A Comparative Analysis of the Relationship between Parenting Styles and Self-Concepts of Black and White High School Students

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the relationships between parenting styles and self-concepts of Black and White high school students. Data on these variables were collected from 2014 adolescents from five urban high schools around the metropolitan area of Cape Town, South Africa. Parenting styles were measured by the Perceived Parental Behavior Inventory (PPBI) and self-concept by the SelfDescription Inventory (SDI). For Black students all the self-concept facets measured were positively related to their perceptions of parental behaviors, although the relationship reached significance only for the relations with family, general school and physical appearance selfconcepts for White students. Growing up in a socioeconomically segregated society is considered in the light of parent-adolescent relations and self-concept.