Socialization Effects of Authoritative Parenting and Its Discrepancy on Children

Authoritative parenting provided by the parent and received by the child offers support and demand to socialize the child, possibly in terms of the performance of taking others’ perspectives and self-esteem. Nevertheless, when the child receives less authoritative parenting than the parent claims to provide, a discrepancy in authoritative parenting between the parent–child pair happens and would be likely to reduce the performance. Such impacts on the performance are the focus of this study. Based on cross-sectional data collected from 223 children (aged 14–21 years) and their parents through self-administered questionnaires, results analyzed from structural equation modeling show that (1) authoritative parents, based on the reports of both the parent and child, engendered a positive direct effect on the child’s perspective taking, which in turn sustained a positive effect on the child’s self-esteem; (2) discrepancy in authoritative parenting between the parent–child pair indicated negative direct effects on both the child’s perspective taking and self-esteem; and (3) the child’s perspective taking significantly mediated, although not totally, the effects of authoritative parenting and its discrepancy on the child’s self-esteem. The present study supports the propositions of symbolic-interactionist theory in explanation of the importance of authoritative parenting and its discrepancy in relation to the child’s development of perspective taking and self-esteem. Implications and future research directions are discussed.