Perceived Parenting Styles in Pakistani Adolescents: A Validation Study

Parenting styles are said to have profound impact on child’s development. However, these are largely influenced by culture and its philosophy. The present study aimed to develop a valid and reliable scale for measuring perceived parenting styles for Pakistani culture. In Phase-I of the study, phenomenological approach was used to explore parenting styles from 60 adolescents. The recorded verbatim of participants resulted into a list of 66 items which were further validated in Phase-II by 8 school psychologists. The final list of 60 items was converted into a self-report measure (i.e., Parenting Styles Scale for Adolescents) and in Phase-III, a try out study was conducted to determine user friendliness and comprehension of items on a sample of 30 students. Lastly, in Phase-IV, 473 students (49% boys & 51% girls) selected through multistage sampling were given the newly developed measure along with the Attachment Questionnaire for Children (Muris, Mesesters, van Melick, & Zwambag, 2001) to measure construct and concurrent validity. Exploratory Factor Analysis resulted into four factors namely Caring, Affectionate, Controlling, and Punitive Parenting Styles. The scale showed high internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and concurrent validity. Results are discussed in terms of cultural implications and gender differences.