Parental influence on political development among late adolescents

Abstract

The relationship between parenting style and political socialization was examined in 258 college students with an average age of 19.6. Political socialization approaches along with Erik Erikson’s Eight Stages of Man comprised the theoretical framework in this study. Regression analysis was used to determine the relationships between maternal and paternal parenting style, political party affiliation, attitude to authority, political conservatism (racial/social conservatism, religious fundamentalism, and punitiveness), and political identity. Results indicated that high levels of maternal acceptance were related to a conservative political party affiliation, high scoring on overall political conservatism, and high levels of religious fundamentalism. High levels of maternal psychological control were linked to a conservative political party affiliation, pro-attitudes to authority, high levels of overall political conservatism, and higher punitiveness. High levels of paternal firm control were related to political identity achievement.