Adolescents' perception of parenting and communication in one-parent families as opposed to other family types: Results of a representative study for Flanders

Abstract

Questionnaire data from a Flemish study (N = 1.955; 10 to 18 year olds) are used to examine whether children living in a one-parent family, in an alternating family context (e.g., shared custody) or in a traditional family differ in their perception of parenting and family communication. These differences are being examined by means of non-parametric tests. The empirical evidence suggests that children's perceptions vary according to the type of family in which they live. Differences in perception are found with respect to most of the parenting and communication aspects examined, i.e., monitoring of the child's activities, feeling of acceptance by the parents, behavioural autonomy experienced by the child, the child's communication with mother and father, and mutual communication between parents.