Effect of Parenting Styles and Different Family Income on Altruism in Adolescents

The role of parents in socialization process has been a topic of considerable debate for decades. To elicit prosocial behavior in children is a major socialization goal for many parents. Therefore it is very necessary to study factors that bring out prosocial behaviors in adolescents. The relationship between parenting and children‟s prosocial behavior has been studied extensively; however, there have not been many such studies in India. This study focused on the role of parenting styles and the influence of the family income on the altruistic behavior of adolescents in India. Sixty participants both girls and boys under the age group of 13-19 years took part in the study, where they were divided into two groups based on the criteria of their family income, one group under the income bracket of 20,000-35,000 per month and the other, 1-1.5 lakhs per month .The influence of parenting styles on the altruistic level of adolescents was assessed by using two questionnaires, the Parental Authority Questionnaire 30-item version (PAQ) that has three subscales: permissive, authoritarian and authoritative and the Altruism Scale 30-item version (ALTS). Results show that participants with high authoritative parenting style had higher level of altruism when compared to permissive and authoritarian parenting style. Also the study found that there is no significant difference in the altruistic behavior of adolescents of the first income group (M=38.43) and the second income group (M=36.17). Therefore, the study suggests that while the difference in family income of the adolescents has a minimal effect on their altruistic behavior, parenting styles play a crucial role in their moral development.