The Effect of Parenting Styles and Depressive Symptoms on Youths’ Educational Attainment

• In Event: 220 - Section on the Sociology of the Family Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 16. Family and Education

Abstract

The current study examined the relationships among parenting styles experienced in adolescence, depressive symptoms, and educational outcomes for young adults. Utilizing four parental typologies based on parent-adolescent decision making processes, I investigated the relationship between parenting styles and depressive symptoms and the long-term impact on educational attainment for young adults.
Data for this investigation were drawn from a sample of youth from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 Cohort (NLSY97). The data spanned nine years and consisted of 4,078 young adults. With a representative sample and longitudinal data I was able to trace the direct and indirect impact of parenting styles experienced during adolescence on educational attainment. The data allowed for a careful evaluation of not only of how parenting styles operate over time, but also whether and how depressive symptoms experienced in late adolescence reach into young adulthood to shape educational attainment. Furthermore, differences by race-ethnicity were included.
The results of this study were consistent with the existing literature. Non-authoritative parenting styles result in less than optimal outcomes for adolescents and young adults. However, the negative effects are more pronounced for white youth than for black and Hispanic youth.

Author

• Brittany Nicole Hearne, Vanderbilt University