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The Role of Life Satisfaction in the Relationship Between Authoritative Parenting Dimensions and Adolescent Problem Behavior

  • Chapter
Quality-of-Life Research on Children and Adolescents

Part of the book series: Social Indicators Research Series ((SINS,volume 23))

Abstract

Research examining environmental factors associated with adolescents’ life satisfaction (LS) has revealed that familial variables (e.g., parent-child conflict, family structure) are crucial correlates. The purpose of the current study was to identify particular dimensions of authoritative parenting (strictness-supervision, social support/involvement, and psychological autonomy granting) that are related to LS during early, middle, and late adolescence, as well as to explore the hypothesis that LS serves as a mediator between authoritative parenting and adolescent internalizing and externalizing behavior. A sample of 1201 middle and high school students completed self-report measures assessing these constructs. Results indicated statistically significant relationships between each authoritative parenting dimension and adolescent LS. Although all three parenting dimensions were positively related to LS, perceived parental social support emerged as the strongest correlate. Important developmental differences were revealed, including the finding that the association between parenting behaviors and adolescents’ LS changed as children aged. Last, LS fully mediated the relationship between social support and adolescent problem behavior and partially mediated relationships between the remaining authoritative parenting dimensions (i.e., strictness-supervision, psychological autonomy granting) and maladaptive adolescent behavior.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA

    Shannon M. Suldo & E. Scott Huebner

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  1. Shannon M. Suldo
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  2. E. Scott Huebner
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA

    Anne Dannerbeck

  2. University of Girona, Girona, Spain

    Ferran Casas , Marta Sadurni  & Germà Coenders ,  & 

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Suldo, S.M., Huebner, E.S. (2004). The Role of Life Satisfaction in the Relationship Between Authoritative Parenting Dimensions and Adolescent Problem Behavior. In: Dannerbeck, A., Casas, F., Sadurni, M., Coenders, G. (eds) Quality-of-Life Research on Children and Adolescents. Social Indicators Research Series, vol 23. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-2312-5_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-2312-5_9

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-6635-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-2312-5

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