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The Indulgent Parenting Style and Developmental Outcomes in South European and Latin American Countries

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Parenting Across Cultures

Part of the book series: Science Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Science ((SACH,volume 7))

Abstract

This chapter reviews recent literature analysing relationships between parenting styles and developmental outcomes. As opposed to traditional results obtained with Euro-American samples, evidence from emergent research in South European and Latin American countries indicates that adolescents from indulgent families scored equal or even better than those from authoritative families in many key indicators of psychosocial adjustment, and that the indulgent parenting appears as the optimum parenting style in these samples. This research suggests that authoritative parenting is not always necessarily associated with optimum developmental outcomes and that relationships between parenting styles and developmental outcomes also depend on the ethnic and cultural context where the socialization process takes place. Further research based in sound parenting science is needed to understand socialization processes better across different ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See studies by Alonso-Geta 2012; Alsheikh et al. 2010; Bastaits et al. 2012; Benchaya et al. 2011; Cerdá et al. 2010; De la Torre et al. 2011; Espino 2013; Garaigordobil and Aliri 2012; Gracia et al. 2010; Kovacs and Piko 2010; Kremers et al. 2003; Liem et al. 2010; Puskar et al. 2010.

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  1. Department of Methodology of the Behavioral Sciences, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

    Fernando García

  2. Department of Social Psychology, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

    Enrique Gracia

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  1. Fernando García
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  2. Enrique Gracia
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  1. Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

    Helaine Selin

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García, F., Gracia, E. (2014). The Indulgent Parenting Style and Developmental Outcomes in South European and Latin American Countries. In: Selin, H. (eds) Parenting Across Cultures. Science Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Science, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7503-9_31

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