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J Child Fam Stud (2013) 22:684693 DOI 10.1007/s10826-012-9621-1
ORIGINAL PAPER
Perceptions of Parenting Style Among College Students in India and the United States
Caitlin M. Barnhart Vaishali V. Raval
Ashwin Jansari Pratiksha H. Raval
Published online: 28 June 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012
Abstract Although a growing body of psychological literature has examined the inuence of culture on parenting style, relatively less attention has been paid to gender differences in parenting style across cultures. The present study examined perceptions of parenting style as a function of participants culture, participants gender, and parent gender in college students in India and the United States. Using a new vignette-based self-report measure that characterizes each of Baumrinds three parenting styles, participants rated perceptions of effectiveness, helpfulness, caring, and normativeness of each style. Contrary to expectation, results showed that Indian college students considered the parent demonstrating permissive parenting to be more effective and helpful than US college students. In contrast, US college students considered the parents demonstrating authoritative and authoritarian parenting to be more effective, helpful, and caring than Indian college students. A majority of Indian and US college students selected the parent demonstrating authoritative parenting as most similar to their own parents, and the type of parent they wish to be in the future. Females considered the parent demonstrating authoritative parenting to be more effective and helpful than males. Relatively few effects of parent gender were found.
Keywords Parenting style Cross-cultural
Gender India
Introduction
Darling and Steinberg (1993) dened parenting style as a constellation of attitudes toward the child that are communicated to the child and that, taken together, create an emotional climate in which the parents behaviors are expressed (p. 488). Popularized by Diana Baumrinds work, parenting style, its implications for child development, and the demographic factors by which it varies (e.g., culture, gender) have all been extensively studied in developmental and family science. Literature regarding parenting styles in European American samples has examined the role of both parent and child gender, specically investigating whether mothers and fathers parenting styles differ for sons and daughters. Cross-cultural research has emerged that primarily compares parenting styles of mothers in Eastern and Western cultures. Relatively rare are studies of parenting style that have incorporated the examination of culture, parent gender,...