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Parenting Styles as Perceived by Vietnamese American Adolescents

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Abstract

This study explored the impact of parenting styles, as perceived by Vietnamese adolescents, on their mental health. Although the aim was to compare the styles between fathers and mothers, the data showed that most adolescents (83%) chose to focus on fathers in their responses when filling out the Parental Authority Questionnaire. Descriptive statistics showed that mothers tended to have a lower education level, lower income, and a lower acculturation score when compared to fathers. Also, the adolescents’ responses were shown to reflect similar perceptions that most parents, both fathers and mothers, use a punishment-oriented authoritarian parenting style. Those adolescents who chose to focus on mothers in their responses (the mother group) tended to report a higher self-esteem and a lower depression score than those in the father group.

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Correspondence to Peter Viet Nguyen.

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Nguyen, P.V., Cheung, M. Parenting Styles as Perceived by Vietnamese American Adolescents. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 26, 505–518 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-009-0182-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-009-0182-0

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