Effect of parenting styles on conduct disorder (CD) with mediation of emotional and cognitive empathy in high school students

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of parenting styles on conduct disorder (CD) mediated by emotional and cognitive empathy in junior high school students. The statistical population included all male high school students in Kermanshah in the academic in 2020-2021, which was 234 students who obtained the highest scores in the pediatric symptoms questionnaire (parent form) (Gadow & Sprafkin, 2007) and They had the most symptoms of conduct disorder, were selected as a sample group based on multi-stage cluster sampling method, and participants completed the Alabama΄s parenting styles (Frick, 1991), the Baron-Cohen empathy quotient scale (Baron-Cohen & Wheelwrigh, 2004). Structural equation modeling on LISREL software was used to answer the hypotheses. The results of data analysis showed that direct and indirect path coefficients are significant in the research model (P <0.001). According to the findings of this study, efficient and inefficient parenting styles and emotional and cognitive empathy have a direct and significant effect on conduct disorder and efficient and inefficient parenting styles also have a direct and significant effect on emotional and cognitive empathy. Also, effective parenting style (positive parenting components and father participation) and inefficient parenting style (components of authority, poor supervision and corporal punishment) mediate emotional and cognitive empathy on students' conduct disorder indirectly. Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that proper communication between parent and child enables the person to achieve emotional development and increases the ability to empathy and community friendly behavior in adolescents.