Published Paper Details:

Abstract The family environment is the most important social context for modelling behaviour and the study of parenting styles is relevant for comprehending the socialization process and the developmental outcome of adolescents. The current study aims to examine whether maternal and paternal parenting styles vary based on the gender of adolescents. The study also determines the most conventional parenting style employed by mothers and fathers while rearing their adolescents. A descriptive research design was followed to study the objectives. The sample was collected using a convenient sampling method, consisting of 120 students, of which 60 were males, and 60 were female participants studying in class 9th and 10th schools of Aligarh. To achieve the objectives of the study, the Parental Authority Questionnaire (Buri, 1991) was used. The result showed that the authoritative parenting style of mothers and fathers was the most prevalent style perceived by adolescents, followed by permissive and authoritarian parenting styles. The result also found no significant gender difference in adolescents in the three parenting styles. It can be concluded that the parents need to adopt an authoritative parenting style, which is the most effective one and results in several favourable developmental outcomes for adolescents. Moreover, the result also signifies that parents are adopting similar parenting styles regardless of their adolescents' gender.