Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Mar 2:14:1059458.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1059458. eCollection 2023.

Adjustment and maladjustment to later life: Evidence about early experiences in the family

Marta Alcaide  1 , Oscar F Garcia  2 , Pablo Queiroz  3 , Fernando Garcia  1
Affiliations

Adjustment and maladjustment to later life: Evidence about early experiences in the family

Marta Alcaide et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Introduction: Previous parenting studies with European-American families have identified optimal parenting as being based on warmth combined with strictness (i.e., authoritative parenting). The present study analyzes, in adolescents and adults, their adjustment and maladjustment related to age and their early experiences in the family.

Methods: The sample consisted of 2,158 Spanish people (58.29% women): 624 adolescents, 630 young adults, 504 middle-aged adults, and 400 older adults. The families were classified into one of the four parental typologies (authoritative, indulgent, authoritarian, and neglectful) based on their scores in the two main dimensions (warmth and strictness). Child functioning was measured as components of adjustment (self-esteem, emotional self-concept, and empathy) and maladjustment (aggression and hostile sexism).

Results: Overall, only adolescents and adult children raised in indulgent families reported the highest self-esteem, emotional self-concept, and empathy, and the lowest aggression and hostile sexism. Authoritative parenting (warmth with strictness) was related to a lower emotional self-concept and greater aggression and hostile sexism than indulgent parenting (warmth without strictness). The worst scores corresponded to authoritarian and neglectful parenting.

Discussion: The present findings provide new evidence about early experiences in the family, even after parental socialization has ended. Interestingly, contrary to the main findings from classic studies with European-American families, only high parental warmth combined with low parental strictness (i.e., indulgent parenting) is always positive for greater adjustment and less maladjustment in all age groups.

Keywords: later life; life cycle; parenting styles; strictness; warmth.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Age profiles in adjustment criteria, self-esteem (A), emotional self-concept (B), and empathy (C), and maladjustment criteria, aggression (D) and hostile sexism (E).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Interaction of parenting styles by age on empathy (A) and aggression (B).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ali S., Khaleque A., Rohner R. P. (2015). Pancultural gender differences in the relation between perceived parental acceptance and psychological adjustment of children and adult offspring: a meta-analytic review of worldwide research. J. Cross-Cult. Psychol. 46, 1059–1080. doi: 10.1177/0022022115597754 - DOI
    1. Ali S., Khatun N., Khaleque A., Rohner R. P. (2019). They love me not: a meta-analysis of relations between parental undifferentiated rejection and Offspring's psychological maladjustment. J. Cross-Cult. Psychol. 50, 185–199. doi: 10.1177/0022022118815599 - DOI
    1. Alonso-Geta P. M. P. (2012). Parenting style in Spanish parents with children aged 6 to 14. Psicothema 24, 371–376. PMID: - PubMed
    1. Arrindell W. A., Sanavio E., Aguilar G., Sica C., Hatzichristou C., Eisemann M., et al. . (1999). The development of a short form of the EMBU: its appraisal with students in Greece, Guatemala, Hungary and Italy. Pers. Individ. Differ. 27, 613–628. doi: 10.1016/S0191-8869(98)00192-5 - DOI
    1. Ayon C., Williams L. R., Marsiglia F. F., Ayers S., Kiehne E. (2015). A latent profile analysis of Latino parenting: the infusion of cultural values on family conflict. Fam. Soc. 96, 203–210. doi: 10.1606/1044-3894.2015.96.25, PMID: - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources