Examining College Student’s Mental Health: How Parenting Style and Birth Order Affects College Student’s Mental Health
Poster Number
7
Session Title
Poster Session 1
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Psychology
Abstract
Parenting behaviors can be classified into three different parenting styles as classified by Baumrind: authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive. Authoritarian parents have a high control and low warmth style of parenting which means they are likely to not take into account how their child feels or cultivate the appropriate level of support. On the other hand, authoritative parents have a high control and high warmth style, and they tend to foster autonomy and the appropriate level of support. Though there has been extensive research into the impacts of parenting styles on the mental health of children, there is a lack of research into the longer-term effects into young adulthood. We surveyed 98 college-aged individuals about their recent emotional state, their mother and father’s parenting style, and their perceived role in the family (psychological birth order). We found that authoritarian mothers appeared to have the most negative impact on their children, linked to an increase in depression, stress, and anxiety. Authoritarian fathering did not predict adult children’s outcomes. We discovered that authoritative fathers had a significant impact on actually lowering depression in their college-aged children, and authoritative mothers were linked to lower depression and stress. Permissive parenting did not predict mental health outcomes. These results can aid our comprehension of the long-term impacts of various parenting styles and influence future mental health research and parental education.
Start Date
15-4-2022 12:00 PM
Examining College Student’s Mental Health: How Parenting Style and Birth Order Affects College Student’s Mental Health
Parenting behaviors can be classified into three different parenting styles as classified by Baumrind: authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive. Authoritarian parents have a high control and low warmth style of parenting which means they are likely to not take into account how their child feels or cultivate the appropriate level of support. On the other hand, authoritative parents have a high control and high warmth style, and they tend to foster autonomy and the appropriate level of support. Though there has been extensive research into the impacts of parenting styles on the mental health of children, there is a lack of research into the longer-term effects into young adulthood. We surveyed 98 college-aged individuals about their recent emotional state, their mother and father’s parenting style, and their perceived role in the family (psychological birth order). We found that authoritarian mothers appeared to have the most negative impact on their children, linked to an increase in depression, stress, and anxiety. Authoritarian fathering did not predict adult children’s outcomes. We discovered that authoritative fathers had a significant impact on actually lowering depression in their college-aged children, and authoritative mothers were linked to lower depression and stress. Permissive parenting did not predict mental health outcomes. These results can aid our comprehension of the long-term impacts of various parenting styles and influence future mental health research and parental education.
