The impact of the changing parent-child relationship on adolescent' functioning: Comparison of primary, junior high, senior high and university students

초록

This study examines the impact of the changing parent-child relationship on adolescents' achievement motivation, life-satisfaction, academic grade, and delinquent behavior with a sample of 1,074 students (primary school=278, junior high school=266, senior high school=252, and university=269). In all groups parental academic pressure and perceived warmth were high and perceived parental hostility and neglect were low. Two-way ANOVA revealed major group differences and some sex differences. Primary school students reported highest means on perceived parental warmth, parental control, parental social support, parents' knowledge, and the amount of time spent with parents. Perceived parental hostility and control were highest for male primary students when compared with female primary school students. The opposite pattern was found for the high male and female school students. Multiple regression analyses revealed that parental social support and perceived parental warmth were important predictors of life-satisfaction. Low academic grade, perceived parental neglect, perceived parental hostility were significant predictors of parent-child conflict. Parent-child conflict was a significant predictor of delinquent behavior. Factor analysis revealed a different set of results for primary and junior high school students on the one hand and high school and university students on the other. In the former group high parental control loaded together with high achievement motivation, while for the latter group it loaded together with low achievement motivation.