Subjective Assessment of Father – Teenage Child Interaction

Abstract

The current dynamic socio-cultural processes lead to a qualitative revision of family roles, family relationships, and parenthood. The psychological interaction between parents has changed, as has the father’s status. This study featured the interaction between 40 fathers and their teenage children. The authors used the PARI method by E. S. Schaefer and R. K. Bell as adapted by T. V. Neshcheret, the Parent-Child Interaction method developed by I. M. Markovskaya, and J. Pleck’s Fatherhood and Masculinity Questionnaire. The consistency was determined by the Spearman’s correlation coefficient while the differences in the assessments provided by fathers and children were measured using the Mann – Whitney U test. For the teenagers, the main interaction indicator appeared to be the lack of strictness whereas their fathers stressed the emotional closeness. The comparative analysis revealed no significant differences between the assessments given by the fathers and the children: the father was described as not strict, accepting, cooperative, and consistent. Emotional closeness proved to be the most significant parameter in the father – teenage child interaction. Emotional closeness requires special attention from specialists that help parents and children overcome the adolescent crisis.