Parenting Styles and Moral Emotions of Adolescents in Conflict with the Law

Abstract

The cognitive and emotional development of adolescents is affected by how they perceive their parents’ upbringing, or parenting style. This study aimed to verify the relationship between the perception of parenting styles by adolescents who committed transgressive acts and compare it to that of adolescents without such a history, also searching for associations with the moral emotions of pride, shame, and guilt. In total, 219 adolescents in conflict with the law and 243 non-offender adolescents participated in the study. They answered questionnaires containing sociodemographic questions and scales that assess moral emotions and parenting styles. The Chi-square and t-test were used to verify significant correlations between the demandingness dimension of the perceived parenting style and the practice of transgressive acts. Results revealed that the demandingness dimension and two guilt factors can act as protection against transgressive acts, especially in male adolescents.