Comparison of parental competences in fathers and mothers with adolescent children

Abstract

Parenting adolescents requires personal, emotional and social competencies from the parents. There are few gender studies that analyze these competencies in the father and the mother in the same family. The objective of this study is to identify if these competencies differ in both parents, and if they also vary according to their educational level and the stage of early or late adolescence. 752 mothers and 670 fathers participated. The Emotional and Social Parenting Competencies Scale for Parents of Adolescents (ECOPES-A) was applied, analyzing four factors: Control-Relaxation, Self-esteem, Imposition, and Communication. Through Student's t test and Analysis of Variance, the results indicate greater communicative competence in mothers than in fathers to interact with their adolescents, and to promote their self-esteem; mothers, however, evaluate themselves with less ability than fathers in emotional self-control. Parental competencies are higher when the educational level of both is also higher, except in self-esteem. Both parents tend to be more imposing with their younger teens. Among the implications of the study is to strengthen both parent's self-emotional management through positive parenting programs.