Impact of Parenting Styles on the Intensity of Parental and Peer Attachment: Exploring the Gender Differences in Adolescents

The study investigates the gender differences in parenting styles on the intensity of parental and peer attachment. Urdu translated version of Parental Authority Questionnaire (Babree, 1997) and Inventory of Parental and Peer attachment, urdu version (Zafar, 2009) were used to collect the information from the participants. Sample recruited from different public schools comprised of adolescents (N=284) with equal boys and girls of age 13 to 16. It was hypothesized that: there would be a significant impact of parenting styles on the intensity of parental and peers attachment and there would be a significant gender difference on the intensity of parental and peer attachment. Multiple Regression analysis and independent sample t.test was applied to test the hypothesis of the study. Results indicated that parenting styles are a strong predictor of intensity of parental and peer attachment. However authoritative parenting style had a significant and positive impact on both of the variables (parental and peer attachment). Result showed the negative and significant impact of permissive and authoritarian parenting styles on parental and peer attachment. Gender differences indicted that girls show great intensity of parental attachment and boys show greater peer attachment. Current study is pretty insightful in understanding the role of parenting styles in developing the intensity of parental and peer attachment.