Parenting styles and psychosocial adjustment of gifted and normal adolescents

Abstract

This study examined the parental styles and psychosocial adjustment of adolescents and the relationship between them in gifted adolescents compared to normal adolescents. Four scales – The Parental Authority Questionnaire, Child Attitude Toward Parents, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale – were administered to 118 gifted and 115 normal adolescents in Amol city. The results indicate that parents of gifted adolescents tend to be more authoritative and less authoritarian than parents of normal adolescents. The attitudes of the gifted adolescents towards their parents were more positive than those of the normal adolescents. The gifted adolescents displayed a higher self-concept and fewer psychological reactions (depression, anxiety and stress) than the normal adolescents. The authoritative parenting style correlates positively with the psychological adjustment of both gifted and normal adolescents, while the authoritarian parenting style impacts negatively on the psychosocial adjustment of the gifted adolescents but not that of the normal adolescents. The study results indicate that the authoritarian parenting style is a crucial factor that influences the well-being of gifted children and may affect their mental health.