PATTERNS OF FAMILY FUNCTIONING AS PREDICTORS OF PARENTING STYLE AMONG THE LEFT-BEHIND FAMILIES OF GULF MIGRANTS

Abstract

Understanding the family functioning of left-behind families of gulf migrants and how they relate to parenting style is critically important to social workers worldwide. The study examined the associations between family functioning patterns and mothers parenting styles among the left-behind families of gulf migrants. The circumplex model of family functioning put forwarded by David H. Olson served as the study’s theoretical framework. Family Adaptation and Cohesion Evaluation Scale (FACES IV) (Olson, FACES IV and the Circumplex Model: Validation Study, 2011) was used for testing family functioning, and the Parenting Style and Dimension Questionnaire (Robinson, Mandleco, Olson, & Hart, 2001) was used for testing the parenting style and its dimensions. The study’s main findings suggest that balanced cohesion and flexibility correlate with the authoritative parenting style. It also revealed that the authoritarian parenting style correlates negatively with all the functional family functioning patterns: balanced cohesion and flexibility. Authoritarian parenting style correlates positively with all the dysfunctional patterns of family functioning also. While, permissive parenting style correlates positively only with balanced cohesion, disengaged, enmeshed, family communication, and family satisfaction dimension of family functioning. This benchmark study offers family social work practitioners information to assist families and contribute to family social policies. KEYWORDS: family functioning, parenting style, left-behind families.