Discipline: Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences
Subcategory: Social Sciences/Psychology/Economics
Carolanne S. Briscoe - Florida A&M University
The purpose of this study is to advance knowledge on how parenting style relates to social-emotional development in Afro-Caribbean adolescents. In the last decade, there has been a rapid rise in the reported prevalence rates of social emotional impairment in adolescents. Mental challenges among adolescents are often correlated with traumatic events occurring in family homes and their environment. The fields of psychology and individual behavior deals with issues on self and personality development at a proximate and evolutionary levels. It is hypothesized that adolescents raised in authoritarian households have poorer social-emotional development than those raised using other parenting styles. The psychosexual theory by Sigmund Freud and the psychosocial development theory by Erik Erikson lead me to predict that child-rearing in Afro-Caribbean families will increase their chances of abnormal social emotional behavior in adolescents. This study will advance knowledge about the parenting styles practiced by Afro- Caribbean parents as it relates to the outcome of the child’s developmental growth. From there, data will be collected by survey questionnaires such as the Beck Depression Inventory – II (BDI-II) and the Parenting Practices Scale (PPS) to examine the cognitive, behavioral, effective and somatic symptoms of depression, and to measure adolescents’ description of their parents’ strategies that were used to show affection and support for them during the last six months. Results from the study have shown that authoritarian, and permissive parenting styles have caused low self-esteem, and social impairment during child-rearing. Afro-Caribbean parents who practices these styles may cause developmental delay or absents within their children. It is said the best child-rearing style to perform on children is authoritative child-rearing. Authoritative child-rearing causes high self-esteem in children, with developing communication skills and trust with themselves and others. To conclude, Afro- Caribbean parents mostly follow the practices of authoritarian parenting. They are high in demand with less interaction with their children. It has been stated that there may have been ignorance on what is expected on children as they develop. Future research involves understanding the root of Afro-Caribbean child rearing traditions. Factors like this may help explain why it is causing dysfunction within parent-child interactions.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): Not Available
Faculty Advisor: Gwendolyn Singleton, gwendolyn.singleton@famu.edu
Role: In this study I used qualitative methods mostly throughout my research. I picked a topic that is not commonly spoke of, and wanted to bring awareness to the issue. I have done review of literature to see what other researchers have done to conduct research similar to my own. This helped me to get a better idea on how to follow through with my study such as the type of methodology that would best give my study valid results.