Can Parenting Style Affect Thought Control Strategies?

Aim: This study aimed at investigating the relationship between the parenting styles of parents and their children’s thought control strategies. The research method was descriptive and correlational.
The research method was descriptive and correlational. Statistical population included all pre-university students and their parents in the academic year 2013-2014 in Mashhad City. Some 177 female students and their parents were selected as the statistical sample, using cluster random sampling method from the same area of education. Research tools included Parenting Styles Questionnaire and Thought Control Questionnaire. The data were analyzed by using statistical methods, correlation and regression analysis.
Findings: The results indicated that authoritative parenting style has a direct positive relationship with distraction and reappraisal strategies and negatively with worry strategy. Authoritarian parenting style has only significant relationship with social control and worry strategies. The results of multiple regression showed that authoritative parenting style plays a role in explaining 35% of the variance of thought control as dependent variable.
This study consistently provides support for the link between variations in the familial environment and the emergence of metacognitive subsequent outcomes. Authoritative style had great effect on the appropriate thought control strategies naming distraction and reappraisal strategies.