Parenting Styles and Moral Emotions of Adolescents in Conflict with the Law

Estilos Parentais e Emoções Morais de Adolescentes em Conflito com a Lei

Estilos Parentales y Emociones Morales de Adolescentes en Conflictos con la Ley

Abstract

The cognitive and emotional development of adolescents is affected by how they perceive their parents’ upbringing, or parenting style. This study aimed to verify the relationship between the perception of parenting styles by adolescents who committed transgressive acts and compare it to that of adolescents without such a history, also searching for associations with the moral emotions of pride, shame, and guilt. In total, 219 adolescents in conflict with the law and 243 non-offender adolescents participated in the study. They answered questionnaires containing sociodemographic questions and scales that assess moral emotions and parenting styles. The Chi-square and t-test were used to verify significant correlations between the demandingness dimension of the perceived parenting style and the practice of transgressive acts. Results revealed that the demandingness dimension and two guilt factors can act as protection against transgressive acts, especially in male adolescents.

Keywords:
adolescents; juvenile delinquency; parents; emotions

Resumo

A maneira como os adolescentes percebem a educação recebida por seus pais, ou seja, os estilos parentais, afeta tanto no desenvolvimento cognitivo quanto no emocional. Este estudo teve como objetivo verificar as relações dos estilos parentais percebidos por adolescentes que cometeram atos infracionais, comparando com adolescentes sem esse histórico, e buscando associações entre emoções morais: orgulho, vergonha e culpa. Participaram 219 adolescentes em conflito com a lei e 243 não infratores. Responderam questionários contendo questões sociodemográficas e escalas que avaliam emoções morais e estilos parentais. A partir do Teste-t e qui-quadrado verificaram correlações significativas entre a dimensão exigência do estilo parental percebido e a prática de atos infracionais. Os resultados deste estudo apontam que a dimensão de exigência e os dois fatores de culpa podem atuar como proteção para o ato infracional, principalmente em adolescentes do sexo masculino.

Palavras-chave:
adolescentes; delinquência juvenil; pais; emoções

Resumen

La forma en la que los adolescentes perciben la educación recibida de sus padres, es decir, los estilos parentales, afecta tanto el desarrollo cognitivo como el emocional de ellos. Este estudio tuvo como objetivo verificar las relaciones de los estilos parentales percibidos por los adolescentes que han cometido actos infractores, comparándolos con adolescentes sin este historial, y buscando asociaciones entre las emociones morales: orgullo, vergüenza y culpa. Participaron 219 adolescentes en conflicto con la ley y 243 adolescentes no infractores. Todos respondieron cuestionarios con preguntas sociodemográficas y escalas que evalúan las emociones morales y los estilos parentales. Se utilizaron el test t y la prueba chi cuadrado para verificar las correlaciones significativas entre la dimensión exigencia de estilo parental percibido y la práctica de actos infractores. Los resultados indicaron que la dimensión de exigencia y los dos factores de culpa pueden influir como protección del acto infractor, especialmente para adolescentes del sexo masculino.

Palabras clave:
adolescentes; delincuencia juvenil; padres; emociones

There are several risk and protective factors interfering in persons’ entire life cycles since birth influencing their behaviors (Wilkinson, Lantos, McDaniel, & Winslow, 2019), and those associated with their families are of great importance. The family is the first and most relevant institution in which children are inserted. It is where they learn social norms, identifying and expressing their emotions and how they should behave socially, according to what they experience day by day (Leitão, 1999).

The values and behaviors of family members directly impact the development of all its members. In a study with 40 adolescents who were taking socio-educational measures, the structure, communication and family relationships were verified (Pereira et al., 2016). Among the results, in addition to conflicts, there were associations between infractions with the absence of rules and activities in conjunction with members, the use of illegal drugs and family members involved in crimes. Finally, they also found that during the fulfillment of the socio-educational measure, the family relationship became closer, which did not happen before.

Another factor linked to socialization is the way in which a person experiences the moral emotions of pride, shame and guilt. Differences in how these emotions are experienced may influence inappropriate attitudes. The relations of these emotions with parenting styles can show developmental aspects favorable to health promotion, seeking to contribute to an improvement in quality of life (Prieto-Montoya, Cardona-Castaneda, & Velez-Alvarez, 2016).

To name the set of parenting practices, i.e., the way in which parents educate their children, Baumrind (1966) proposed a model with three parenting styles: authoritative, authoritarian and permissive. In 1983, Maccoby and Martin analyzed parenting styles in terms of two dimensions: demandingness and responsiveness. The demandingness dimension concerns the control and supervision of behavior, requirements and discipline, while responsiveness corresponds to the understanding attitudes of parents towards their children, such as communication, emotional support and development of autonomy (Teixeira, Bardagi, & Gomes, 2004).

Thus, based on these dimensions, researchers Maccoby and Martin (1983) divided the permissive style into: indulgent and neglectful, keeping the others authoritative and authoritarian as proposed by Baumrind. For Teixeira et al. (2004), who validated the parenting styles scale for Brazil, parents who are perceived as belonging to the authoritative style present high levels of control and responsiveness; parents who are perceived to be authoritarian parenting style show high levels of control and low levels of responsiveness. Those perceived as being of the indulgent parenting style show high levels of responsiveness and low level of control. Finally, parents who are perceived to be neglectful have low levels of both control and responsiveness.

Several researchers have been seeking to understand how parenting styles affect the development of children and adolescents (Caridade, Martins, & Nunes, 2019). A cross-cultural survey carried out with adolescents aged 12 to 18 years, 52.1% women, from the following countries: Spain n = 793, Portugal n = 675 and Brazil n = 623, analyzed the impact of parenting styles on adolescents’ self-esteem and in the internalization of social values (Martinez et al., 2020). The four types of parenting styles were measured using the cordiality and rigidity dimensions of the Parental Socialization Scale. The research showed that parental responsiveness was associated with adolescent self-esteem and internalization of social values. The researchers found an association between indulgent and authoritative upbringing (both characterized by being high in responsiveness) with the internalization of the values of universalism, benevolence, safety, conformity, and tradition. This association was not found among adolescents who lived in authoritarian and neglectful homes.

More specifically, a research project was carried out in a city in rural Portugal (Caridade et al., 2019), related to teenagers who committed infractions, with the objective of discovering possible deviant behaviors, delinquents and the lifestyle of young people, The sample included 80 young people aged between 15 and 25 years (M = 19 years; SD = 2.60), 56% male. The results indicated that regarding the parental education received, the inexistence of rules and parental supervision was verified and they admitted having already practiced deviant, delinquent and even criminal acts.

Considering that parents are the primary sources of socialization and information about social norms, the importance of styles of interaction with children in regulating emotions of social behavior is highlighted. Such emotions, also called moral emotions, have a great influence on how people will behave or make moral decisions (Tangney & Tracy, 2011). People’s moral standards are influenced in part by universal moral laws, as well as culturally specific proscriptions. In this sense, emotions such as guilt and shame help to regulate behavior in society.

Research has shown the relationship between moral emotions and moral behavior, considering that moral motions such as shame and guilt are highlighted as regulators of adequate social behavior (Tangney & Tracy, 2011). Pride and shame are important emotions that influence identity development and psychological well-being in adolescence (Randell, Joffer, Flacking, Starrin, & Jerdén, 2017).

Among the risk factors commonly found in research related to the offense, either environmental or not, we have: low socioeconomic status, being victim of maltreatment in childhood (Wilkinson et al., 2019), having a history of mental disorders (Morshed, Rahman, Qusar, Shahid, & Arafat, 2018), drug use/abuse (Andrade, Alves, & Bassani, 2018), among others. However, it is noteworthy that such factors cannot be analyzed separately as an exclusive consequence of the development of transgressive acts. In order to learn more about factors associated with transgressive acts, this study aimed at verifying the relations of parenting styles perceived by adolescents who committed transgressive acts, in comparison with adolescents without such a history, plus searching for associations with the moral emotions of pride, shame and guilt.

The family is the main institution in which the child/adolescent learns to live socially and, by studying the perceived parenting styles, it is possible to understand the relationship between parents and children. Thus, this study sought to contribute to new perspectives on adolescents, as well as to support public policies, covering areas such as mental health, education and also public security, which assist children and adolescents and their families in vulnerable situations.

Method

Participants

In total, 462 adolescents participated in this research, divided into two groups: 219 adolescents in the Study group, who were completing socio-educational measures, being 183 males; and 243 in the Comparison group, non-offending adolescents, 198 of which were male. The sample was chosen by convenience and participation was voluntary. It stands out as participation criteria: being between 12 and 19 years old, physically and mentally fit and that their guardians have signed the informed consent form. The Study group participants were from the socio-education centers of Curitiba and its metropolitan region. The mean age of the male part was 16.7 years (SD = 1.01) and 16.7 years (SD = 1.37) for the female part. Adolescents in the Comparison group came from public schools in the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba. The responses of two adolescents in this group who declared they had already committed an infraction were excluded. The mean age of the male part was 15.37 years (SD = 1.15), and 15.1 years (SD = 1.18) for the female part.

Instruments

Self-administered closed-response questionnaire containing sociodemographic questions;

Parental Responsiveness and Demandingness Scale (Teixeira et al., 2004) used to verify perceived parenting styles. It allows, through the combination of their raw scores, the determination of the four parenting styles perceived by the children. The instrument contains 24 items (12 related to demandingness and 12 to responsiveness), for participants to respond on a five-point scale: almost never or very little (0) to generally or quite (4). The scale includes an assessment for both the mother and the father. The scale’s Cronbach’s alpha is 0.78 and 0.92;

Shame and Guilt Scales (Laskoski, Natividade, & Hutz, 2013): the Shame Scale consists of eight items in a 5-point Likert format, such that the closer to 5, the greater the intensity of shame. Shame refers to the perception of embarrassment regarding some personal characteristic or an action, especially regarding the possibility of judgment by others. The Guilt Scale is formed by two factors: Recognition of Error and Regret, consisting of 11 items in a 5-point Likert format, such that the closer to 5, the greater the intensity of guilt. The Error Recognition factor presents items associated with the feeling of malaise in face of a negative evaluation of a behavior. The factor called Regret is composed of items that assess feelings of regret after having performed an undesirable behavior. The Shame scale’s Cronbach’s alpha is 0.86, and Guilt’s is 0.78 and 0.75;

Two-Dimensional Scale of Pride (Laskoski, Natividade, Navarini, Bittencourt, & Hutz, 2013): measures levels of Authentic and Arrogant pride. It comprises 11 items in a 5-point Likert format, such that the closer to 5 the higher the intensity of pride. Items related to Authentic pride correspond to the assessment of feelings of happiness and pleasure in performing an action in which it one believes to have succeeded. Arrogant pride refers to the difficulty in relating and admitting mistakes, feelings of superiority, and devaluing the contribution of others. The scale has Cronbach’s alpha of 0.79 and 0.75.

Procedures

Data collection. Authorizations were obtained from those responsible for socio-educational institutions and regular schools, as well as the signing of the free and informed consent form for the parents. On the day scheduled for data collection, the researcher and the research objective were initially presented. Afterwards, the free and informed consent form was delivered and the adolescents were asked for their consent. Finally, they answered the questionnaires in a private room, with the presence of a researcher. No employees of the institutions had access to the participants’ responses.

Data analysis. Differences among adolescents in the Comparison group and Study group were tested by means of the t-test as a whole and then for males and females separately and between the groups: offenders and non-offenders. Effect size calculations were performed using Cohen’s d and Hedge’s g, a version unbiased by sample size. In addition, associations were made between the Comparison group and Study Group with parenting styles. From the medians in the demandingness and responsiveness dimensions of the parenting styles, four groups of styles were defined: neglectful (below the median in both dimensions), authoritarian (equal to or above the median in demandingness and below in responsiveness), indulgent (below the median in demandingness and equal to or above in responsiveness) and authoritative (equal to or above the median in both dimensions). Still regarding associations, chi-square tests were performed among moral emotions.

Ethical Considerations

This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Universidade Federal do Paraná (Opinion No. 1.380.618, CAAE No. 48345115.7.0000.0102). All ethical procedures were ensured. Initially, a report was conduct to present the research and procedures, explaining the voluntary nature of participation and the possibility of refusing or interrupting participation in the study. Only adolescents who had the consent form signed by their guardians participated in the study. All data obtained related to the identity of the subjects were kept strictly confidential, and their privacy was respected.

Results

This analysis investigated the differences between the dimensions of parenting styles in the two groups. Regarding the dimensions of parenting styles, the mother’s demandingness factor was higher in the Comparison group than in the Study group (t(349.7) = -9.39; p < 0.001; d = 0.93; g = 0.93), but there was no difference for the mother’s responsiveness factor (t(422) = - 0.86; p = 0.39; d = 0.08; g = 0.08). As for the factors of paternal parenting styles, we see the same pattern as the maternal, with higher levels of demandingness for the Comparison group (t(224) = -7.57; p < 0.001; d = 0.89; g = 0.88) and there were no significant differences between groups for paternal responsiveness (t(289) = 0.34; p = 0.73; d = 0.05; g = 0.05).

The results of the t-test for differences between the dimensions of parenting styles, especially for males, show that he mother’s demandingness factor was greater in the Comparison group than in the Study group (t(284.2) = -8.99; p < 0.001; d = 0.96; g = 0.96), but there was no difference for the mother’s responsiveness factor (t(347) = -0.59; p = 0.55; d = 0.06; g = 0.06). As for the factors of paternal parenting styles, we see the same pattern as the maternal one (t(178.9) = -7.10; p < 0.001; d = 0.95; g = 0.95); requirement levels were higher for the Comparison group and there were no significant differences between groups for paternal responsiveness (t(233) = -0.36; p = 0.71; d = 0.05; g = 0.05).

Regarding the dimensions of parenting styles, especially for females, the demandingness factor of the mother was greater in the Comparison group than in the Study group (t(65.5) = -3.14; p < 0.01; d = 0.74; g = 0.73), but there was no difference for the mother’s responsiveness factor (t(72) = -0.66; p = 0.51; d = 0.16; g = 0.16 ). As for the factors of paternal parenting styles, we can see the same pattern as the maternal one, with the levels of demandingness being higher for the Comparison group (t(55) = -2.06; p < 0.05; d = 0, 57; g = 0.55) and there were no significant differences between groups for paternal responsiveness (t(53) = 1.79; p = 0.78; d = 0.50; g=0.49).

Tests were performed to verify the parenting styles of each group by sex. Table 1 presents data separated by sex, group and parenthood.

Table 1
Parenting styles

	Study group				Comparison group
	Boys		Girls		Boys		Girls
	N	%	N	%	n	%	n	%
Neglectful (P)	51	49.0	4	17.4	34	26.4	6	18.8
Neglectful (M)	75	44.1	10	28.6	45	25.1	5	12.8
Indulgent (P)	23	22.1	7	30.4	14	10.9	3	9.4
Indulgent (M)	45	26.5	4	11.4	18	10.1	1	2.6
Authoritarian (P)	2	1.1	2	8.7	26	20.2	10	31.3
Authoritarian (M)	10	5.9	9	25.7	35	19.6	13	33.3
Authoritative (P)	28	26.9	10	43.5	55	42.6	13	40.6
Authoritative (M)	40	23.5	12	34.3	81	45.3	20	51.3
Not answered (P)	79	**	13	**	68	**	13	**
Not answered (M)	13	**	1	**	18	**	6	**

• Note. * The percentage presented in the Table 1 is based on valid answers.

Table 1 showed a greater predominance of parenting style among boys in the Study group of neglectful parenting style (44.1% mother; 49% father). And among male adolescents in the Comparison group, the authoritative style predominated (45.3% mother and 42.6% father). Among the girls in the Study group, the authoritative parenting style predominated (34.3% mother and 43.5% father). A similar result was found among the adolescents in the Comparison group, with the predominant authoritative parenting style (51.3% mother and 40.6% father).

Furthermore, the differences between the Comparison group and the Study group were calculated, with correlations of each moral emotion and parenting styles separately for father and mother. It was possible to find that Shame only showed a negative and significant correlation with the maternal parenting style of the male adolescents in the Comparison group (r = -.179, p < 0.05).

Table 2 presents the correlations of the Regret (Guilt) factor with the parenting styles separately for father and mother between groups and genders.

Table 2
Correlação Parenting styles com Arrependimento (Culpa)

	Study group		Comparison group
	Boys	Girls	Boys	Girls
	r	R	r	r
Authoritarian (M)	.088	-.188	.128	.087
Authoritarian (P)	.033	-.021	.118	.384*
Authoritative (M)	.154*	.038	-.017	.157
Authoritative (P)	.295*	-.231	-.039	-.295
Indulgent (M)	.071	.290	-.163*	-.294
Indulgent (P)	.070	.103	-.118	-.274
Neglectful (M)	-.236**	.062	.016	-.218
Neglectful (P)	-.330**	-.231	.027	.119

• Note.*p < 0.05; **p < 0.001.

Table 2 shows that the factor Regret, for the boys in the Study group, showed a negative correlation with the neglectful style for both the father and the mother. In addition, the results point to the positive correlation with the authoritative style for both parental figures with this guilt factor for the boys in the study group. The maternal indulgent style was negatively correlated with Regret for boys in the comparison group and positively correlated with the paternal authoritative style for girls in the same group. No correlations of the female parenting styles for the Study group were found with this emotion.

As for the second Guilt factor, called Error recognition, the results of the correlation analysis with parenting styles can be seen in Table 3.

Table 3
Correlação Parenting styles com Reconhecimento do Erro (Culpa)

	Study group		Comparison group
	Boys	Girls	Boys	Girls
	r	r	r	r
Authoritarian (M)	-.029	-.254	.065	-.114
Authoritarian (P)	.136	-.080	.107	.206
Authoritative (M)	.177*	.243	.101	.295
Authoritative (P)	.291**	-.044	.094	.177
Indulgent (M)	.109	.271	-.126	-.394*
Indulgent (P)	.082	.115	-.065	-.566**
Neglectful (M)	-0.235**	.201	-.088	-.093
Neglectful (P)	-.364**	-.023	-.158	-.045

• Note. * p < 0.05; **p < 0.001.

Table 3 showed a positive correlation of the Error recognition factor with the authoritative style, and a negative correlation with the neglectful style, both for father and mother for the boys in the Study group. Maternal and paternal indulgent style was negatively correlated with Error Recognition for girls in the Comparison group. Correlations between female parenting styles in the Study group and boys in the Comparison group with this emotion were not verified.

Lastly, the two dimensions of pride and their correlations with parenting styles were analyzed. Regarding Arrogant pride, there was only a correlation between the maternal parenting style and the girls of the Study group (p < 0.05). Furthermore, Arrogant pride showed a negative correlation with the maternal indulgent style of the boys in the Comparison group (p < 0.05). Finally, Table 4 presents the results of correlations among parenting styles with the dimension of Authentic Pride.

Table 4
Correlação Parenting styles com Orgulho Autêntico

	Study group		Comparison group
	Boys	Girls	Boys	Girls
	r	R	r	r
Authoritarian (M)	.133	-.190	-260**	-.191
Authoritarian (P)	.171	-.186	-228**	.052
Authoritative (M)	.068	.267	.269**	.251
Authoritative (P)	.134	.272	.398**	.116
Indulgent (M)	.185*	.201	.054	-.095
Indulgent (P)	.070	0.031	.008	.064
Neglectful (M)	-.284**	-.238	-.108	-.001
Neglectful (P)	-.224*	-.256	-245**	-.256

• Note. * p < 0.05; **p < 0.001.

Table 4 shows the negative correlation of Authentic pride with the Indulgent maternal parenting style of the boys in the Study group and also with the Indulgent maternal parenting style for the male adolescents in the Comparison group.

Positive correlations were found between Authentic pride and authoritative style, as well as negative correlations for both father and mother among the boys in the Comparison group. The maternal indulgent style showed a positive correlation for male adolescents in the Study group. There were no correlations between female parenting styles or the Study group or the Comparison group with this emotion.

Discussion

The demandingness dimension of the parenting style showed a significant difference for adolescents, being higher in both sexes in the Comparison group, as compared to adolescents in the Study group. The parenting styles that are characterized with high levels of demandingness are authoritarian and authoritative, presenting control and supervision of behavior, requirements and discipline (Teixeira et al., 2004). For Mishra and Biswal (2020) the absence of guidance, supervision, support and communication from parents and even excessive love are risk factors for the development of criminality in children. Thus, it seems that the demandingness dimension is correlated with the low practice of transgressive acts.

The parenting style showed a significant difference for male adolescents, in which adolescents in the Study group evaluated more both the mother and the father as belonging to the neglectful style. Adolescents in the Comparison group, on the other hand, rated their parents more as belonging to the authoritative parenting style. These data corroborate the findings of Kauser and Pinquart (2016), who investigated parenting styles in Pakistan and found that children raised in an authoritative style presented lower levels of juvenile delinquency; and parental neglect style was correlated with delinquency at higher levels. For Mishra and Biswal (2020), negligence or total freedom cause delinquent behavior due to the absence of guidance and monitoring, as they collaborate to the involvement of children with deviant peers.

It is noteworthy that authoritative style was also verified in other cultures as being the best style to educate a child. This style has commonly been correlated with the healthier development of children and adolescents, with less risk of committing bullying (Hernáez & García, 2017) and little involvement in the practice of bullying (Mota & Pinheiro, 2018). It is also noteworthy that having parents belonging to the neglectful style increases the risk by 34% of using cocaine, 31% marijuana, 23% cigarette (Prieto-Montoya et al., 2016).

The assessment verified among boys regarding neglectful and authoritative styles, was not found among girls. In both groups, the girls had a significant number of parental assessments as belonging to the authoritative group. This difference can be explained by the different perceptions between genders, with maternal responsiveness and maternal and paternal demandingness being greater in the group of girls, as Teixeira et al. (2004) performed the scale refinement to assess parenting styles. The authors stated that among parents, especially mothers tend to be more responsive and demanding towards girls. Also, according to them, girls might show more sensitivity in the perception of social interactions.

Shame showed a negative correlation only with maternal perception of the indulgent style for adolescents in the Comparison group, which showed that there is no link between parenting styles in this study. It is important to emphasize that, as this is a cross-sectional study, there is no way to assess whether the participants felt shame previously, as experiencing shame in childhood can be a risk factor for later deviant behavior, such as having unprotected sex and using illegal drugs as an adult (Stuewig et al., 2015). It is also noteworthy that experiencing situations of neglect during childhood may present a greater risk of feeling shame (Bennett, Sullivan, & Lewis, 2010), as neglected children reported more tendency to shame than guilt, in addition to more depressive symptoms.

The guilt factor Regret showed a positive correlation with the perception of the authoritative style and a negative correlation with the neglectful style for mother and father in the perception of male adolescents of the Study group. A similar result was found for the Error Recognition factor, which showed a positive correlation for the authoritative style and a negative correlation with the neglectful style for mother and father in the perception of male adolescents in the Study group.

Data from this survey reveal that male adolescents who have committed a transgression and perceive their parents as being of the authoritative style, experience guilt. As a social moral emotion oriented towards the other, experiencing guilt makes the subject recognize the error and seek to promote the repair of the damage (Julle-Danière, Whitehouse, Vrij, Gustafsson, & Waller, 2020). And regarding the neglectful parenting style, which showed a negative correlation, these adolescents do not recognize when they make a mistake, therefore they do not seek to repair the damage.

Arrogant pride did not show a consistent correlation with any adolescent parenting style, group, or gender, which indicates no significant correlation. Authentic pride, on the other hand, was negatively correlated with neglectful style for adolescents in the Study group and with authoritarian style for adolescents in the Comparison group, for father or mother indistinctly. There was only a positive correlation with the authoritative style of mother and father of the adolescents in the Comparison group. When verifying that authentic pride was positively correlated with authoritative parenting style and negatively correlated with neglectful parenting style, this study corroborates the idea of Kapetanovic and Skoog (2021) who stated that when the family’s emotional climate is positive, parenting strategies have a positive effect in the adolescent’s psychosocial functioning.

Pride is also understood to be important to influence the development of identity and psychological well-being in adolescence (Randell et al., 2017). For Ho, Tong and Jia (2016) authentic pride facilitates the ability to delay gratification, i.e., the adolescent does not need others to perceive that he has done something fine and approve it.

Neglectful parenting style may be related to unhealthy family functioning. According to, Tolou-Shams et al. (2018) the psychological suffering of parents and family dysfunction can compromise parenting practices. The authors found that greater mental health-related symptoms of parents of adolescents who were responding for transgressive acts were directly correlated with greater family dysfunction and indirectly associated with poorer parental monitoring due to worse family functioning.

The first institution responsible for adolescent socialization is the family. How teenagers perceive their parents’ education affects both cognitive and emotional development. Thus, this study aimed to verify the differences among the perceptions of parenting styles and moral emotions in adolescents who are and are not complying with a socio-educational measure of detention.

The results of this study present the demandingness as an important dimension related to the absence of infractions. It is noteworthy that the demandingness is associated with parental behavior control practices, having well-defined rules and a high level of demandingness. More specifically, when analyzing parenting styles, these findings suggest that authoritative parenting style, i.e., fathers and mothers having good communication, being loving to their children, but also carrying out strict monitoring, can act as an important protective factor against inappropriate behavior and also for healthy emotional development among male adolescents.

This study is cross-sectional and, as such, has as limitation the impossibility of analyzing how adolescents experienced emotions before the offense, since the measure of detention can influence the experiences of emotions. Still, this study found as a limitation the need to know other factors that may be related to criminal acts of female adolescents. Families can play a key role in preventing inappropriate behavior and, to achieve this, public policies must be proposed, always seeking to value the family in a healthy development, as a preventive measure.

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• Article derived from the first author’s doctoral dissertation whose PhD degree was obtained in 2021 under the supervision of the other authors, at the Programa de Pós-graduação em Saúde da Criança e do Adolescente da Universidade Federal do Paraná.

Edited by

Luciana Mourão Cerqueira e Silva

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  28 Mar 2022
• Date of issue
  2022

History

• Received
  26 Apr 2021
• Reviewed
  01 Sept 2021
• Reviewed
  01 Nov 2021
• Accepted
  08 Nov 2021