Investigating the relationship between parental attitudes and self-control with regard to certain sociodemographic variables (Elazığ example)

Adolescence is defined as a period between childhood and adulthood. In this period, on the one side, individuals gain many opportunities for growth and maturation, on the other side, they may face with various academic, emotional, and social difficulties. When examining the existing literature, it seems that many research states the importance of family in cognitive, social and emotional development of child. In this study, considering the importance of the family in individual's development, it was investigated the relationship between parental attitudes and self-control in adolescents. In other words, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between parental attitudes and self-control in high school students. The sample of the study consisted 423 students studying different high school in Elazığ. In the present study, "Parental Attitudes Inventory" was used to measure adolescents' perceptions of parental attitudes. Also, in order to measure the participants' self-control levels, it was used the "Self-Control Scale". After descripting the problems, purposes, importance and limitations of the study, it was presented theoretical frameworks and literature in second section. It was stated the method and findings of the study in the third and fourth section. In fifth section that is last section of the study, the results and suggestions were finally presented. Analysis results demonstrated that there was no a significant difference in the students' self-control levels in term of gender, class level, school types, socioeconomic level of their family, and educational level of their father and mother. The findings of the association between parental attitudes and self-control indicated that adolescents with high levels of democratic parental attitude had high levels of self-control. The relationship between democratic parental attitude and self-control was moderate and significant. On the other hand, adolescents with high levels of autocratic parental attitude had low levels of self-control. Finally, it was examined the association between protective parental attitude and self-control, and the outcomes showed that there was no a significant relationship between protective parental attitude and students' self-control levels. The findings were discussed for the educators, psychological counselors, and mental health professions and some suggestions were presented for practice and future research.