Effects of Preschool Parents' Power Assertive Patterns and Practices on Adolescent Development

SYNOPSIS Objective . The authors investigated the effects of preschool patterns of parental authority on adolescent competence and emotional health and differentiated between confrontive and coercive power-assertive practices which accounted partially for differential long-term effects of the preschool patterns. Design . Participants were 87 families initially studied when children were preschool students, with outcomes assessed during early adolescence. Families were drawn from Baumrind's Family Socialization and Developmental Competence longitudinal program of research. The authors used comprehensive observational and interview data to test hypotheses relating preschool power-assertive practices and patterns of parental authority to the children's attributes as adolescents. Person-centered analyses contrasted adolescent attributes associated with 7 preschool patterns of parental authority. The authors used variable-centered analyses to investigate the differential effects of 5 coercive power-assertive practices that they hypothesized were authoritarian-distinctive and detrimental and 2 confrontive practices (behavioral control and normative spanking) that they hypothesized were neither authoritarian-distinctive nor detrimental. Results. Adolescents whose parents were classified as directive, democratic, or authoritative (grouped as balanced-committed) when these adolescents were preschool students were competent and well-adjusted relative to adolescents whose parents were classified as authoritarian, permissive, or disengaged (grouped as imbalanced-uncommitted). Adolescents from authoritarian families were notably incompetent and maladjusted. Variable-centered analyses indicated verbal hostility and psychological control were the most detrimental of the authoritarian-distinctive coercive power-assertive practices. Severe physical punishment and arbitrary discipline were also authoritarian-distinctive and detrimental. Normative physical punishment and confrontive discipline were neither. Confrontive discipline and maturity demands contributed to authoritative parenting's effectiveness, whereas normative physical punishment was neutral in its effects. Conclusions. The findings extend the consistently negative outcomes of authoritarian parenting and positive outcomes of authoritative and authoritative-like parenting to 10-year outcomes that control for initial child differences. Differential outcomes can be partially attributed to the coercive practices of authoritarian parents versus the confrontive practices of authoritative parents.