Parenting Styles and Mental Health of Arab Gifted Adolescents

Abstract

This study examined the parental styles and psychosocial adjustment of adolescents and the relationship between them in gifted as compared to nongifted Arab adolescents. Five scales—The Parental Authority Questionnaire, Child Attitude Toward Parents, Lipsitt’s Self-Concept Scale for Children, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and The Psychological State Scale—were administered to 118 gifted and 115 nongifted Arab adolescents in Israel. Results indicate that parents of gifted adolescents tend to be more authoritative and less authoritarian than parents of nongifted adolescents. The attitudes of the gifted adolescents toward their parents were more positive than those of the nongifted adolescents. The gifted displayed higher self-esteem and fewer identity disorders, phobias, and conduct disorders than the nongifted adolescents. The authoritative parental style correlates positively with the mental health of both gifted and nongifted adolescents, while the authoritarian parenting style impacts negatively on the mental health of the gifted, but not of the nongifted adolescents. The study results indicate that the authoritarian parenting style is a crucial factor that influences the well-being of gifted children and may affect their psychological adjustment. More studies are needed among gifted underachievers and among eminent talented Arab writers and artists.