An Explorative Study on Parenting in Sweden : Is There a Swedish Style?

• In the psychological literature pertaining to parenting, parents’ warmth, control, and communication are vital for positive adjustment of adolescents where high levels are considered to be the most prevalent and beneficial. Previous cross-cultural studies have however found the effects of other parenting patterns during adolescence to be equally prevalent as well as beneficial for adolescent adjustment which puts into question whether high on all three aspects of parenting could be more represented in some cultures than in others. In the present study, we question the representativeness of the pattern in the Swedish context. In the present study, we examined 888 adolescents’ reports on parenting. For boys, a neglecting, average but low communication, average but low control, average, average with warmth and authoritative patterns of parenting was found. For girls, a neglecting, average but low communication, average but high control, average, and authoritative patterns of parenting was found. The most prevalent parenting pattern found for both girls and boys was marked by moderate levels of parental control, warmth, and communication followed by authoritative (high levels of control, warmth, and communication). Of the 456 girls, the vast majority (41%) reported their parents as being average on parental warmth, control, and communication. Of the 432 boys, nearly half (46%) reported their parents as being average on parental warmth, control, and communication. Future directions on parenting research in Sweden are discussed.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Sociologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Sociology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

parenting patterns

Sweden

parental warmth

parental control

parental communication

culture

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)