Parenting Styles, Family Functioning and Adolescents’ Mental Health: How Are They Related?

Abstract

Studies had shown that mental health problems among adolescents were rated as an alarming issue in Malaysia. Differences in parenting and family func-tioning play tremendous roles in the adolescents' growth and mental health as none of whom in the family can be understood in isolation from the family system. The objectives of the study were to identify whether different parenting styles (both maternal and paternal separately) can be related to adolescents' mental health and to examine the mediating effect of family functioning in the relationship between parenting styles and adolescents' mental health. A total of 195 students from two secondary schools participated in the study. A booklet of questionnaire including the Parental Authority Questionnaire (PAQ) for both mother and father, General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) and General Family Functioning Scale (GF) were administered on the respondents. Results showed that there was significant differ-ence in the parenting styles for both maternal and paternal parenting in relation to adolescents' mental health. Authoritarian parenting style produced poor adolescents' mental health than permissive and authoritative parenting styles, for both paternal and maternal parenting. The hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that family functioning mediated the relationship between maternal parenting styles and adolescents' mental health but not for paternal parenting styles and adolescents' mental health. These results suggested huge magnitude of family processes; both parenting styles and family functioning in adolescents' mental health. Limitations of the study and implications for future research were also discussed.