Parenting styles, moral identity and prosocial behaviors in adolescents

The present study explores perceived parenting styles, moral identity and prosocial behaviors in adolescents. It was hypothesized that perceived parenting styles are likely to predict moral identity and prosocial behaviors in adolescents. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that moral identity is likely to mediate the relationship between perceived parenting styles and prosocial behaviors. Through purposive sampling, a sample of 236 (boys = 128; girls = 108) adolescents was selected from different schools of Lahore, Pakistan. Parental Authority Questionnaire-Revised (PAQ-R), Self-Importance of Moral Identity Scale and Prosocial Tendencies Measure-Revised (PTM-R) were administered to collect data. SPSS and AMOS were used to analyze the collected data. Results showed that perceived permissive parenting style was negatively related to moral identity and prosocial behaviors in adolescents. Furthermore, perceived authoritative style was positively related to moral identity and prosocial behaviors. However, in the case of authoritarian style, only perceived mother’s authoritarian style showed negative relationship with prosocial behaviors and only perceived father’s authoritarian style showed positive relationship with moral identity. Moral identity (internalization) was positively related to compliant, altruistic, anonymous, dire, emotional prosocial behaviors while moral identity (symbolization) was positively related to compliant, anonymous, dire, emotional and public prosocial behaviors. Mediation analyses showed that moral identity was a significant mediator between perceived parenting styles and prosocial behaviors. The findings showed that parenting plays an essential role in the internalization of moral values in adolescents.