Birth Order Determining the Perception of Parenting Style among Female Adolescents in Relation to their Family Type

Abstract

The study of parenting style and practices initially focused on their influence on young children, but eventually revealed their long-term implications on an individual's lifetime, particularly during the crucial and transitional period of adolescence. The process of parenting is unique to each individual and varies for each child within a family. This variation may be influenced by birth order, since parents tend to behave different to each child. This is because each person's individuality plays a role in the interpersonal interactions they develop. The objective of this study is to examine the influence of birth order (first, middle, and last) on adolescent girls’ perception of their parents’ style of parenting, in both joint and nuclear family environments, in a comparative manner. The experiment encompasses a cohort of 100 female adolescent students, typically ranging in age from 16 to 19 years, who have exactly two siblings. The data collection instrument utilized was the Parenting Style Scale developed by Madhu Gupta and Dimple Mehtani (2017). Additionally, a self-designed questionnaire was used to gather demographic information from the participants, including age, birth order, family type, and other relevant factors. The findings indicated that eldest daughters perceived their parents as employing a democratic/authoritative parenting style, while middle-born daughters perceived their parents as employing an autocratic/authoritarian approach. On the other hand, youngest daughters perceived their parents as adopting a permissive parenting style. No significant disparity was observed in the perception of parenting styles among female adolescents from nuclear and joint family backgrounds simultaneously.