RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARENTING STYLES, AND ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION LEVELS

Abstract

Parenting styles represent the sample of parental behaviors and habits that determine the relationship between parents and their children in various situations. Recent researches were focused on three parenting styles. These styles differ in the interaction levels of displayed parental warmth and parental control: authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting style. So far, it has been discovered that the authoritative style was the optimal one, while the authoritarian and the permissive style correlated with various difficulties, including anxiety and depression levels and predispositions. In this research, the aim was to investigate the relationship between parenting styles and parental anxiety and depression levels. The sample comprised 126 parents (86 mothers), who estimated their parenting style (PSDQBHS-S), their depression level (PHQ-9), and their anxiety level (GAD7). Results showed that authoritarian parenting style correlated significantly with the depression levels (r=.25, p=.004), as well as with the anxiety levels (r=.24, p=.005); permissive style correlated significantly only with the depression levels (r=.26, p=.003), while authoritative style correlated with neither of them. Obtained results indicated that there were correlations between authoritarian style and some aspects of permissive style with various affective difficulties, i.e., it is more probable that parents with these parenting styles will develop higher depression and anxiety levels.