Paternal and maternal influences on the psychological well-being of Chinese adolescents.
Adolescents' (N = 378) perceptions of and satisfaction with parenting styles, perceived parent-adolescent conflict, perceived frequency of parent-adolescent communication and related feelings, perceived parent-adolescent relationship, and mental health were assessed with rating scales and structured interviews on 2 occasions separated by 1 year. Results showed that the questionnaire and interview measures at each time could be grouped into 2 stable factors: Paternal Parenthood Qualities (PPQ) and Maternal Parenthood Qualities (MPQ). Although both factors generally had significant concurrent and longitudinal correlations with adolescents' mental health, PPQ at Time 1-predicted changes in adolescent life satisfaction, hopelessness, self-esteem, purpose in life, and general psychiatric morbidity at Time 2, whereas MPQ at Time 1 did not predict those changes. Adolescents' mental health at Time 1 was found to predict changes in MPQ but not PPQ at Time 2. Relative to maternal qualities, paternal qualities were generally found to exert a stronger impact on adolescent psychological well-being.
Shek
D T
DT
Department of Social Work, Chinese University of Hong Kong. danielshek@cuhk.edu.hk
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002648:Child; D002681:China; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires