feigelman & Stanton, 2000), and also that perceived low responsiveness led to increase in associating with deviant peers (Weaver & Prelow, 2005). This was found typically true regarding maternal parenting. Once again, the role of perceived maternal parenting was highlighted; adolescents who perceived low maternal warmth and high control, found themselves rejected since mothers were perceived unsupportive and uninvolved (Matza, Kupersmidt & Glenn, 2001), and unable to take independent
decisions
(Jackson-Newsom,
Buchanan,
&
McDonald,
2008).
Adolescents’ social competence was positively associated with perceived loving attitude from mothers with less dominance and high warmth (DRÓD & Pokorski, 2007) and also, perceived positive maternal care was found to be the strongest predictor of happiness, self esteem, low self-criticism and balanced mental health (Cheng & Furnham, 2004).
Research literature on parenting largely comprise of studies done from the perceptions of adolescents. However, Kerr, Stattin & Ozdemir (2012) challenged the way parenting styles were studied in highly cited researches; they tried to question the unidirectional approach with which parenting was being studied and reported (by way of parenting style measurement tools) that rather than studying parenting styles only from the adolescents’ perspective and relating it with the outcomes (such as adolescent adjustment), the results would be more robust of items related to parenting behaviours were included in the assessment tools. In other words, adolescents’ behaviour was found to be a sound predictor to change the parenting styles and thus, it was important to study both the sides while studying parenting. Thus, the present study was designed keeping in mind the perceptions of both mothers and daughters while studying parenting styles.
2.6 REVIEW ON ROLE OF CULTURAL ASPECT
As part of fulfilling the last objective of this study where the results were to be assessed in the cultural context, a large number of studies were reviewed to assess the differences caused by ethnicity and culture in the global findings on parenting. 38
Although authoritative parenting style has been identified as the strongest predictor of positive outcomes pertaining to adolescents, pioneers in the field of parenting have acknowledged the need to check the goals with which parenting is practiced and the resulting possibility of differences in findings when family’s culture, socioeconomic class and structure is considered. Darling and Steinberg (1993) brought forth the need to study cultural and ethnic differences. There is definite consensus amongst the researchers of West about authoritative parenting being the most effective style, being high on warmth, control as well as autonomy granting. However, style being conceptually driven and practice being more application oriented raises questions about the generalizability of these findings globally. Thus, parenting styles may be unvaryingly appealing across cultures but practices or behaviours might not necessarily be the same. Recent empirical literature has been increasingly driven towards exploring these differences, essentially because to understand the parentadolescent relationship in its true sense by studying socialization practices, and not just styles, it is imperative to know the differences in various outcomes (Darling & Steinberg, 1993). Rather than discussing studies reporting differential findings within Western ethnicities, it is perhaps more important to look at the differences between Western and Asian countries with respect to parenting.
This paradox when first identified and studied concluded that Asian children and adolescents reported authoritarian parenting being most effective suggesting that parenting styles could not be considered as the sole predictors school achievements (Dornbusch et al, 1987; Steinberg, et al, 1992), thereby proving that despite authoritative parenting being the best considered style especially for academic achievement of children,. Following this, Chao (1994) in her study on Chinese students, suggested that “training” of the child was to be considered as an alternative to blindly accepting authoritative parenting as most effective. Thus, for Asians, authoritarian parenting was found to be more associated with academic achievements as well as adolescent adjustments (Steinberg, et al, 1994). Following this, a trend began where several studies explored cultural differences related to several others aspects of parent-adolescent relationship with respect to parenting styles; the earlier 39
ones considering Chinese participants were most popular. Cheung & McBride-Chang (2008) found that Chinese mothers were perceived as both warm and controlling leading to a restrictive parenting style where both control and connectedness were closely associated; these were quite satisfactory for the child since they were seen as supportive and encouraging actions. While discussing about parenting style of Chinese parents, one cannot skip the uproar created by Amy Chua’s (2011) concept of “tiger parenting.” Chua argued that the formula to make children successful and efficient in life was not by following the western ways of parenting (e.g. authoritative style), instead it was important that children were dealt with very strictly, taught rigorously to be disciplined, constantly watched over by parents, never compromised on anything less than the best whether in psychological aspects such as self-discipline or something behavioural like academic performance. Challenging the western and classic ideas of parenting styles, tiger parenting indeed created waves and posed questions on the effectiveness of being authoritative with children. However, this style was seemingly too harsh and was designed only to force children to excel academically.
Other researchers identified that tiger parenting might be effective for academic performance but led to anxious and depressive symptoms in the adolescent who was exposed to constant pressure and lack of warmth and affection from mothers (Kim, et al, 2013); the importance of establishing clear social and emotional goals was also discovered to foster social skills, health, happiness as well as academic excellence, by having a mix of authoritative and permissive parenting (Way, et al, 2013). Studies in other ethnicities across Asia suggested that low maternal warmth, overcontrol, negative child-rearing and perceived authoritarian parenting led to increased suicidal ideation in Hong Kong adolescents (Lai & McBride-Chang, 2001); however, perceptions and their implication changed according to ethnicity, where low parental control was seen as being rejected by mothers in Korean and Japanese participants (Rohner & Pettingill, 1985; Trommsdorff, 1985). In their review, Stewart and Bond (2002) reported that in Islamic cultures, like Bangladesh, the meanings of parental knowledge was rated strongly with parental warmth by girls, but boys regarded the 40
same with dominating control of parents; similarly in Pakistan autonomy granting was associated with warmth by both boys and girls indicating that there could several “cultures within a culture” when it comes to ethnic differences amongst participants.
Studies on cultural differences with respect to Indian participants have also been conducted covering several crucial aspects. Since Indian culture has its own differences, the process of socialization may function in contrast with not just the West, but also in contrast to other Asian countries. Socialization takes place very subtly, where the emphasis is not necessarily on blindly following parental commands but rather on allowing the children to voluntarily learn to modify their behaviours by observing messages received from everyone in the social environment (Kurtz, 1992). Thus, it is understandable if the concept of ideal parenting style would appear different for participants in India. Cross-cultural studies reported that Indian students perceived their parents as more democratic and permissive; although authoritative parenting was preferred over authoritarian parenting permissive was accepted as the most effective style (Barnhart, et al, 2013). Another comparative study of Asian Indian and European American adolescents found that values of Indian culture were not similar to that of Chinese culture; Indian students’ academic performance was largely affected, not necessarily by parenting style, but by how parents and adolescents felt with other groups— parents who could identify with the other groups could instill better grades as well as self-esteem in adolescents since they were found to be concerned about being perceived as stricter compared to the other groups (Bhadha, 2001). This disparity in the findings related to academic achievements was also found by Garg, et al (2005), where the parenting style was not related to academic achievements of Indian adolescents as compared to Canadian adolescents. Similarly, Sharma & Pandey (2015) found that the earlier notion of Indian parents discouraging autonomy in adolescents was changing with more parents adopting authoritative parenting, indicating a change in the pattern of parenting practices. Researchers have also been concerned about the rising levels of problems pertaining to mental health in Indian adolescents; anxiety, depressive symptoms, behavioural disorders have been reported to have increased alarmingly (Pillai, et al, 2008). These 41
issues have been significantly associated with parenting styles—rejection from parents led to increased levels of anxiety, somatic problems as well as hostility (Rai, Pandey & Kumar, 2009) and also that a democratic style would help in preventing anxiety (Thergaonkar & Wadkar, 2007).
The maternal parenting was found to be quite significant and positively influential for Indian adolescents, especially girls. Mothers were found to encourage closeness and when the adolescents perceived mothers as supportive this predicted lower levels of anxiety (Tiwari & Verma, 2015). Thus, the role of mothers has been consistently found relevant across cultures. This study, therefore, attempted to explore the cultural aspect of mother-daughter relationship and shed light on Indian adolescents’ perception of mothers parenting style.
2.7 SUMMARY
The purpose of literature review is to go through all the remarkable studies that contributed in establishing key concepts related to the target study, identifying various aspects associated with these concepts, a review of critical approach taken by other researchers, alternative ideas that were put forth, various outcomes that emerged from the studies, and suggestions or guidelines that literature mentions for future studies. With this chapter several major and relevant studies related to parenting and communication styles of parents, particularly mothers, and their relationships personality of adolescents, particularly daughters, were examined. While authoritative parenting was found to be the most effective style, there were several variations and differences in opinion about the absolute adolescent outcomes, especially with respect to culture. Since most studies on parenting have either been conducted from parents’ view or adolescents’ view, this study was a bold attempt to combine the two and seek the contribution of communication in the overall mother-daughter dyad and its relationship with adolescents’ personality.
42
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
3.1 INTRODUCTION
Any piece of research is incomplete without a basic methodology that the researcher needs to follow for clarity and purpose. There are several ways in which a methodology can be explained but the most important strategy, common to all methods, is to lay out the structure of the research study. It has been argued aptly that studies in correlation need not use the term variable. The reason being that a variable is anything that varies; within itself or causes changes in other variables. Since studies based correlation do not focus on finding the cause-and-effect relationship, the use of the term variable might seem inappropriate. However, by definition a variable is ‘a symbol to which numerals or values are assigned’ (Kerlinger, 1995).
Considering this it can therefore be argued that any psychological construct can be a variable to which one can assign a numerical value and that can be studied in any plausible manner depending on the need and focus of the research problem. Thus, although studying variables generally give a cause-effect relationship, the term can be used in multiple ways. This piece of research was based on the correlation between the variables discussed further. This chapter aimed at explaining in detail all the factors that have been studied as part of the research. Other than the quantitative analysis, a set of interviews of select participants had been used for qualitative analysis.
In this chapter the researcher also tried to ascertain a plausible methodology of analysis for the data obtained, so that the discrepancies (if any) in the expected and obtained outcomes could be clearly explained.
43
3.2 VARIABLES, DEFINITIONS AND HYPOTHESES
This section introduces the principle elements of the research work. It details out the variables in focus, operational definitions specific to this study, the research design incorporated, and the hypotheses that the researcher expected to explore.
3.2.1
Variables and the Rationale
1. Parenting style of the mother: The role of a mother is certainly considered of utmost importance in the development of a child’s personality, especially in adolescence. This study focused specifically on the mother’s parenting style, considering the close bond mothers-daughters shared during adolescence.
2. Communication style of the mother: The strength of this mother-daughter relationship (like all others) depends largely on the way things are communicated. It was therefore absolutely necessary to gauge the role of communication pattern of mothers, while something is communicated to the adolescent daughters.
3. Personality of the adolescent daughter: Factors such as academic achievement have been largely studied with respect to its relationship with parenting styles, however, personality factors have been quite dissipated, largely focusing on few factors such as self-esteem, emotional balance, decision making, risk-behaviours, etc. With this study, the researcher tried to explore more possibilities, with respect to personality of adolescent daughters.
4. Mediating Variable: Adolescence is certainly an age where there are bound to be differences in opinions, no matter how strong the mother-daughter relation. To see if these differences did occur in reality and if so, how they might have affected the adolescent’s personality development, the perceived parenting style was considered as a mediating variable. This variable could also be helpful in identifying a model fit for the kind of variables selected in this study. 44
5. Control Variables: Survey research studies in social sciences almost always have some or the other variable that prove to be interfering. These variables are mostly those that are generally outside of the researcher’s control. Even if utmost care is taken that the variables are managed, there is always a possibility of the social desirability factor, especially in survey methods. Further, if all variable were indeed controlled stringently, the research study would be similar to a highly controlled experimental design as opposed to survey where freedom is given to the participants and thus, it is possible that behavioural patterns would not be studied in the most natural or close-to natural settings. Nevertheless, the following variables were thought to be largely disturbing if not taken care of and so were meticulously controlled:
a)
Socio-Economic Status: Middle income group (whose monthly income was expected approximately between Rs. 20,000/- to Rs.80,000/- per month). Care was taken that the sample selected belonged to a similar strata of the population.
b)
Education of mothers: Communication is principally based on language and language is refined usually by education (formal or informal). Therefore, to control this, the sample of mothers’ population was expected to have either finished at least a Graduation degree or a Diploma course equivalent to a degree after Higher Secondary.
c)
Gender: This research study was primarily based on studying the motherdaughter dyad and thus, the parent and adolescent sample were both females.
d)
Medium of instructions: For avoiding the intervening variables, the adolescent daughters’ sample was to be selected from English- medium schools in the city of Pune, mainly from the State board or the national education boards/certification, such as CBSE or ICSE; the schools 45
affiliated to International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) were to be deliberately excluded, since the fee structure of IB schools could be quite on the higher side (blog.schoolfinder.co.in/) than the schools of national or state boards. This was an important factor to be considered owing to the reason that the child going to an IB school might not belong to the middle income group, which was one of the pre-requisites of the sample required for this study.
e)
No. of Siblings: The structure of urban Indian families has undergone several changes and one can see many families moving from Joint family system to Nuclear families. The number of children in a family too, has gone down (Siva Sankar Rao, B., 2013); from joint families having three to four children, urban nuclear families are gradually moving from twochildren to single-child families. It was expected that the adolescent sample would be such that it had at least one sibling.
f)
Other: As opposed to an experimental design where a researcher can have better control over the variables, in non-experimental research, it is known that the sample is collected in situ, and in doing so one has to acknowledge the presence of confounding variables (Chow, 2002). It was attempted that the sample of this research fulfilled certain prerequisites, however, the occurrence of additional confounding variables could not be denied. These could have been father’s parenting style, changing structure of the urban family system, improved standard or living, type of mothers’ occupation, etc. However, this study focused primarily on exploring mother-daughter dyad and thus, attempted to include multiple layers possibly contributing to the same. Thus, to control the complexity of analysis and limit the scope of the research to these specific variables, factors mentioned above were not distinctly in focus of the present study.
46
3.2.2
Operational Definitions
1. Parenting Style: “A set of parental behaviours that may be displayed as any one of the authoritative, authoritarian, permissive and uninvolved style during childrearing, as measured by Parenting Style Inventory.” 2. Communication Style: “A blend of verbal and non-verbal language and behaviour, which is expressed through ten independent factors, namely Friendly, Impression Leaving, Relaxed, Contentious, Attentive, Precise, Animated, Dramatic, Open and Dominant, as measured by Communicator Style Measure.”
3. Personality: “A combination of various traits that are expressed by the adolescent through a standardized self report inventory, namely High School Personality Questionnaire.”
4. Perceived Parenting Style: “The interpretation and understanding of parental behavior (mothers) by the child with respect to childrearing, as measured by Parenting Style Inventory.”
3.2.3
Research Design The present research is a multi-strategy survey research, with quantitative as well as qualitative methods as the methods to be implied for analysis.
3.2.4
Hypotheses
Since there were several levels for each variable in this study, all the hypotheses had been deliberately framed directionally and have been grouped in seven clusters –
47
Cluster 1: Authoritative Parenting Style of Mothers and Personality Factors of Adolescent Daughters H1
The authoritative parenting style of the mother will be positively correlated with emotional stability of the adolescent
H2
The authoritative parenting style of the mother will be positively correlated with assertiveness of the adolescent
H3
The authoritative parenting style of the mother will be positively correlated with adventurousness of the adolescent
H4
The authoritative parenting style of the mother will be positively correlated with self-assurance of the adolescent
H5
The authoritative parenting style of the mother will be positively correlated with self-sufficiency of the adolescent
Cluster 2: Dominant Communication Style of Mothers and Personality Factors of Adolescent Daughters H6
The dominant communication style will be negatively correlated with adventurousness of the adolescent
H7
The dominant communication style will be negatively correlated with selfassurance of the adolescent
H8
The dominant communication style will be negatively correlated with selfsufficiency of the adolescent
Cluster 3: Relaxed Communication Style of Mothers and Personality Factors of Adolescent Daughters H9
The relaxed communication style will be positively correlated with emotional stability of the adolescent
H10
The relaxed communication style will be positively correlated with self-assurance of the adolescent
48
Cluster 4: Attentive Communication Style of Mothers and Personality Factors of Adolescent Daughters H11
The attentive communication style will be positively correlated with emotional stability of the adolescent
H12
The attentive communication style will be positively correlated with selfsufficiency of the adolescent
Cluster 5: Open Communication Style of Mothers and Personality Factors of Adolescent Daughters H13
The open communication style will be positively correlated with adventurousness of the adolescent
H14
The open communication style will be positively correlated with self-assurance of the adolescent
H15
The open communication style will be positively correlated with self-sufficiency of the adolescent
Cluster 6: Friendly Communication Style of Mothers and Personality Factors of Adolescent Daughters H16
The friendly communication style will be positively correlated with assertiveness of the adolescent
H17
The friendly communication style will be positively correlated with emotional stability of the adolescent
H18
The friendly communication style will be positively correlated with selfsufficiency of the adolescent
Cluster 7: Authoritative Parenting Style and Communication Styles of Mothers H19
The authoritative parenting style will be negatively correlated with dominant communication style
H20
The authoritative parenting style will be positively correlated with relaxed communication style
49
H21
The authoritative parenting style will be positively correlated with attentive communication style
H22
The authoritative parenting style will be positively correlated with open communication style
H23
The authoritative parenting style will be positively correlated with friendly communication style
3.3 METHOD
3.3.1
Sample Characteristics The sample of the present study had been selected by cluster sampling method. The clusters had been identified after various schools in different parts of Pune city (Maharashtra State, India) were selected to represent the adolescent population of adolescent girls and their mothers. Participants (N=242) included mothers (Nmothers=121, Mage= 40 years) and their adolescent daughters (Ndaughters=121, age range: 12-15 years). 58% of the adolescents were from the 8th grade, 41% from the 9th grade and 1% from 10th grade; the entire adolescent sample is between early and middle adolescence (12-15 years). The child-bearing age of present day women come much later in life as compared to earlier times, therefore the age of these mothers were found to be mostly between 30-50 years.
The education of mothers is a crucial factor in the development of the child, hence this aspect was stringently considered. In the present sample 53% mothers were educated up to the graduate level, which meant that they had completed their Bachelor’s degree in a discipline, 36% had earned a Masters degree, 9% had done some or the other diploma course almost equivalent to graduation, and 2% had not disclosed about their education level, knowingly or unknowingly. 54% of these mothers were working, either full time or part time and 46% were homemakers.
Indian family structure is a unique system in itself and contributes as a vital environment for the growth of a child. A joint family is one where the family 50
comprises of parents, children and grandparents (this is the changed structure of a joint family in the present day scenario since family size is reducing; otherwise a joint family could also comprise of other blood relations such as father’s brother and his family, if all stay under the same roof). On the other hand, a nuclear family comprises of parents and children only. It is seen that most families belong to the nuclear family system these days, which was also observed in the sample of this study; 60% belonged to the nuclear family and 40% were from joint family structure. The size of a family has also been changing for decades now and it can be seen that a majority of people have two children, however, in the fast-paced life many couples opt for a single-child family. In this sample, most of the mothers (62%) had two children, 30% of the mothers had only one daughter, and only 7% had three children.
The socio-economic status, which is an important factor in the formation of several ideas and personality as a whole, was divided in four major categories, representing the middle class strata. This stratum in itself constitutes of a large population and so it is quite spread as far as monthly family income is concerned. In the present sample, 41% of the sample belonged to the upper middle class group, 46% in the middle class and 11% in the lower middle class level. In order to study the variables in the light of Indian context and to explore the effect of confounding variables (if any), approximately 10% of the total data was to be selected randomly, which were to be personally interviewed for the purpose of qualitative analysis.
The details of the sample are depicted in the figures as follows:
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Daughters
3% 9%
1% 12 years
8th
13 years
38%
41%
9th
14 years
50%
58%
10th
15 years
Fig.3.3.1.2 Grade
Fig.3.3.1.1 -Age Mothers 1%
2%
9% Diploma
31-40 41%
36%
41-50
58%
Bachelor Degree 53%
51-60
Master Degree Not Disclosed
Fig.3.3.1.3-Age
Fig.3.3.1.4- Education
Working
46%
40%
54%
Nuclear 60%
Joint
Non Working
Fig.3.3.1.6- FamilyType
Fig.3.3.1.5- Work Status
7%
11%
1%
2% 80000-60000
One 30% 62%
60000-40000 41%
Two 27%
Three
40000-20000 Below 20000
Not Disclosed
19%
Not Disclosed
Fig.3.3.1.8- Income Range
Fig.3.3.1.7- No. of Children
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3.3.2
Tools The following tools were used for measuring the variables in the study, which helped in sorting of sample as per requirement:
1. Demographic Data Sheet: This tool was developed to collect the preliminary information of the sample, which was termed as Personal Information Sheet (PIS). This included information about the participants (age, education, work status), family (husband, children, in-laws, type of family) and social aspects (marital status, family income, time spent with daughters, and contact information; see Appendix A). 2. Parenting Style Inventory (PSI): The PSI was developed at Jnana Prabodhini’s Institute of Psychology in 2004, based on Diana Baumrind’s model of parenting styles. It involves four aspects: control, maturity demands, communication and nurturance. The four parenting styles identified are
–
Authoritative,
Authoritarian, Permissive and Uninvolved. It is a forced-choice tool with 20 items and has two separate versions: parenting style as reported by parents and parenting style as perceived by the child. This two-way analysis helps in identifying the differences in perception of parents and children regarding the parenting styles. Considering the requirement of the present study, this tool was found highly suitable to measure the parenting styles adopted by mothers and parenting styles perceived by their adolescent daughters. Its content validity is established and test-retest reliability has been satisfactorily established. This tool is available in both English and Marathi languages and was used according to the need of the participants.
3. Communicator Style Measure (CSM): A standardized tool developed by R.W. Norton, this is a tool to measure communication patterns. Norton (1978) explains communicator style as “the way one verbally and paraverbally interacts to signal how literal meaning should be taken, interpreted, filtered or understood” (p. 99). The CSM consists of ten independent variables, i.e. Friendly, Impression Leaving, 53
Relaxed, Contentious, Attentive, Precise, Animated, Dramatic, Open and Dominant, and one dependent variable, i.e. Communicator Image, which depicts the overall style of communication. The test includes 51 items to be assessed on Likert Scales that range from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree. The reliability of the nine variables varies from .37 to .82 which shows that the tool is highly reliable. Content and criterion-related validity has been found satisfying thereby expanding the usage of the tool.
This tool was selected on the basis of the assumption that the way a person communicates remains fairly the same across all the people s/he communicates with, including family members. Considering this, the mothers’ inclination towards all the ten communicator styles (independent variables) was to be measured to explore its relationship with the other factors of the study. However, the dependent variable was not included for the analysis of communication styles of mothers because, i) its scope is quite limited in assessing a specific communication style, ii) it is a summary of all the styles taken together and thus quite indecisive independently, and iii) it is entirely based on how the participant perceived herself as a communicator, which being obvious need not be studied separately.
The items in the tool were found different, in the sense that, they were framed in a conversational style, given that it measured communicator style constructs. However, to make it suitable for the Indian population, more specifically for the current sample which belonged to the state of Maharashtra, the items were translated in Marathi and presented to those who found English difficult while responding. This tool was also to be used to check one of the behavioural applications of parenting styles. Other factors that contributed to parenting practices were to be analyzed from the qualitative analysis of personal interviews.
4. High School Personality Questionnaire (HSPQ): The Jr.-Sr. High School Personality Questionnaire or HSPQ, by Cattell R. (1958), is a multi-dimentional, 54
self-report standardized test that can be given to single individuals or in groups, to yield a general assessment of personality of adolescents. One of the most widely used tools for measuring personality characteristics of the adolescent age group, this 142-item test measures fourteen distinct dimensions or traits of personality, coded from alphabets A to J, O and Q2, Q3 and Q4. The HSPQ is now known as the Adolescent Personality Questionnaire.
On the lines of the 16 Personality Factor (16 PF; measures personality of adults) the nature of HSPQ is such that it gives fourteen factorially derived dichotomous characteristics of personality (Drummond, 1986). Dichotomous variables generally present a flip side, when it comes to analysis. Therefore, for ease of understanding, usage, interpretation and explanation, it was considered wise to occasionally use a single-word description of each dichotomous trait. This is depicted in the following table:
Table 3.3.2.1- High School Personality Questionnaire Dichotomies Factor Code
Dichotomous Traits
Description
A
Reserved
Warmhearted
Warmth
B
Less Intelligent
More Intelligent
Reasoning
C
Affected by Feelings
Emotionally Stable
Emotional Stability
D
Undemonstrative
Excitable
Excitability
E
Obedient
Assertive
Assertiveness
F
Sober
Enthusiastic
Cheerfulness
G
Disregards Rules
Conscientious
Conscientiousness
H
Shy
Adventurous
Adventurousness
I
Tough-Minded
Tender-Minded
Sensitivity
J
Zestful
Circumspect Individualism
Withdrawal
O
Self-Assured
Apprehensive
Self-Assurance
Q2
Sociably Group Dependent
Self-Sufficient
Self-Sufficiency
Q3
Uncontrolled
Controlled
Self-Discipline
Q4
Relaxed
Tense
Tension
55
The reading level of the test is adapted to ages 11 or 12 through 18 years. Test-retest reliability has been found in the range from 0.44 to 0.81 across the factors. As for validity, construct validity has been established (0.57 to 0.74). This tool also, is available in both English and Marathi languages and was used according to the need of the participants.
3.3.3
Procedure For any research study to give robust results, it is imperative that the population is identified and subsequently a suitable sample is selected that provides the best behavioural predictions which can be then inferred to the population (Field, 2009). In this study the target populations were that of the mothers and their adolescent daughters in the city of Pune in the state of Maharashtra. Since the population and the related sample had been chosen from Pune, the results could be generalized only on the mother-daughter dyad of this city. However, it can be further explored by collecting several similar samples from other parts of the state or country.
For collecting data of an adolescent population, it was important for the researcher to identify schools in Pune city and select those who fit into the geographical distribution correctly. In other words, all parts of the city were to be explored to achieve maximum representativeness. The schools shortlisted were on the basis of North, South, East and West zones of Pune city. The procedure of sample data collection involved the following steps for each school:
1. Contacting the school and getting an appointment from the Principal. 2. Giving the formal letter of request for data collection and identifying a convenient date 3. Distributing consent letters to 8th and 9th std girl students; to be given to their mothers requesting voluntary participation through reply-back consent slips (it was mentioned that mother’s participation was compulsory, however, father could also attend if interested; see Appendix B) 56
4. Collecting the consent slips from the girl students/class representative/class teacher/In-charge, after one week or as per the school’s instructions 5. Personally contacting the mothers through the contact numbers shared on consent slips, and giving details of date, time and venue and process for the tests administration (see Appendix C) 6. Test administration as per schedule (mostly in the premises of the respective school) under careful observation, thereby following all the guidelines of test administration like giving clear instructions, providing the participants with stationery required for solving the tests, monitoring the progress, etc. Although the primary medium of instruction/test (see Appendix D) was English, there were some participants who were more comfortable with their mother tongue- Marathi. The Parenting Style Inventory and High School Personality Questionnaire are already available in Marathi versions as well, so these were used as and when required. However, for the Communicator Style Measure, neither a Marathi nor Hindi version was available. Thus, for ease of usage the researcher translated the questionnaire into Marathi, with the guidance and help of Marathi-speaking experts at Jnana Prabodhini’s Institute of Psychology (see Appendix E and F for sample items from the tools). These versions, along with the answer sheets were given to participants, whenever requested (see Appendix G). 7.
Manual scoring of the data and preparing a standard report to summarize the results. This report was sent to each school separately as a gesture of gratitude towards their cooperation and care was taken that no personal details about any individual, or the individual scores of any participant on any test were shared in the report; it contained a broad level summary of the group’s scores (see Appendix H).
Out of the fifteen schools that were shortlisted and contacted, nine responded and permitted for the data collection. The identified schools – Aranyeshwar English Medium School (Aranyeshwar,) Jnana Prabodhini Prashala (SadashivPeth), Bal Shikshan Mandir English Medium School (Kothrud), Vikhe Patil Memorial English 57
Medium School (Patrakar Nagar, Senapati Bapat Road), Muktangan English Medium School (Sahakarnagar), Tiny Tots’ Pupil’s Academy English Medium School (Warje), Jnana Prabodhini English Medium School (Nigdi), BVB’s Paranjpe Vidya Mandir (Kothrud) and The Orchid School (Baner) – were contacted personally and after they responded positively,
all the necessary permissions were gathered. The data
collection was done in the respective school premises only, for which data collection tools were administered to mothers and daughters separately, as per mutual convenience of the school, researcher and the participants. During the entire data collection process 44 girl students were such who participated in the testing but their mothers could not, due to various reasons like last minute urgency, inconvenience or indifference. Since the mother-daughter dyad could not be completed despite several attempts, this sample had to be dropped.
Test administration in itself gives several opportunities for a researcher to gauge the behavioural characteristics and role of social factors that are influential, although very subtly. In most of the testing sessions it was observed that after giving the instruction of availability of English and Marathi versions of the tests, few participants did not ask for the Marathi version despite being conspicuously less comfortable with English. Very similar to any other group behavior, they waited for another participant to ask for the Marathi version, and once someone took the initiative they all followed suit and requested a copy. Although it was a seemingly insignificant factor, but it can be an important observation to foresee the reasons behind the results obtained, where the responses appeared strikingly lopsided.
The overall sample from all these school combined came up to N=284 (nmothers=142, ndaughters= 142). This data (N=284) was then scrutinized on two bases: a) whether they fulfilled the basic criteria, to avoid confounding, and b) whether all participants had completed all the items of all tests administered to them. After this initial scrutiny it was found that 21 mothers could not be considered due to the education level being below than expected, i.e. a basic degree in Graduation or a Diploma course equivalent to graduation, and 5 participants were such who had not 58
completed one test or the other. Thus, a total of 26 mother-daughter dyads (N=52) was discarded initially and the sample size of mother-daughter dyad came out to N= 232 (mother=116 and daughters=116). This included data from schools as well as a few enthusiastic individuals who volunteered on their own and thus, were included through incidental sampling. However, the 5 cases where the participants (mother or daughter or both) had not completed the Parenting Style Inventory and some data was missing, the Missing Value analysis method (Field, 2009) was carried out. Finally, this data could also be added to the total sample size since barring the missing values these cases otherwise fit in the requirements of the participants for the study. It has been said and heard many times that for any school-related activity, it is the mother who is expected to or is interested in participation. The same thing was observed in the data collection procedure. Although the option of father’s participation was kept open, only 3 fathers participated in the study. However, it is important to mention here that there were indeed a few queries about not including the father’s responses in the data, which could be considered as a good sign. It probably meant that the notion of equality in roles and responsibilities of being a parent is gaining awareness and importance.
As mentioned earlier, few variables which could have been confounding were controlled, i.e. economic status, education of mothers, gender of the sample, and medium of instructions in school. Another variable which was initially identified to be controlled was the number of siblings the daughters’ sample had, but during the process of data collection, it was observed that a large percentage of families were in fact single child families. Also, to make the sample representative as far as possible, data was chosen from various parts of the city and it was seen that the number of children in the family varied with the type of area and further, the education level of mothers. For example, an area where mothers generally belonged to a high educational background and one that is considered (locally) as a well developed area, mostly had single-child families. With the growing changes in lifestyles, standard of living, earning and spending capacity, hectic daily routines, and an overall shift in the urban Indian family structure, most families opt for single child. Thus, in order to 59
maintain the representativeness of the sample, the criterion for number of siblings was relaxed. The final sample, thus, accounted to N= 242 (nmothers= 121, ndaughters=121). The participants’ responses on their respective tools were then scored manually and the scores were calculated. A summary of the result, without giving away specific details of any participant, was then sent to the respective schools by post so that those interested can contact the school authorities. The responses were then entered for statistical analysis.
Parenting styles have been studied for decades, across situation and in relation with various variables. These styles when manifested in actual behaviour, can be somewhat related to parenting practices. Indian society is largely affected by culture and traditions, which sometimes linger on conservativeness also. There is a possibility that despite being aware of adopting the correct and best possible parenting style, due to the cultural and traditional influences the parenting practices are different. Also, psychological tools despite being standardized sometimes allow social desirability to set in and influence the participant’s responses. In order to investigate this plausible outcome and also to explore the plausible influence of other factors, like the father’s parenting style, parenting practices adopted by mothers for the siblings (if any), or the role and contribution of in-laws (other family members) on the variables under consideration, a sample was identified for further qualitative analysis.
For this, a semi-structured funnel-type interview schedule was designed, so that the selected mother-daughter dyad could be studied qualitatively (see Appendix I). This sample (N=14) was identified through random selection method. Every fifth participant from the final list of participants was identified and contacted for a personal interview (mother and daughter, separately). If the fifth participant did not respond/was not interested/had refused, the next participant was contacted. In this manner, 14 personal interviews (nmothers= 7, ndaughters= 7) were conducted for analyzing the data and variables qualitatively. The interviews were held at the residence of the respective participants and the average duration for interviews was 40-45 minutes 60
each. The entire conversations were recorded in an audio file, with the expressed consent of the participants. These recordings were then transcripted into verbatim for qualitative analysis.
Throughout the process of data collection for quantitative and qualitative purposes, all ethical guidelines were followed which included giving formal letters to schools and obtaining consent letters, obtaining consent letters from mothers (for themselves and for their daughters), thoroughly maintaining confidentiality, random selection of data for qualitative analysis, obtaining permission for audio recording of the interviews, sending a cumulative report of the analysis to the schools and in case of the interviewed participants, a separate report of those results in particular.
3.3.4
Proposed Analysis The contribution and debate over the appropriateness of quantitative and qualitative methods for data analysis had always been the topic of discussion for researchers since a long time. Nevertheless, there is a strong support for using multi-strategy approach for data analysis, especially when it comes to applied fields (Tashakkori & Teddlie, 2003). This amalgamation of quantitative and qualitative methods has been termed differently by different researchers, viz. multi-methods (Brannen, 1992), mixed-methods (Creswell, 2003; Tashakkori & Teddlie, 2003), multi-strategy (Bryman, 2004), etc. In his study, Bryman (2006) extensively talked about the relevance, need and effectiveness of combining these two methods for better results. It seemed that the biggest advantage of a multistrategy approach was that it allowed researchers to explore a huge amount of data, from which findings that were not even anticipated or expected are discovered. Of course, no method of analysis is fool-proof and thus, after careful consideration of the barriers that may occur in using the multi-strategy method (Bryman, 2007) this study was designed keeping in mind the benefits and difficulties of both quantitative and qualitative methods, which when combined usually give robust findings, irrespective of the rationale chosen. The proposed
61
methodology for analyzing the quantitative and qualitative data is explained below: 1. Quantitative Analysis: For analyzing the data quantitatively SPSS version .20 was to be used and the analysis would comprise of the following –
a)
Assumptions: A healthy research study is one that always begins by considering the assumptions of parametric data (Field, 2009), since if the assumptions are not satisfactorily met, the mode of analysis cannot be appropriately selected to have most accurate conclusions from the data. Thus, the assumption of normality, homogeneity of variance, checking for outliers (if any) serves as the first step of analysis. However, it is to be remembered that a large type of sample in populations selected for social science research are not always normally distributed.
b)
Descriptive Statistics: The next step was to find the measures of central tendency and variability to ascertain the basic nature of the data collected. These are extremely important and useful in creating first impression about the data. Also, by examining graphs and plots, a lot can be identified about the data before proceeding towards the higher levels of analysis.
c)
Correlation Analysis: The backbone of this piece of research was to find the various layers of parenting and communication styles and adolescent development that intertwine with one another and it was essential to know which factor correlated with what that would ultimately results into a specific mother-daughter relationship. For this purpose, multiple correlation analysis was to be adopted. More so, all the hypotheses in this study were directional seeking a certain orientation about the direction of these factors in mother-daughter relationship, hence this method was considered apt.
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d)
Regression Analysis: Regression starts where correlation ends. In other words, to identify the exact contribution of the variables identified in the mother-daughter relationship, it was advisory that multiple regression be used and one could decipher what factor of parenting and communication style exactly lead to which personality trait or characteristic and to what extent.
e)
Mediation Analysis: This basically helps in analyzing the more complex and intricate layers in relationship between variable and predicts various interrelations. Mediation analysis is an excellent technique to identify if a particular variable has been responsible in some way or another to change the relationship that is observed between two main variables. Also, since one of the variables (Perceived Parenting Style) was expected to be a mediating factor this analysis was crucial to choose the model best suitable and fit for the present data.
f)
Bootstrap Technique: Sometimes due to lack normality, it is difficult to know the sampling distribution, especially in the absence of a large sample size. Bootstrapping tries to picture the present sample with respect to a larger population or treats a sample as a large population. From this then, the mean, standard deviation, standard errors and confidence intervals are calculated, which help in making predictions with more confidence and reporting the obtained results with assertion. This technique, although important and quite robust, was to be incorporated only if it suited the need and nature of the sample of the present study. Thus, it could be considered as a stand-by technique; to be used if the data posed difficulties for further statistical analysis.
2. Qualitative Analysis: There can be several approaches to analyzing qualitative data, based on several studies done by researchers. These approaches include phenomenological, ethnographical, inductive thematic 63
analysis, grounded theory, case study method, narrative analysis, etc. (Guest, Namey & Mitchell, 2013). A representation of all such strategies for qualitative analysis is depicted by Ryan & Bernard (2000), which is shown in Fig. 3.3.4.1: Fig 3.3.4.1: Typology of Qualitative Research (Ryan & Bernard, 2000)
Amongst these the Inductive Thematic Analysis is the most commonly adopted method for analyzing qualitative data. The present study followed the following five steps (Thomas, 2003) to analyze the interviews transcripts from the 14 interviews (mothers=7 and daughters=7). There are five stages for this method –
1. Preparing raw data files 2. Close reading and identifying codes 3. Forming categories by clubbing similar codes 4. Checking overlaps in coding and uncoded text 5. Revising and refining categories to establish major themes
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3.4 SUMMARY
It is imperative for any piece of research to have clarity of idea about not just what constructs are going to be studied but also about how these constructs will be studied. A sound research study is one which is designed after careful thought and preliminary review of past research studies. Having said this, it is equally important to note that social science research areas are primarily based on several assumptions and behavioural predictions about the sample collected. It is natural to have discrepancies in the predictions made and results obtained. However, it is also only just for the researcher to be able to assimilate all the findings in the most logical, rational and objective manner. This study was an attempt to fulfill these criteria and watchful efforts were taken to ensure that the obtained data was treated in the best way possible for obtaining sound, robust and logical results.
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CHAPTER IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 INTRODUCTION
The primary purpose of this research was to explore the relationship between parenting styles and communication styles of mothers with the personality development of their adolescent daughters. At the outset, it was a survey research design with correlation as its central theme of analyzing the relationships. This was followed by other statistical techniques to gauge all possible results that might occur as a result of the study on mother-daughter dyad. Usually, quantitative data and analysis is considered to suffice for any research study since it gives results in a clear and unambiguous manner, which mostly keeps the researchers’ bias at bay. However, data that involves people and behaviours cannot always be quantified and even if they can, the problem of generalization would always exist because each individual would behave or respond differently no matter how much the behavioural patterns have been factually reported. This is where the qualitative data and analysis helps. The field of psychology and other social sciences is such that no matter how much control one tries to exert on the design of the study, there are bound to be changes or disruptions caused by a number of factors, which may or may not have occurred to the researcher, or which could not be controlled. A way around this issue is to adopt a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods for data analysis.
In his work on mixed-method research about integrating quantitative and qualitative analysis, Bryman (2006) reviewed articles published over a 10 year period (1994-2003) and observed that a major chunk of the researches were based on multistrategy approach. One of the influential schemes based on which these research articles were scrutinized was that of Greene, Caracelli & Graham (1989), which pointed out five major rationales for researchers using the mixed method approach
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combining quantitative and qualitative research. These were triangulation, complimentarity, development, initiation and expansion. Out of these it occurred that complimentarity and expansion were the most cited reasons (Bryman, 2006). Complimentarity ‘seeks elaboration, enhancement, illustration, clarification of the results from one method with the results from another’ whereas Expansion ‘seeks to extend the breadth and range of enquiry by using different methods for different inquiry components’ (Greene, et al, 1989, pp. 259). Researchers also showed preference for Development, which is ‘seeks to use the results from one method to help develop or inform the other method, where development is broadly construed to include sampling and implementation, as well as measurement decisions’ (Greene, et al, 1989, pp. 259). Needless to say, this study aimed with a purpose of complimentarity and expansion so as to explore the observations from all possible angles and contribute to the area of research significantly. Bryman’s study strongly propagated the advantages of using multi-strategy approach. However, in his further work, Bryman (2007) admitted to having noticed certain barriers to adopt this method for analysis, which was related, among others, to preferences of researcher towards one of the two methods while discussing results, incompatible research design, huge time lag between data collection, nature of data collected, etc.
After carefully considering these possible pitfalls, attempts were made that this research was carried out with the most objective as well as observant approach and obtain maximum out of all the results that were finally procured. The results from both the methods have been discussed further. Although, they appear to be differently categorized into separate sections of quantitative and qualitative analysis, the simultaneous discussion takes one along with the other, thereby keeping both methods in sync.
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SECTION IV-A: QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS Results and Discussion
This section discusses the results obtained from the statistical analysis of the quantitative data. All the results were obtained using the software Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20 (SPSS .20).
4.2 SAMPLE CHARACTERISTICS
The first step towards quantitative analysis began with the identification of sample characteristics. Both samples of mothers and daughters were assessed against all parameters to identify the faults, if any, in the process of data collection. This is crucial since the validity of the results obtained depends on the validity of the relevant population sample. Analysis for any data set always begins with the calculation of descriptive statistics. As the name suggests, this statistic is helpful in the initial scrutiny of the data and is thus, restricted to only the description.
4.2.1
Personality Styles of Mothers and Perceived Parenting Styles by Adolescent Daughters
Table 4.2.1 depicts the descriptive statistic of the parenting styles of mothers from the present data set (N=242, nmothers=121, ndaughters=121):
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Table 4.2.1- Descriptive Statistics Parenting Styles Parenting Styles
n
Mean
Standard Error of
Standard
Variance
̅) (𝑿
the Mean (SE)
Deviation
(s2)
(s) Authoritative
Authoritarian
Permissive
Uninvolved
Mothers
121
14.124
0.204
2.245
5.043
Daughters
121
11.174
0.252
2.771
7.678
Mothers
121
1.38
0.148
1.634
2.671
Daughters
121
3.479
0.237
2.605
6.785
Mothers
121
4.281
0.18
1.976
3.904
Daughters
121
4.793
0.177
1.945
3.782
Mothers
121
0.215
0.062
0.686
0.47
Daughters
121
0.5537
0.08
0.884
0.783
The table above shows the descriptive statistics of the scores obtained for mothers and adolescent daughters on the Parenting Style Inventory. Values suggested significant similarities and differences between the means of the mother and daughter sample. As expected, the mean on authoritative parenting style indicated that while most mothers reported of adopting this style as the primary one (14.12), the daughters appeared to have perceived it differently (11.17). Similarly, while the mothers seemed to believe that they were less authoritarian in their approach (1.38), the daughters reported otherwise (3.47); this showed that the perceptions of daughters about the parenting styles of mothers was quite different from what the mothers thought. There seemed to be an understanding between mothers and daughters when it came to permissive parenting (4.28 and 4.79), and the mean scores on uninvolved parenting made it clear that this style was neither adopted nor perceived much by the samples.
The values of standard error of the mean (SE) being low indicated that all the sample distributions were compacted around the mean and the values of standard deviation (s) being low indicated that the mean indeed was a good representation of the population from which the current sample was drawn. This suggested an
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overall homogeneity in the opinions about the parenting styles in one set of the data. The values of variance (s2), which is the average amount of error or the overall variability within the sample, reiterated the previous indications about differences in the opinions of mothers and daughters regarding a particular parenting style. This was further explored using inferential statistic.
4.2.2
Communication Styles of Mothers Table 4.2.2 depicts the descriptive statistic of the communication styles of mothers from the present data set (Nmothers=121):
Table 4.2.2- Descriptive Statistics Communication Styles Variable
n
Mean
Standard Error of
Standard
Variance
̅) (𝑿
the Mean (SE)
Deviation (s)
(s2)
Friendly
121
15.529
0.218
2.395
5.735
Impression Leaving
121
14.463
0.262
2.884
8.317
Relaxed
121
12.248
0.246
2.706
7.321
Contentious
121
10.405
0.292
3.211
10.31
Attentive
121
15.578
0.229
2.522
6.363
Precise
121
13.735
0.242
2.661
7.079
Animated
121
12.578
0.264
2.909
8.463
Dramatic
121
10.289
0.27
2.976
8.857
Open
121
11.297
0.278
3.062
9.377
Dominant
121
9.678
0.285
3.131
9.804
The table above shows the descriptive statistics of the scores obtained for mothers on the Communicator Style Measure (CSM). The values of standard error of the mean (SE) being low indicated that all the sample distributions were compacted around the mean and the values of standard deviation (s) being low indicated that the mean represented the population well from which the current sample was drawn. This suggested that the opinion about the communication styles was similar for the sample in the respective data set. The values of variance
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(s2), however, suggested that there was certain variability about how mothers perceived themselves as communicators. Specifically in case of the styles that had a negative connotation i.e. contentious and dominant, the values of variance were quite close to the mean (10.31, 9.804), signifying a variability in how these styles were used. This variability could be due to the unhelpful or harmful undertone found in these styles. Other than that friendly, impression leaving, attentive, precise, animated, relaxed and open were found to be used most often, followed by dramatic style.
4.2.3
Personality Factors of Adolescent Daughters Table 4.2.3 depicts the descriptive statistic of the personality factors of adolescent daughters from the present data set (Ndaughters=121):
Table 4.2.3- Descriptive Statistics Personality Factors Variable
n
Mean
Standard Error
Standard
Variance
̅) (𝑿
of
Deviation (s)
(s2)
the Mean (SE) A
Warmth
121
5.413
0.192
2.112
4.461
B
Reasoning
121
8.289
0.158
1.734
3.007
C
Emotional Stability
121
6.157
2.353
2.588
6.7
D
Excitability
121
7.207
0.185
2.033
4.132
E
Assertiveness
121
7.157
0.207
2.28
5.2
F
Cheerfulness
121
6.537
0.201
2.201
4.884
G
Conscientiousness
121
4.992
0.176
1.939
3.758
H
Adventurousness
121
5.876
0.229
2.522
6.36
I
Sensitivity
121
8.496
0.197
2.172
4.719
J
Withdrawal
121
5.992
0.192
2.115
4.475
O
Self-Assurance
121
8.149
0.183
2.011
4.044
Q2
Self-Sufficiency
121
6
0.224
2.463
6.067
Q3
Self-Discipline
121
5.19
0.239
2.628
6.905
Q4
Tension
121
6.595
0.223
2.451
6.01
71
The table above shows the descriptive statistics of the scores obtained for adolescent daughters on the High School Personality Questionnaire (HSPQ). The low values of standard error of the mean (SE) indicated that all the sample distributions were compacted around the mean and the low values of standard deviation (s) too, indicated that the mean was satisfactorily representative of the population. This suggested that the opinion about the personality factors was fairly homogenous in the respective data set. The values of variance (s2), however, suggested that was variability about how the adolescents perceived themselves on various personality traits. This was obvious considering the volatile and developing stage that is adolescence.
4.3 DATA SCRUTINY
It is generally assumed that the data collected from a sample are normally distributed and thus, parametric measures of statistics can be used. However, it cannot be ignored that a parametric test statistic, which is essentially based on the assumption of normal distribution, might be used even when the data does not fulfill this criterion. This means that in a situation where the data are assumed to be normally distributed when in reality they are not, the results might be inaccurate (Field, 2009). To safeguard this, and other possible problems in statistical analysis, it is imperative that the data undergoes an analysis of assumptions, i.e. assumptions required for using parametric tests for analysis. The present sample, thus, was assessed on the basis of these crucial assumptions (Field, 2009) discussed further. It is to be noted here that the present sample has three categories: i) parenting stylemothers and daughters, ii) communicator style of mothers, and iii) personality of adolescent daughters. Thus, all assumptions were applied to each one of these categories accordingly:
4.3.1
Normality Testing for Distribution of Data When a sample is large (usually more than 30) it is generally assumed that its sample distribution would be normal. Also, the whole idea of the central limit 72
theorem states that when we have a large sample the standard error of the sample can be approximated. This suggests that any sample that is larger than 30, can be treated as normally distributed. In reality, it is highly unlikely that a population or sample is completely normally distributed. And so, the normal distribution of the sample can be assured, and not simply assumed, by using: i) the tests of normality, ii) the values of skewness and kurtosis, and iii) histograms, normal QQ plots and box plots. The results for the tests of normality on SPSS gives outputs of two tests— Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S test) and Shapiro-Wilk. Usually, the KS test is used when N>50. The sample is considered normally distributed if these tests are non-significant (Razali & Wah, 2011; Field, 2009). However, both the KS test and Shapiro-Wilk tests are reported to have been affected by large sample sizes (Field, 2009). Therefore to assess the normality of the sample further the skewness and kurtosis z values analyzed; the z values were calculated manually but not reported, since results from standard tests can be presented without elaborate tables and unnecessary data (Cramer, 1998; APA, 2010; Cramer & Howitt, 2004; Doane & Seward, 2011). As further enquiry, the histograms, normal Q-Q plots and box plots were assessed. Histograms of all variables and their levels have been described however, box plots for only parenting styles have been reported since they provided the comparative view of perceptions of mothers and daughters. The box plots and normal Q-Q plots, though assessed, were not reported in order to avoid excessive data cluttering. Inspecting the plots of the distribution has been considered a reliable method for checking normality, since it helps check the existence of outliers, if any. In a sample where there is bound to be strong differences of opinion amongst the participants, the possibility of potential outliers cannot be denied. The following categories involved the discussion on data scrutiny for all the variables concerned in this study:
1. Normality Tests for Parenting Style: A K-S test and the Shapiro-Wilk test showed that the scores of the sample of mothers’ parenting style on the Parenting Style Inventory were not normally distributed (p3.29 is considered as an outlier. This method suggested that the potential outliers were not significantly problematic, hence the second method was checked further.
b)
Outlier Labeling Rule: A more robust method of identifying outliers is one given by Tukey (1977). His work on using box plots for identifying outliers has been considered the most popular method. This involves a simple rule that gives a range that is representative of the acceptable range of maximum and minimum scores on a particular variable. This rule uses the following formula (Q1 – g(Q3 – Q1), Q3 + g(Q3 – Q1) Using this formula1, it was found that all the potential outlier cases for authoritarian and permissive parenting styles for mothers and daughters were, in fact, not outliers. However, as expected, the uninvolved parenting style (Fig. 4.3.12) had outliers, for mothers— far out cases (45, 58) to out cases (41, 75, 92, 111) and (68, 93, 102) and for daughters— far out case
1
Q1 and Q3 are the lower and upper quartile of the percentiles obtained for each variable and when the difference is multiplied by the g value, the resulting range can be compared to the extreme scores (high and low). Based on this, any score that lies above or below the range could be a possible outlier. Hoaglin, Iglewicz & Tukey (1986) coined the term ‘outlier labeling rule’ as a procedure to find outliers. The usual practice earlier was to use g = 1.5. However, this value was argued upon and was found to be identifying outliers when none existed. To improve this, Hoaglin & Iglewicz (1987) using simulation changed the g value to 2.2, which when applied to the formula stated above was a robust method of finding outliers (Iglewicz & Banerjee, 2001).
78
217. This showed that outliers were more in case of mothers than daughters. It is always wise to deal with the outliers in the beginning itself, before the test statistics are applied on the data. Outliers can be dealt with in different ways and SPSS provides sound support to do the same. After using the log transformation method for uninvolved parenting style, which basically modifies the distribution by changing the right tail, it was observed that the skewness value had reduced for both mothers and daughters— from 4.27 to 2.93 and from 2.40 to 1.07 respectively. However, the distribution remained skewed:
This kind of observation could have appeared to create a hindrance in any further analysis. However, it was imperative to consider the nature of this parenting style. Uninvolved parenting style means that the parent (mother) shows no warmth, control or autonomy granting in her parental practice. This style is such that, if chosen, implies that the mother might be uninvolved in the parenting of her adolescent daughter. This very idea is usually unthinkable and unimaginable and so, it might not be even considered important enough by most mothers to select the option for uninvolved parenting style while responding (in the Parenting Style Inventory). Most mothers showed an inclination towards ignoring this style out rightly. However, like in any case, there were certain exceptions in the mothers’ sample that gave a different response and probably 79
chose the option for uninvolved parenting style on some items of the inventory. These cases might be the ones identified as outliers, since they gave a totally different response as against the general perception. They might have chosen to get uninvolved with some of the daughters’ activities and may have had their own reasons for the same but statistically, they fell outside the interval. On the other hand, daughters seemed to have perceived their mothers as uninvolved on more than one occasions. This reiterated the stark difference in the perception of mothers and adolescent daughters towards the way parenting is done and perceived. It is important to note that while statistical assumptions were considered seriously to avoid any violation that may affect further analysis, samples like these where parenting styles are measured, huge differences in opinions were bound to take place and before writing off any case as an outlier, each attribute associated with the variable in question must be assessed. Also, even after transformation of the data, the distribution remained skewed indicating that the existence of outliers for uninvolved parenting style was inevitable. Keeping in mind that the uninvolved parenting would certainly have a large and obvious difference within the sample, the original data was retained as it is.
4. Normality tests for Communication Style: The K-S and Shapiro-Wilk test showed that the scores of the sample of mothers’ communication style on the Communicator Style Measure were approximately normally distributed for only few styles:
80
Table 4.3.3- Tests of Normality for Communication Styles Variable
Kolmogorov-Smirnov
Shapiro-Wilk
Statistic
df
Sig.
Statistic
df
Sig.
Friendly
.140
121
.000
.959
121
.001
Impression Leaving
.174
121
.000
.929
121
.000
Relaxed
.115
121
.000
.975
121
.023
Contentious
.096
121
.009
.978
121
.046
Attentive
.137
121
.000
.964
121
.003
Precise
.110
121
.001
.973
121
.017
Animated
.133
121
.000
.978
121
.041
Dramatic
.139
121
.000
.972
121
.013
Open
.102
121
.003
.983
121
.127
Dominant
.167
121
.000
.960
121
.001
Since the normality tests indicated non- normal distribution of the data, it was assessed by further methods.
5. Skewness and Kurtosis for Communication Styles: The scores for the communication styles of mothers revealed the following results with skewness and kurtosis (skewness < |2.0| and kurtosis < |9.0| ):
Table 4.3.4: Skewness and Kurtosis for Communication Styles Variable
Skewness Value
Kurtosis Value
Friendly
-0.464
-0.268
Impression Leaving
-0.733
0.133
Relaxed
-0.072
-0.443
Contentious
0.103
-0.501
Attentive
-0.418
0.066
Precise
-0.407
0.045
Animated
0.202
-0.282
Dramatic
0.252
-0.565
Open
0.167
-0.388
0.5
-0.234
Dominant
81
In terms of skewness and kurtosis the scores were assumed to be normally distributed. In the case of the scores on communication style, all values fulfilled this criterion and thus, were assumed normal for further parametric statistical testing.
6. Plots for Communication Styles: A visual inspection was done for additional examination of scores to check the assumption of normality, which included the histograms for each communication style, indicating that all the communication styles were approximately normally distributed.
82
83
A closer inspection of the histograms indicated the possibility of outliers on the dominant and animated communicator styles. To check this and for further analysis, the box plots were investigated. Box plots on impression leaving, relaxed, attentive and animated showed that a few cases that were outside the set of mean responses and indicated the possible existence of outliers that ultimately might affect the results. However, the outlier labeling rule indicated that none of the cases, which appeared outside the average range of responses, were potential outliers. Outliers also depend on the proportion of the total sample size and the number of probable outliers. Since the numbers of cases was too small (2-4) as compared to the sample size (nmothers=121), the existence of outliers was ruled out.
7. Normality Tests for Personality factors: A Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and Shapiro-Wilk test showed that the scores of the sample of daughters’ personality factors on the High School Personality Questionnaire were not normally distributed for the fourteen factors: Table 4.3.5- Tests of Normality for Personality Factors Factor
Description
Kolmogorov-Smirnov Statistic
df
Shapiro-Wilk
Sig.
Statistic
df
Sig.
A
Warmth
.170
121
.000
.949
121
.000
B
Reasoning
.260
121
.000
.835
121
.000
C
Emotional Stability
.152
121
.000
.931
121
.000
D
Excitability
.137
121
.000
.935
121
.000
E
Assertiveness
.146
121
.000
.922
121
.000
F
Cheerfulness
.148
121
.000
.941
121
.000
G
Conscientiousness
.178
121
.000
.927
121
.000
H
Adventurousness
.099
121
.006
.956
121
.001
I
Sensitivity
.268
121
.000
.725
121
.000
J
Withdrawal
.188
121
.000
.954
121
.000
O
Self-Assurance
.276
121
.000
.831
121
.000
Q2
Self-Sufficiency
.129
121
.000
.950
121
.000
Q3
Self-Discipline
.145
121
.000
.935
121
.000
Q4
Tension
.123
121
.000
.931
121
.000
84
Considering the results, further analysis was done to check the normality of the sample for personality factors.
8. Skewness and Kurtosis for Personality Factors: The scores for the personality factors of adolescent daughters revealed the following results with skewness and kurtosis (skewness < |2.0| and kurtosis < |9.0| ):
Table 4.3.6: Skewness and Kurtosis for Personality Factors Factor
Description
Skewness Value
Kurtosis Value
A
Warmth
0.282
-0.303
B
Reasoning
-0.681
-0.273
C
Emotional Stability
0.07
-1.124
D
Excitability
-0.346
-0.412
E
Assertiveness
-0.501
-0.362
F
Cheerfulness
-0.225
-0.443
G
Conscientiousness
0.542
0.205
H
Adventurousness
-0.146
-0.661
I
Sensitivity
-1.785
3.049
J
Withdrawal
-0.343
-0.086
O
Self-Assurance
-0.839
-0.44
Q2
Self-Sufficiency
0.003
-0.998
Q3
Self-Discipline
0.305
-0.909
Q4
Tension
-0.182
-0.662
Again, in terms of skewness and kurtosis the scores were assumed approximately normally distributed. However, factor I (sensitivity) appeared negatively skewed as well as kurtotic. To investigate this further, the plots were observed.
9. Plots for Personality Factors: The plots indicated that the sample scores for the personality factors were approximately normally distributed. A closer inspection of the box plots pointed towards the possibility of outliers on sensitivity (I), and 85
also on assertiveness (E), conscientiousness (G) and withdrawal (J). However, the histograms indicated normal distribution for all factors except sensitivity. The skewness and kurtosis values of assertiveness (-.501
