The Mediating Role of Parental Attachment in the Relationship between Parenting Styles and Identity Achievement among Secondary and Preparatory School Students
Abstract
The purpose of this research was to examine the mediating role of parental attachment in the relationship between parenting styles and adolescents’ identity achievement. To this purpose, 375 adolescent students were drawn from four secondary and preparatory schools in Debre Markos town using proportional stratified sampling technique. Correlational design was employed to conduct the study. Adapted self-report questionnaires for parenting styles, parental attachment and identity achievement of adolescents were used to collect the data from the respondents. Hence, quantitative data were collected and path analysis via linear regression was employed to determine the path coefficients of the variables under consideration. Based on Baron and Kenney’s requirements of single mediation, simple and multiple linear regressions were made to determine the beta value of the four paths. Furthermore, the existence of significant mediation via parental attachment was tested using Sobel’s z-test for each path diagrams. Hence, the findings indicated that parental attachment positively and partially mediated in the relationship between identity achievement and authoritative parenting style. Authoritarian parenting style had positive and significant direct effect on identity achievement, but the indirect effect via parental attachment was not significant. Parental attachment positively and fully mediated the relationship between permissive parenting style and identity achievement. Future research is recommended to extend the work of this study by further examining the mediating role of parental attachment in the relationship between parenting styles and adolescent identity achievement.References
Allen, J. P., & Land, D. (1999). Attachment in adolescence: Theory, research, and clinical Applications (pp. 319–335). New York: Guilford Press.
Armsden, G. C., and Greenberg, M. T. (1987). The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment: Relationships to well-being in adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 16(5), 427-454
Arnett, J.J. (2012). Human development: A cultural approach. Boston: Pearson Education Inc.
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 5, 1173-1182.
Bennion, L. D., & Adams, G. R. (1986). A revision of the extended version of the objective measure of ego identity status: An identity instrument for use with late adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Research, 1, 183-198.
Berger, K.S. (2009). The Developing person: Through childhood and Adolescence (8 h ed.). New York: Worth publishers.
Borkowski, J. G., Ramey, S. L. & Marie Bristol-Power. (2002). Parenting and the child's World: Influences of Academic, Intellectual, Social-Emotional development. Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers
Buri, J.R. (1991). Parental authority questionnaire. Journal of Personality and Social Assessment, 57, 110-119.
Campbell, E., Adams, G. R., & Dobson, W. R. (1984). Familial correlates of identity formation in late adolescence: A study of the predictive utility of connectedness and Individuality Methods in behavioral science family relations. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 13(6), 509-525.
Cohen, L., Manion, L. & Morrison, K. (2008). Research methods in education (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Crosswhite, J. M., & Kerpelman, J. L. (2009). Coercion theory, self-control, and social information processing: Understanding potential mediators for how parents influence deviant behaviors. Deviant Behavior, 30(7), 611-646.
Damon, W. & Lerner, R. M. (2006). Handbook of child psychology: Theoretical models of human development. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
De Roos, S. (2004). Young children’s description of God parent’s and teacher’s god concept and religious nomination of schools. Journal of Beliefs Values, 22, 19-30.
Dishio, T. J. & Kavanagh, K. (2003). Intervening in adolescent problem behavior: A family centered approach. New York: Guildford Press.
Far, M. T. & Fattahi, N. (2015). Investigating the relationship between the parents’ parenting styles with children’s identity processing. Bulletin of Environment, Pharmacology and Life Sciences, 4 (8), 129-136.
Friedlmeier, W., Chakkarath, P., & Schwarz, B. (2005). Culture and human development: The importance of cross-cultural research for the social sciences. New York: Psychology press. Howitt, D., & Crammer, D. (2011). Introduction to statistics in psychology (5 ed.). London: Pearson Education Limited
Karavasilis, L., Doyle, A. B., & Markiewicz, D. (2003). Associations between parenting style and attachment to mother in middle childhood and adolescence. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 27(2), 153–164.
Kerns, K. A., Tomich, P. L., Aspelmeier, J. E., & Contreras, J. M. (2000). Attachment based assessments of parent-child relationships in middle childhood. Developmental Psychology, 36(5), 614-626.
Kroger, J. (1993). Discussion on ego identity, 1-20. New Jersey: Hillsdale.
Kroger, J., & Haslett, S. J. (1988). Separation-individuation and ego identity status in late adolescence: A two-year longitudinal study. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 17(1), 59-79
Laghi, F. Baiocco, R. Lonigro, A. & Baumgartner, E. (2013). Exploring the relationship between identity status, development and alcohol consumption among Italian adolescents. The Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied, 147(3), 277292,
Mackinnon, D.D. (2008). Introduction to statistical mediation analysis. New York: Tylor and Francis Group, LLC.
Marcia, J. E. (1980). Identity in adolescence. In J. Adelson (Ed.), Handbook of adolescent Psychology (pp. 159-187). New York: Wiley.
Newman, B. M. & Newman, P. R. (2012). Development through life: A psychosocial approach (11 th ed.). Wadsworth: Cengage Learning.
Quintana, S. M., & Lapsley, D. K. (1987). Adolescent attachment and ego identity: A structural equations approach to the continuity of adaptation. Journal of Adolescent Research, 2(4), 393-409.
Santrock, J. W. (2011). Child Development (13 th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies.
Schwartz, S. J., Luyckx, K. & Vignoles, V, L. (2011). Handbook of identity theory and research. New York: Springer Science Business Media, LLC.
Shaffer, D. R., & Kipp, K. (2010). Developmental psychology: Childhood and adolescence (8 th ed.). Wadsworth: Cengage Learning
Sigeleman, C.K., & Rider, E. K. (2009). Life span human development (6 th ed.). Wadsworth: Cengage Learning
Sroufe, L. (2005). Attachment and development. A prospective longitudinal study from birth to adulthood. Attachment and Human development, 7(4), 349-367.
Yamane, T. (1967). Statistics: An introductory analysis (2 nd ed). New York: Harper and Row.
Yount, W.R. (2006). Research design & statistical analysis in Christian Ministry (4 ed.). WR Yount, Texas.
Zimmermann, P., & Becker-Stoll, F. (2002). Stability of attachment representations during adolescence: The influence of ego-identity status. Journal of Adolescence, 25, 107– 124.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
