Memories of parenting styles and communicative processes in adolescence

Abstract

This study aims to (a) examine the links between adolescents’ memories of authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting styles and parent–child communicative processes; (b) test adolescents’ and parents’ gender differences. Data were collected from 479 Italian adolescents (Mage = 16.62 years; SDage = 1.46) attending public high schools. Participants completed Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire and Parental Solicitation and Child Disclosure scales. Results indicated that memories of maternal authoritative style were significantly related to both parental solicitation and child disclosure, whereas memories of paternal authoritative style were significantly linked only with parental solicitation. No significant links involving neither authoritarian nor permissive styles were found and no differences between adolescent genders were identified. Present findings suggest that parent–child relationships featuring both warmth and control built through past interactions facilitate communicative processes during adolescence. Future research is needed to confirm the strong relationship between authoritative parenting style and communicative processes in adolescence.