Date of Completion

3-5-2018

Embargo Period

3-5-2018

Keywords

Parenting Style, Adolescents, Suicidal Behavior, Self-disclosure, Authoritarian, Authoritative, Permissive, Gender, Single Parenting, Saint Lucia

Major Advisor

James O'Neil PhD

Associate Advisor

Christopher Rhoads PhD

Associate Advisor

Melissa Bray PhD

Associate Advisor

Orv Karan PhD

Associate Advisor

Clewiston D. Challenger PhD

Field of Study

Educational Psychology

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Open Access

Open Access

Abstract

Since Baumrind’s (1966, 1967) initial theory on parenting styles, numerous studies have investigated the relationship between parenting styles and adolescent development. Despite this work on parenting style and adolescent behavior, there is still limited research on parenting styles, adolescent suicidal behavior, and self-disclosure. This study investigated whether, or not there is an association between parenting styles, adolescent suicidal behavior, and self-disclosure among adolescents of Saint Lucia and determined whether these relations were moderated by gender and family structure. The sample included 597 adolescents, 200 boys, 383 girls, 14 who identified as other, between the ages of 14 and 17 from six high schools in the island of Saint Lucia. Adolescents were administered the demographic questionnaire, along with Parental Authority Questionnaire, Suicidal Behavior Questionnaire Revised and Emotional Self-Disclosure Scale. Pearson correlation and multiple regression analyses revealed a negative and significant association between authoritative parenting style and adolescent suicidal behavior, a positive and significant correlation between authoritative parenting style and self-disclosure. The results also showed that suicidal behavior correlated negatively and significantly with self-disclosure, and evidence of gender moderation of the relationship between authoritarian parenting style and self-disclosure. None of the family structure moderator models proved to be significant.

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