Parenting Style and Peer Group Membership Among European-American Adolescents

In this study we examined the association between peer group orientation and parenting style among European-American high school adolescents. Questionnaires were completed by 3,407 9th-12th graders regarding their peer group orientation and the parenting style of their caretakers. Parenting styles were categorized as authoritative, authoritarian, indulgent, or uninvolved. The analyses indicated that parenting style was related to adolescents' orientation toward particular peer groups. Specifically, (a) adolescents who characterized their parents as authoritative were more likely to be oriented toward well-rounded crowds that rewarded both adult- and peer-supported norms (i.e., jocks, normals, populars, and brains); (b) girls and, to some extent, boys who characterized their parents as uninvolved were more likely to be oriented toward crowds that did not endorse adult values (i.e., the druggies and partyers); and (c) boys who characterized their parents as indulgent were more likely to be orien...