The Relationship Between Family Environment and Parenting Style: A Preliminary Study of African American Families

The influence of parenting style on aspects of the family environment was addressed in a study of 174 9th graders, 11th graders, and collegefreshmen (96% Afri canAmerican). They completedBuri's ParentAuthority Questionnaire (PAQ) and Moos's Family Environment Scale (FES). Authoritarianism was positively correlated with control and negatively correlated with expressiveness and independence. Authoritativeness was positively correlated with cohesion, organization, achievement, and intellectual orientation. Authoritativeness was negatively associated with expressiveness. Permissiveness was negatively correlated with conflict and positively correlated with expressiveness. Responses on the FES were compared betweenparents and adolescents. On 7 of the 10 subscales, there were significant correlations between mothers and adolescents, whereas on only 1 subscale were fathers and adolescents significantly correlated. The implications of these descriptive findings of normative relations in African American families are discussed.