Influence of Parental Styles and Other Psychosocial Variables on the Development of Externalizing Behaviors in Adolescents: A Sytematic Review

• Main Authors: José Antonio Ruiz-Hernández, Elena Moral-Zafra, Bartolomé Llor-Esteban, José Antonio Jiménez-Barbero
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedad Española de Psicología Jurídica y Forense 2018-11-01
• Series: European Journal of Psychology Applied to Legal Context
• Subjects: Adolescents; Parenting style; Attachment; Externalizing; School violence; Gender
• Online Access: https://journals.copmadrid.org/ejpalc/archivos/articulo20181226170129.pdf

The main objective of this systematic review is to synthesize the available evidence on the influence of parental styles and dimensions on the development of adolescentsâ externalizing behaviors. As a novelty, this review offers an analysis of possible differences in paternal and maternal parenting practices and the role of gender in adolescents will be analyzed. The methodology used consisted of a systematic search of articles in databases (Medline, Cochrane, Academic Search Premier, PsycINFO, ERIC y PsycARTICLES) and their lists of bibliographic references published between 2010 and 2016. Initially, we located 31,169 studies, of which 31,019 were excluded because they were either duplicates or did not meet the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The remaining articles were again reviewed in full text and were subjected to the assessment of bias risk, of which 17 had an adequate level of methodological quality, and so were included in the systematic review. The results suggest that the parenting style most closely associated with externalizing problems is the authoritarian style. In contrast, the authoritative parental style and the dimensions of affection, communication, and autonomy promotion guarantee positive results. A larger number of studies are deemed necessary to establish firm conclusions about aspects such as differences between parents’ parenting style or adolescents’ gender.