Private Schools and Parenting; Do they have an Effect on College Students?
Aaron Schlisser & Lance C. Garmon, Salisbury University
October, 2009
Poster Presented at the 4th Emerging Adulthood Conference, Atlanta, Georgia.
ABSTRACT
To examine potential interactions among parenting styles, secondary education (i.e. public or
private schools), and risky behaviors, responses from 184 undergraduates from a Midwestern
university were examined in a secondary data analysis. Emerging adults who attended a Private
Secondary School reported higher levels of both Risky Alcohol Behaviors and Problem
Behaviors. The only significant differences involving Parenting Style were the variables
“Father/Mother Permissive” and “Private School” at least for females. These findings could
reflect the Midwest demographic that does not have as many private schools (Catholic or
otherwise) as an East Coast demographic
BACKGROUND
Previous Research
•
Little research exists at all on issues of Private vs Public Secondary School, particularly in
regards to its impact in later emerging adulthood
•
Traditionally, there has been a perceived academic advantage for those attending
private schools (Entwisle, 1990), although more recent research methodologies have
raised questions about those assumptions (Braun et al., 2006) and those advantages
may be strongest for Catholic private schools due to the consistent messages
presented both school and at home (Teachman et al., 1996)
•
Other negative behaviors may be more common among adolescents in private
secondary schools
•
•
12th graders in Catholic rivate chools are at higher risk for alcohol and
marijuana use (O'Malley, 2006)
•
Boys who attended private schools were more likely to gain prestige through
being the class clown than were those attending public school (Suitor, &
Brown, 2004).
Research has examined the issue in other ways than the current study’s approach
•
Private vs Public Post-Secondary Settings (see Coll et al., 2006; Engs et al.,
1996)
•
Non-American educational systems (see Van Hout & Conner, 2008; Gutierrez
& Shoemaker, 2008)
•
Previous research suggests that there is a correlation between parenting styles and risky
behaviors in emerging adulthood, (see Patock-Peckham, Morgan-Lopez, 2007; 2009a;
2009b).
•
However, there does not appear to be any previous research looking at all three
variables—Private vs Public Secondary School, Parenting Style, and Behaviors in
Emerging Adulthood—in the same study.
Hypothesis
 That parenting styles (authoritarian, permissive, authoritative) may also have an affect on
whether or not an adolescent went to a private or a public school.
 That the type of secondary education (private vs. public schools) may have an affect on a
college student’s propensity to engage in risky behaviors.
METHODS
 A secondary data analysis was conducted utilizing participants from a larger study examining
the perspectives of emerging adults on their interpersonal relationship quality and incidence
of behavior problems.
Participants
 184 (n=184) participants from a small University in the Midwest of about 2,000 students
participated in a survey for class credit.
 Students used in the study ranged in age from 18 to 25 years (m=18.83), 154 (87.3%) of
which were 18 or 19 years of age
 More females, 90 (54.2%) than males, 76 (45.8%), provided gender data; 18 students
(9.8%) did not answer this question
 Selection of public school comparison sample
 Out of an original sample of 964 participants, 92 went to a Catholic private school.
 A comparison sample of 92 participants who went to public school was selected after
matching by gender and age.
Measures
 Parental Authority Questionnaire (PAQ: Buri, 1991) has two 30-item sections, one for
each parent and is designed to assess parenting style by asking questions about parenting
practices as the child was growing up.
 Mother and father questions are identical, and both sections ask about parental discipline
practices, communications, and parenting styles, with the outcome variables revealing the
degree of parental authoritativeness, authoritarianism, and permissiveness.
 Young Adult Self-Report (YASR: Achenbach, 1997) is one of a “family” of measures
designed to assess the incidence of behavior problems at various ages.
 The YASR has 130 questions on incidence of behavior problems such as, “I drink too
much alcohol or get drunk” which are scored on a three-step scale, i.e., 0 = not true, 1 =
somewhat or sometimes true, or 2 = very true or often true.
 Another YASR question asked, “How often have you been drunk in the last 6 months?
 YASR Scores: A total Score can be computed reflected an individual’s overall level of
behavior problems, as well as additional Sub-Scores reflecting level of Internalizing and
Externalizing behaviors.
 Out of the 186 participants, no one completed both the PAQ and YASR questionnaires (see
Table 1)
 Approximately half (n=88) of the 186 participants only filled out the PAQ
questionnaire and therefore only had data from that questionnaire.
 Another half (n=96) of the 186 participants only filled out the YASR questionnaire
and therefore only had data from that questionnaire.
Table 1: Research Participants Completing each Questionnaire
Ns
Private
Public
PAQ
44
44
YASR
48
48
RESULTS
A series of analyses were conducted between Secondary School Setting (Private vs Public
School) and variables related to both types of Parenting Styles and Risky Behaviors/Behavior
Problems.
Risky Drinking Behaviors: Results were mixed depending upon the type of question
 An ANOVA revealed no significant difference between participants from public or private
schools and the risky behavior of drinking/getting drunk when ask how many times in the
last 6 months
 A Chi-Square analysis though was significant when the participant was ask to rate how often
they “drink too much alcohol or get drunk” such that emerging adults who had attended a
Private Secondary School were more likely to report this was “Very True or Often True” of
themselves, X2 = 10.86, p = .004 (see Figure 1).
Behavior Problem Scores
 A series of ANOVAs revealed a consistent difference such that those from Private Secondary
School reported higher levels of problem behaviors in the Total, Internalizing, and
Externalizing categories (see Figure 2)
Parenting Styles
 None of the statistical analyses for Authoritarianism or Authoritativeness parenting styles
were found to be significant.
 However, analyses for a Permissiveness parenting style were found to be significant for both
Mothers and Fathers such that children of more Permissive Parents were more likely to be in
Private Schools (see Figure 3)
Gender Differences
 A series of ANOVAs for each of the dependent study variables failed to find direct
differences between the genders.
 Each of the analyses above were also conducted separately for both males and female, which
revealed some interesting differences
 The significant Permissive Parenting Style differences between those from Private vs
Public Secondary Schools were maintained only for females (see Figure 4)
 The Problem Behavior scores differences between those from Private vs Public
Secondary Schools were maintained for both males and female (see Figure 5)
 The significant Drinking/Getting Drunk differences between those from Private vs
Public Secondary Schools were maintained for both males and female, X2 = 6.77, p =
.034 and X2 = 6.70, p = .035, respectively (see Figure 1).
DISCUSSION
 Emerging adults who attended a Private Secondary School reported higher levels of both
Risky Alcohol Behaviors and Problem Behaviors
 There was a significant difference in the amount of alcohol consumption during
college between those who attended Public or Private Secondary school, but only
for males
 There were significant difference in the level of Problem Behaviors reported in
college, including both Internalizing and Externalizing behaviors, between both
males and females who attended Public or Private Secondary school.
 The only significant differences involving Parenting Style were the variables
“Father/Mother Permissive” and “Private School”
 This suggests that the parenting style factor that determines a child going to
private school is “Permissive.”
 Permissive parents are more likely to have their children in a Private Catholic
School
 This finding was only true for females
 These findings could reflect the Midwest demographic that does not have as many private
schools (Catholic or otherwise) as an East Coast demographic
Future Research
 Use a much larger sample size with students in several Universities located in different
geographical regions (i.e., East and West coast, Midwest, etc.).
 Use a questionnaire that asks more personal and direct questions regarding risky behavior
 Look to see if there is in fact a relationship between private schools, authoritarian or
permissive parenting styles and risky behavior
REFERENCES
Achenbach, T. (1997). Young Adult Self Report. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont,
Department of Psychiatry.
Braun, H., Jenkins, F., & Grigg, W. (2006). Comparing Private schools and public schools using
hierarchical linear modeling (NCES 2006-461). U.S. Department of Education, National
Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences. Washington, DC: U.S.
Government Printing Office.
Buri, J.R. (1991). Parental authority questionnaire. Journal of Personality Assessment, 57(1),
110-119.
Coll, J. E., Draves, P. R., & Major, M. E. (2008). An examination of underage drinking in a
sample of private university students. College Student Journal, Vol 42(4), pp. 982-985.
Engs, R. C., Diebold, B. A., & Hanson, D. J.1996). The drinking patterns and problems of a
national sample of college students, 1994. Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education, Vol
41(3),. pp. 13-33.
Entwisle, E. (1990). Schools and the adolescent. In S. Feldman & G. Elliott (Eds.), At the
threshold: The developing adolescent, pp. 197-224. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press.
Gutierrez, F. C. & Shoemaker, D. J. (2008). Self-reported delinquency of high school students in
metro Manila: Gender and social class. Youth & Society, Vol 40(1), pp. 55-85.
O'Malley, P. M. Johnston, L. D., Bachman, J. G., Schulenberg, J. E., & Kumar, R. (2006). How
substance use differs among American secondary schools. Prevention Science, Vol 7(4),
pp. 409-420.
Patock-Peckham, J. A. &Morgan-Lopez, A. A. (2007). College drinking behaviors: Mediational
links between parenting styles, parental bonds, depression, and alcohol problems.
Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, Vol 21(3), pp. 297-306.
Patock-Peckham, J. A. &Morgan-Lopez, A. A. (2009a). The gender specific mediational
pathways between parenting styles, neuroticism, pathological reasons for drinking, and
alcohol-related problems in emerging adulthood. Addictive Behaviors, Vol 34(3), pp. 312315.
Patock-Peckham, J. A. &Morgan-Lopez, A. A. (2009b) Mediational links among parenting
styles, perceptions of parental confidence, self-esteem, and depression on alcohol-related
problems in emerging adulthood. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Vol 70(2), pp.
215-226.
Suitor, J.J. & Brown, S. (2004) Avenues to prestige among adolescents in public and religiously
affiliated high schools. Adolescence, Vol 39(154), pp. 229-241.
Teachman, J., Paasch, K., & Carver, K. (1996). Social capital and dropping out of school early.
Journal of Marriage and the Family, 58, 773-783.
Van Hout, M. C. & Connor, S (2008). A qualitative study of Irish teachers' perspective of student
substance use. Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education, Vol 52(1), Apr, 2008. pp. 80-91
Table 2: Means Scores for Attachment and Behavior Variables
Total Sample
Males
Females
Private
Public
Private
Public
Private
Public
M
SD
M
SD
M
SD
M
SD
M
SD
M
SD
Attachment Representations
Mother
Authoritarian 33.86 6.14 33.77 6.82 34.80 6.21 35.40 6.34 31.80 7.07 33.15 6.31
Authoritative 35.73 6.27 34.70 6.03 35.00 4.91 32.20 5.05 33.75 7.43 37.25 6.79
Permissive
19.77 4.38 23.23 4.95 23.73 4.85 20.60 4.75 22.45 5.21 18.65 2.87
Father
Authoritarian 35.23 8.18 33.98 7.78 35.20 6.56 38.64 8.59 32.70 8.42 35.55 6.93
Authoritative 33.42 8.59 33.61 6.84 34.67 5.52 31.79 7.99 32.40 8.04 33.00 8.83
Permissive
22.60 5.88 25.75 6.41 25.33 5.85 24.50 7.31 24.80 7.02 20.00 4.72
Problem Behaviors
Total
25.04 11.20 51.29 24.28 52.91 24.26 24.70 11.28 49.80 24.70 25.36 11.35
Internalizing
6.50 4.97 13.79 8.44 13.83 8.59 6.22 5.61 13.76 8.48 6.76 4.40
Externalizing 5.33 3.18 11.56 7.89 12.70 8.66 5.70 3.48 10.52 7.12 5.00 2.92
Shaded Cell indicates significant finding