Parenting styles in families with school age children

Parenting styles refer to the standard of educational practices that parents use with their children. With a view to investigating the educational style of parents of school-age children a research program with 153 parents of children from nine schools in the region of Vale do Rio dos Sinos was carried out. Parents answered a questionnaire consisting of socio-demographic data, Scale of Education Styles and Inventory of Parenting Styles. The authoritative style prevailed, followed by authoritarian and finally permissive. Moreover, 28.6% of parents classified themselves as having very good parenting style, 26.5% regular and above average, 33.7% regular and below average and 11.2% at risk. It appears from this study that although the very good and authoritative parenting style is predominant, there is a high number of parents who classified themselves as below average and at risk (44.9%), a fact which demands a closer look for future interventions.