An Examination of the Relationships Between Parenting Behaviors and Adolescents Well-being: A Cross-cultural Comparision

Abstract

The current study aimed to explore in the adolescent sample the associations between parenting behaviors (maternal and paternal) and well-being in two countries: France and Turkey. A total of 607 undergraduate university students were recruited with a mean age of 20.85 ± 3.18 years: 283 French and 324 Turkish. The data were administrated by the means of the self-report questionnaires for perceived parenting behaviors (Behavioral control, psychological control, autonomy, and responsiveness) and for well-being by using two indicators: positive and negative affect, and psychological flourishing. Correlation and regression analyses revealed significant associations between parenting behaviors and well-being indicators. First, maternal and paternal psychological control in the Turkish and French groups was associated with negative-affect and this association is higher in the Turkish group than the French group. Moreover, psychological control was associated with a decrease in psychological flourishing only in the Turkish group. Second, maternal and paternal behavioral control was associated with lower negative-affect and higher psychological flourishing in the Turkish group than the French group. In addition, Turkish maternal/paternal responsiveness, as well as autonomy-support, was associated with low negative-affect and paternal autonomy-support was associated with high positive-affect. The implications of the findings for future research are discussed.