Table of Contents

1. Introduction
1.1 Parenting style
1.2 Personality
1.3 Academic achievement
1.1 Parenting Style
The importance of family processes in child development has long been suggested by

psychologists (Ogbu, 1981; Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Beleskey, Steinberg & Draper, 1991). These

psychologists indicate that parenting style, which includes parent-child interaction, parent-child

joint activities, parents‟ involvement in children’s education are significant in socialization and

children’s functioning. Kohn (1969) suggests that differences in adults‟ social realities have

implications for child rearing practices and their parenting behavior. He considers that conditions

of life primarily in occupational sphere are conditions, which are conducive or restrictive of

expression of self-direction in work. Thus, different work conditions produce different outcomes

among parents. Most research on parenting style derives from Baumrind (1966, 1967, 1971 b)

well-known research of children and their families.

Baumrind (1967) identifies three qualitatively different patterns of parenting styles:

authoritarian, permissive, authoritative. Subsequently, Maccoby & Martin (1983) transformed

this typology by categorizing families according to their level of demandingness (control,

supervision, maturity demands) and responsiveness (warmth, acceptance, involvement). The

extended parenting style typology distinguishes between non-demanding families that vary in

their level of responsiveness. Parents characterized by low demandingness and high

responsiveness engage in an indulgent style of parenting. These parents are tolerant, warm, and

accepting. Yet, they exercise little authority, make few demands for mature behavior, and allow

considerable self-regulation by the child or adolescent. By contrast, parents who are neither

demanding nor responsive display a neglectful or uninvolved pattern of parenting. These parents

do not monitor their children’s behavior or support their interests. Whereas indulgent parents are

committed to their children, neglectful parents, often preoccupied with their own problems, are
disengaged from parental responsibilities. In all, both neglectful and indulgent styles leave

children or adolescent in confusion, lacking guidance, or lack of role model and perhaps lacking

of direction in life. Glasgow et al. (1997) also made a summary about parenting typology that

distinguishes between demanding families that vary in their level of responsiveness.

Authoritarian parents are highly demanding and unresponsive. These parents attempt to mold

and control behavior and attitudes of their children according to a set of standards. They tend to

emphasize obedience, respect for authority, and order. Authoritarian parents also discourage

verbal give-and-take with children, expecting rules to be followed without further explanation”

(p.508). Poor parenting style characterized as rejecting, avoidant, withdrawal, lower-tolerance,

coercive and punitive predict children’s behavior problems such as anti-social, external disorder,

immaturity, anxiety, withdrawal and drug abuse (Patterson, 1983; Cap Aldi, Crosby & Stool

miller, 1996; Cap Aldi & Patterson, 1991). In addition, research studies indicate that poor

parenting practices also related to lower school achievement; lack of parental control, and

excessive levels of parental control may both lead to improper social attitudes and behavior and

lower school achievement suggesting that harsh and indulgent parenting styles may result in

children becoming anti-social, aggressive and developing a maladaptive style of processing

social information ( Rum Berger et al., 1990; Weiss et al. 1992). Studies report show that

children from authoritarian families get into less trouble in children from permissive or

uninvolved parents. Number of children from authoritarian families involved in drug and alcohol

use, risky behavior like driving car without a seat belt, disruptive and aggressive are less as

compared to children from permissive families (Ginsburg et al 2004; Lambro et al. 1991,

Sternberg et al, 1996; Sternberg at al. 2006). However, consistent research reports indicate that

children from authoritarian families may not be well behave as children from authoritative
families. It seems that children from authoritarian families do not fully internalize the discipline

aspects deployed by their parents (Queried et al. 2002; Underwood et al. 2009). Further,

adolescents with authoritarian parents were the least likely to feel socially accepted by their

peers, and they are also rated as less self-reliant (Lambro at al. 1991; Steinberg et al. 1994), less

resourceful (Turkel & Tsar, 2008), low competence (Martinez et al. 2007; Garcia & Garcia,

2009), less helpful and less popular ( Dekovic & Jensen’s, 1992; Jensen’s & Dekovic, 1997);

have low self-esteem and experience depersonalization (Martinez & Garcia, 2007; Woldradt et

al. 2003). It seems that children from authoritarian families simply follow rules set up by their

parents, but when their parent’s figures are not available, they do not know how to react or give

responses to the new environment, such as in classroom.

The third style of parenting as suggested by Baumrind (1971) is authoritative style and

this found to be most effective parenting style in relation to school achievement. “Authoritative

parenting style maintains an effective balance between high levels of demandingness and

responsiveness. These parents establish and firmly enforce rules and standards for their

children’s behavior. Authoritative parents are also warm and supportive. They encourage

bidirectional communication, validate the child’s individual point of view, and recognize rights

of both parents and children” (Glasgow et al., 1997, p.508). The warm and affectionate

relationship between children and parents foster cognitive growth in children (Maccoby &

Martin, 1983; Baumrind, 1973, 1979). The influence of authoritative parenting also does not

diminish during adolescence, adolescents who are reared in an authoritative environment

“consistently score higher on measures of psychological competence and school achievement

and lower on measures of internal distress, problem behavior, than do adolescents from non-

authoritative families” (Glasgow et al., 1997, p.508). Authoritative parenting style therefore
create warm, loving and mutual understanding in family and foster stable children’s behavior and

personality. Glasgow et al. (1997), further in their summary indicate that, “Although there are

ethnic and cultural variations in impact of parenting style (e.g. Asian-American from

authoritarian families score higher than non-authoritarian) this empirical pattern appears to

transcend gender, family structure, age and social class divisions” (p.508). Chao (2001) has

argued that Chinese version of authoritarian parenting is fundamentally different. Unlike

Western authoritarian parents, Chinese authoritarian parents have closer relationships to their

children, and closeness is a predictor of higher school achievement. The most disadvantaged

children are those who are rear by neglectful parents. They show lowest level of adjustment

among three types of parenting.

1.2 Personality Traits

Personality traits are enduring patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that

characterize an individual's unique way of interacting with the world. They can be broadly

categorize into five dimensions, often referred to as the Big Five. The Big Five Personality Traits

are relatively consistent over lifespan of an individual (Roberts & Del Vecchio, 2000). Each

person possesses a unique combination of these traits, which influence their behavior,

relationships, and overall well-being. These include Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness to

Experience, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness (Cervone & Pervin, 2008). The meaning of

factors be observe by examining trait adjectives that describe individuals who score high and low

on each (Cervone & Pervin, 2008). Despite their theoretical differences, early personality

theorists such as Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler and Carl Jung agreed that early formation of

childhood experiences were significant for future adult implications (Eckstein & Kaufman, 2012)

and subsequent academic research has provided adjectival explanations of effect of birth order
on personality. Nyman (1995) found the first-born to be dominant-aggressive, intelligent,

ambitious, responsible, caring and friendly. This was only birth position that was found to be

directly associated with leadership (Nyman, 1995). He described eldest male as self-centered and

both eldest female and male as spoilt (Nyman, 1995). First-born female scored high on

nurturance and responsibility, while male on dominance and independence (Nyman, 1995).

Nyman described middle birth position as being sociable, thoughtful, responsible,

ambitious and independent (Nyman, 1995). He linked open mindedness and dominant aggressive

characteristics with middle-born males and intelligence with females (Nyman, 1995). Negative

attributes such as insecurity, confusion, neglect and rebelliousness were associated with both

males and females, while males also seen as irresponsible (Nyman, 1995). Middle birth position

was only birth position which was not viewed as being ‘spoilt’ and middle-born were further

described as neglected or overlooked (Nyman, 1995). Finally, youngest was viewed as

dependent, irresponsible, rebellious and immature (Nyman, 1995). In addition to this, males

portrayed as being self-centered, insecure and lazy while females were described as passive

(Nyman, 1995).

Sulloway (1995) conducted a review of 196 personality studies and hypothesized

specific traits, which were associated with certain birth orders. Sulloway stated that first-borns

exhibit greater respect for parental authority and consequently should score higher on

conscientiousness (Sulloway, 1995). Jefferson, Herbst and McCrae (1998) found traits of

neuroticism, extraversion and conscientiousness were more highly associated with firstborns, and

however they scored lower on openness to experience and agreeableness compared to later-born.

Paulus, Trap Nell and Chen (1999) conducted four individual within-family studies. Their third

study of 194 students (excluding only children) was a take-home study, which included the Five-
Factor Model traits (Paulus et al, 1999). The researchers used four of the Big Five Traits,

excluding neuroticism, as they believed it had the weakest effect (Paulus et al, 1999). They found

that the pattern was consistent across sibling sizes (Paulus et al, 1999). First-borns were found to

be most conscientious and higher achieving, supporting Sulloway’s theory and later-born were

found to be associated higher as more liberal, agreeable and rebellious (Paulus et al, 1999). A

possible explanation of these result forwarded by the researchers related to last-born of family

being most likely to be in their teenage years and therefore of an age where rebelliousness is

common (Paulus et al, 1999). This explanation gave rise to a fourth study to challenge this

explanation. Significantly, study provided similar findings to that of third study, supporting

previous research and supporting concept of consistency of personality over an individual’s

lifespan (Paulus et al 1999).

1.3 Academic Achievement

Individual differences play an important role in academic achievement of students.

There have been many attempts to address problem of low academic achievement Besides

differences in ability, which are not easy to control, students have specific learning styles that

may influence their academic achievement. Sternberg (1997) proposed that styles are at least in

part socialized, suggesting that they can, to some extent, be modified. Thus, being aware of

learning styles and their roles in academic achievement is of a great importance for educational

psychologists, teachers and researchers.

According to Kolb, there are four fundamental learning styles. The diverging learning

style specializes in two learning abilities of CE and RO. In contrast, converging learning style

specializes in two abilities of AC and AE. The assimilating learning style specializes in the two

abilities of AC and RO. In contrast, finally, the accommodating learning style specializes in two
abilities of CE and AE. Notably, both converging and assimilating learning styles have a higher

score in abstract conceptualization (AC) and lower score in concrete experience (CE). Research

on learning style demonstrates that individuals differ in their learning style and that no single

delivery system is optimal for all students (Paul, Bojanczy & Lanphear, 1994). Some studies

show a positive relationship between academic achievement and converging learning style (Rutz

2003, Boyatzis and Mainemelis 2000), some show academic performance privileges for

converging and assimilating learning styles (Malcom, 2009; Lynch, Woelfl, Steele, and Hanssen,

1998; Newland and Woelfl, 1992; Kolb, 1984) and Oughton and Reed (2000) found that

assimilating and diverging learners were the most productive on concept mapping. Taken

together, reviewing previous studies suggest that researchers need to take caution in evaluating

performance based on a single outcome measure, as each learning style has its strength in

specific tasks. Therefore, different subjects were used to measure student overall performance. In

the study, academic achievement was measured using the result of the secondary examination in

grade nine in five main subjects namely, English, mathematics, science, history and geography.

However, the scarcity of studies manifests itself in the area of learning styles and

academic achievement in Iran. As it was indicated, it is important for educational psychologists

to know how learning styles influence pupils’ academic achievement in different countries, and

from there to design possible means of intervention for promoting effective learning and

academic achievement.

2. Literature review

This study aims to investigate the controversial concept of different parenting styles,

resulting personality and its effects on academic achievements. Participants (n=30) completed

questionnaires measuring parenting styles, personality traits and academic achievements.

Correlations examined relationships between parenting styles, personality traits and academic

achievements. Baumrind conceptualization of parenting style based on a typological approach to

the study of family in relation to parenting style. From this perspective, parenting style viewed as

a characteristic of parents that alters the effectiveness of family socialization practices and

child’s receptiveness to such practices (Darling & Steinberg, 1993). Among numerous variables

researched, demographic status (Casanova, García-Linares, de la Torre, and de la Villa Carpi,

2005; Ray, 2010; O’Sullivan, 2009), intelligence (Deary, Strand, Smith and Fernandes, 2007),

behavioral characteristics (Ergul, 2004; Lane, Barton-Arwoo, Nelsonz, and Wehby, 2008), and

psychological factors, namely, attitudes (Erdogan, Bayram, and Deniz, 2008; Olatunde, 2009),

self-esteem (Bankston and Zhou, 2002; Lockett and Harrell, 2003; Schmidt and Padilla, 2003;

Reasoner, 2005), self-efficacy (Ferla, Valcke, and Cai, 2009; Onyeizugbo, 2010) and self -

concept (Reynolds, 1988; Holliday, 2009), have been used to explain academic achievement.

This report attempts to study the previous literature on association of personality traits to

under different parenting styles and their effect on academic achievement. Research on learning

style demonstrates that individuals differ in their learning style and that no single delivery system

is optimal for all students (Paul, Bojanczy & Lanphear, 1994). Various national and international

research papers are studied; those which conceptualize parenting styles and personality traits and

those which establish relationship between personality traits and performance. Such as; World

Journal of Social Sciences Vol. 1. No. 2. May 2011 Pp. 14 - 35 Effects of Parenting Style on

Children Development (Johari Talib, Zulkifli Mohamad and Maharam Mamat), Academic

Achievement of Students with Different Learning Styles Alireza Jilardi Damavandi

(Corresponding author), Investigating the effects birth order has on personality and self-esteem,

satisfaction with life and age (Sharon Johnson).

3. Hypothesis

H1: There is likely to be a significant relationship between parenting style, personality traits and

academic achievement.

H2: There is likely to be a non-significant relationship between parenting style, personality traits

and academic achievement.

Methodology

This section provide a detail information about research design, description of sample and

procedure for collection of data. The features and characteristics of sample were explained and

detailed measures that are used for assessment would be described;

3.1 Research design

Cross-sectional correlational design was examined to find relation between parenting style,

personality traits and academic achievement of graduate college.

3.2 Sample

It consists of participants (N=30) completed questionnaires measuring parenting styles,

personality traits and academic achievements from the students of Samnabad graduate college.

3.2.1 Inclusion criteria

o Female students of BS 4th semester.

3.2.2 Exclusion criteria

o All other students of the college.

3.3 Operational definitions of variables

 i. Parenting style; is a pattern of behaviors, attitudes, and approaches that a parent uses

when interacting with and raising their child. The study of parenting styles is base on idea

that parents differ in their patterns of parenting and that these patterns can have a

significant impact on their children's development and well-being.

ii. Personality traits; are characteristics and qualities that help define you as a unique

individual. They're often developed throughout life and may remain consistent across

many situations and circumstances.

iii. Academic achievement; is often measured through examinations or continuous

assessments. Academic achievement is extent to which a student or institution has

achieved either short or long-term educational goals.

3.4 Procedure

Permission letter from the institute of applied psychology, explaining the nature of research

and the request for the permission of the data collection would be taken to seek permission from

concerned college students. The letter would authenticated my identity and topic for

research---------would be used to access parenting style, personality traits and academic

achievements among college students. Then permission for the use of scales would be taken

from its respected authors to use for academic purpose. Translated version of these scales would

be use in this research. A schedule would be set with the authorities of colleges in accordance

with the variability of students . all the participants would be guided about the purpose of

research. Before the application of questionnaires, necessary instructions would be given to the

participants that how the questionnaire should be filled consent would be taken from the

participants an they assured about the confidentiality of all the information obtain from them and
that they would be free to study at any time. After that data would be analyzed by using

statistical software.

3.5 Ethical considerations

The following ethical considerations would be kept in mind;

An authority letter which explained the nature of study would be presented to the head of

concern authority for permission of data collection. Thus, prior permission would be sort

from the concern authority to the data collection.

Written consent would be taken from the participants and they would be brief about the

certain features of the research.

After taking the permission officially, from all authentic resources data collection would

be started and questionnaire would be presented to those participants who would meet the

criteria.

Consent would be taken from the participants and they would be allowed to withdraw any

time from the research.

Participant would assure that there identity will not be disclosed to anyone.

Confidentiality of data would be preferentially maintain.

Correct representation of the results would be assured.