Parenting satisfaction, parenting style & individual acculturation: A study of Latino parenting

This study investigated the perceived associations between parenting satisfaction, parenting style, and individual level of acculturation. The principal purpose of the study was the exploration of Latino individuals' parenting practices, experiences, and subsequent satisfaction in the parental role. The study aimed to increase our understanding of the Latino parent experience raising children in a lower socioeconomic status (SES) inner city neighborhood. The participants (Latino parents) were recruited by the principle researcher at a community-based agency located in a large Midwestern city. A total of 77 participants volunteered for the study. Of the 77 who completed the study material, 54 identified themselves as Latinos. It should be noted that all this information was attained via self-report and was not verified by the principle researcher. Participants were not asked to provide any additional information on preexisting mental health or biomedical conditions. Participants were administered a demographic questionnaire, a parent-child relationship inventory, a brief acculturation scale, and a parental judgment questionnaire Parenting satisfaction was positively correlated with higher ratings of acculturation (r= .027, p<.05.), indicating an association between the two variables. More restrictive (Authoritative & Authoritarian) parental endorsements were also significantly correlated with higher ratings of parenting satisfaction (r=.335, p<.05). This was also true for Parenting Style and Acculturation (r=-.372, p<.01). More restrictive parenting styles (Authoritative & Authoritarian) correlated with higher ratings of individual acculturation. The overall objective of the study was to synthesize the extant findings related to parental satisfaction in order to shed light on the importance of parenting satisfaction in both theoretical and applied parenting education, as well as clinical purposes.