Effects Of Burmese Parenting Styles On Intentional Self-Regulation And Emotion Regulation Of Adolescents

This research aims to investigate the effects of parenting styles on the intentional self-regulation and emotion regulation of Burmese adolescents,using an effective parenting measure specially designed for Burmese parenting context.Burmese is an ethnic group who settles in Myanmar,a nation formerly known as Burma.This research was conducted in two townships of central Myanmar.A total of 1462 adolescents with the age range of 12 to 18 participated and the data of 1379 was applied.The research design was a mixed type which included a semi-structure interview and a questionnaire survey.Three small studies comprised the whole research.The purpose of study 1 was to define the three bipolar dimensions(warmth vs.rejection,structure vs.chaos and autonomy support vs.coercion)of parenting styles in Burmese context so that questionnaire items for Burmese parenting styles were written according to these definitions.12 adolescents(6 males,6 females)with the age range of 14 to 16 were purposefully selected and personally interviewed.The interviewed data were analysed through deductive content analysis method.The structure of analysis was operationalized on the basis of three bipolar dimensions of the Motivational Model introduced by Skinner,Johnson and Snyder(2005):warmth vs.rejection,structure vs.chaos and autonomy support vs.coercion.The feature of warmth vs.rejection was defined with denying and eight concepts which were further grouped into two main concepts(closeness and caring).The eight concepts were expression of affection,expression of enjoyment and time spending,need fulfilment,attentiveness,emotional appreciation,concerning and supportiveness.The feature of structure vs.chaos was characterized with two major concepts:clarity and contingency.Clarity represented clear guidance of parents which were expressed in terms of setting rules and limits,providing clear expectations and informing consequences,while contingency represented consistent actions and responses of parents in disciplining which were found as taking action as said and consistent response.With regard to dimension of autonomy support vs.coercion,the definition was given with ten concepts—provision of freedom,trusting,love withdrawal,love control,bossing,shaming,criticism,scolding,harsh punishment and performance pressure.Based on the identified concepts,59 questionnaire items were developed—21 for warmth vs.rejection,21 for structure vs.chaos and 18 for autonomy support vs.coercion.For autonomy supportive parenting,three items were written based on literature and added to the original 18 items of autonomy support vs.coercion dimension.Altogether,62 items comprised the perceived parenting styles questionnaire(PPSQ)which was intended to measure Burmese parenting styles.The main purpose of study 2 was to validate and standardize PPSQ.Predicting the fitness of the Motivational Model of parenting(Skinner et al.,2005)in Burmese context,first the data of 640 participants was used to examine whether the PPSQ possessed the same factor structure with the Motivational Model.Model fit testing of maximum likelihood-based structural equation modelling was applied and it was found that PPSQ could not fit into the Skinner's model,resulting in a return to exploratory factor analysis for factor exploration.Four-factor model which included rejection,caring,structure and coercion features was identified,while the items related to autonomy support and chaos constructs were spread out under the rest four dimensions.The explored model was confirmed with the data of 315 participants through model fit testing and the four factor model of 28 items established a good fit.Besides the whole model,the individual four factors also had acceptable internal consistency,showing the reliability of PPSQ.Test-retest reliability analysis of 209 participants also resulted in a moderate relationship,further supporting the reliability of PPSQ.The validity of PPSQ was also examined by administering two prominent parenting questionnaires(R-PSCQ and CRPBI-30)to a sample of 203.The high correlation of PPSQ rejection with R-PSCQ rejection,the high correlation of PPSQ caring with CRPBI-30 acceptance,moderate correlation of PPSQ coercion with R-PSCQ coercion and the low correlation of PPSQ structure with R-PSCQ structure and CRPBI-30 firm control were found,showing the concurrent validity of four factors of PPSQStudy 3 was aimed at investigating the effect of Burmese parenting styles on intentional self-regulation and emotion regulation of adolescents.The data of 996 participant—same participants from study 2—was analysed.The differences of parenting features in terms of parent-child characteristics were first explored through MANOVA and pair-sample t-test.It was found that Burmese adolescents perceived their mothers as less rejecting,more caring,more structured and more coercive than their fathers.Compared to boys,girls were given much more care by their parents,while boys were treated more coercively by their fathers.Graduated father practised less coercive parenting than father of primary,secondary or no formal schooling,while paternal practices of rejection,caring and structures were not different according to education level.Education level of mother did not have any influence on all four parenting features.For the relations of parenting dimensions with intentional self-regulation and emotion regulation,bivariate correlation,path analysis and mediation analysis were applied.For boys,maternal caring and maternal structure positively predicted development of intentional self-regulation,while paternal rejection revealed a negative association with intentional self-regulation.For girls,maternal structure positively predicted intentional self-regulation,while maternal coercion and paternal rej ection had negative prediction on intentional self-regulation On emotion regulation,only maternal coercion had significant prediction both for boys and girls.Emotion regulation not only significantly and negatively predicted intentional self-regulation,but also fully mediated for the effect of maternal coercion on intentional self-regulation of girls.To examine the effect of parenting styles on intentional self-regulation and emotion regulation,first the common parenting styles Burmese parents practised were identified through cluster analysis.The three identified styles were authoritative and high coercive style,permissive and low coercive style,and neglectful and moderately coercive style.Adolescents of neglectful and moderately coercive mother had lower intentional self-regulation than those of the authoritative and highly coercive mother as well as those of permissive and low coercive mother.Adolescents of neglectful and moderately coercive father had lower intentional self-regulation than those of authoritative and highly coercive father.Father's parenting styles showed no significant effects on emotion regulation,while adolescents of permissive and low coercive mother showed high emotion regulation than adolescents of the mother who practised two other styles.