Abstract:
The paper presents the results of an extensive study with 748 Singapore adolescents on their perceptions of their parents' child-rearing behaviours and the relationship to the adolescents' psychosocial adjustment. The study looked at three key dimensions of fathers' and mothers' parenting behaviours: warmth, control and communication, as well as important areas of adolescent psychosocial well being: personal self-concept, emotional well being, autonomy development, and social efficacy. The findings revealed that adolescents perceived mothers to be the more nurturant and supportive parent. Correlational analysis indicated that fathers' and mothers' parenting behaviours were significantly linked to all measures of psychosocial adjustment, with stronger associations with mother's parenting behaviours. The differential outcomes reflect the different types of relationship that adolescents have with their fathers and mothers.