Parenting Styles, Academic Self-Efficacy, and Decision-Making Power in University Students

Sonia Naeem, Roqaiya Afzal, and Ammal Ahmad*

Department of Applied Psychology, Kinnaird College for Women University, Lahore, Pakistan

*Corresponding Author: [email protected]

Abstract

This study aims to examine the association between parenting styles, academic self-efficacy, and decision-making power among university students. The sample included 200 undergraduate and postgraduate students (100 men and 100 women) aged 18-28 years. Purposive sampling technique was used to select the participants. They were surveyed using a short version of the Parental Authority Questionnaire, Academic Self-Efficacy Scale, and Decision-Making Collaboration Scale. Correlation analysis was employed to assess the relationships between variables. Independent sample t-test was used to examine gender differences and regression analysis was used to identify the predictor variables for decision-making power. The results indicated a positive relationship between authoritative parenting styles, decision-making power, and academic self-efficacy among university students (p < .05). Regression analysis indicated authoritative parenting, permissive parenting, curricular activities, utilization of resources, and adjustment as predictors of decision-making power in university students. The results of an independent sample t-test showed significant gender differences between authoritarian parenting, curricular activities, and time management. Based on the results, the study concluded that the decision-making abilities of university students are significantly shaped by parenting styles, academic self-efficacy, and factors such as curricular activities and resource utilization. Further, gender differences in certain aspects highlight the need for tailored interventions. Overall, this research provides valuable insights for fostering holistic student development.

Keywords: academic self-efficacy, decision-making power, parenting styles, university students

Introduction

Adolescence is a major turning point in the growth of children. The importance of decision-making is paramount in all aspects of an individual's life (Loureiro, 2020). Decision-making has been defined as executing alternatives from the provided options; it helps to determine appropriate actions according to the situation. Parenting styles play a vital role in decisions that teenagers take because of the social framework in which they are taken (Coplan et al., 2002). Parenting styles are defined as the characteristics of communication, relations, and articulations between parents and their children. The authoritative parenting style depicts compassion, delicacy, and the demonstration of boundaries. It is characterized by strictness and demandingness, with less concern for children's activities. Permissive parents show love, however, they set up no restrictions for their children and make no demands.

Cultural variations in parenting techniques are developed by many cultural transactions and many other aspects of human psychology. In collectivistic cultures, parents provide support, obedience, family cooperation, and conformity to a group. In individualistic cultures, parents teach autonomy, self-expression, and self-reliance to their children. In Pakistani culture, obedience is appreciated and parents are considered as the most respectful, second only to God. Gender roles in parenting practices vary. Girls are anticipated to obey their parental control and authorization, whereas boys are more likely to get freedom and enjoy independence. Although numerous studies have shown the connection between parenting and decision-making power, no study has yet indicated the relationship between these three variables simultaneously, that is, parenting styles, academic self-efficacy, and decision-making power (Reyes, 2019).

Self-efficacy is the confidence that a person has in their abilities to accomplish a goal. Academic self-efficacy beliefs show a vital feature of student inspiration and they have an impact on student performance (Aldhafri et al., 2020). There are four major factors that involve in forming self-efficacy beliefs, namely mastery experience, indirect experiences, verbal persuasiveness, and bodily reactions. Education is considered as the key to an individual’s development. According to indigenous literature on this topic, parenting styles have a significant impact on adolescents' decision-making and self-conceptualization. Authoritative parenting, a style that balances love and control, was shown to be the most beneficial. Conversely, authoritarian parenting, a style with strict rules and little explanation, has been linked to poorer decision-making and self-concept (Altaf et al., 2021). Another study indicated that academic self-efficacy, that is, a student's belief in their ability to succeed in school, is also a factor in decision-making (Rai, 2016).

Similarly, a study by Reyes (2019) found that parental admiration is positively associated with higher involuntary decision-making, while parental psychological control is linked with higher avoidant and impulsive decision-making tendencies among college students. Conversely, authoritative parenting was found to be positively correlated with help-seeking behaviours and resilience, emphasizing the significant influence of parenting on child development (Gonzalez, 2017).

Parenting styles play a crucial role in shaping various aspects of students’ lives, Moreover, (Gota, 2012) explored the parental and socio-cognitive model of academic achievement, highlighting the importance of authoritative parenting in predicting academic self-efficacy, success, and achievement motivation. (Cenkseven-Önden et al., 2010) examined how parenting styles and attachment levels impact career decision-making among high school students, revealing that students with authoritative and authoritarian parents are more likely to make appropriate decisions as compared to those from neglectful parents, underscoring the role of parental warmth and involvement in the decision-making processes.

Rationale

As described in the above section, individuals’ self-efficacy and decision-making abilities are significantly influenced by the parenting style. The significance of this research lies in its potential to contribute to a deeper understanding of the factors that influence decision-making abilities among university students. While ample evidence links parenting styles to academic outcomes, there is a notable lack of research on their impact on decision-making. By examining the relationship between parenting styles, academic self-efficacy, and decision-making power, this study aims to provide insights into the ways in which these factors interact and influence one another. The findings have important implications for educators and policymakers seeking to enhance the decision-making capacities of students and promote healthy decision-making habits among young adults. 

Objectives

The current research has the following objectives.

1. To explore the relationship between parenting styles, academic self-efficacy, and decision-making power in university students.
2. To identify parenting styles and academic self-efficacy as predictors of decision-making strategies employed by university students.
3. To examine gender differences in parenting styles, academic self-efficacy, and decision-making power of university students.

Hypotheses

1. There would be a positive relationship between authoritarian parenting style, academic self-efficacy and decision-making power in university students.
2. Parenting styles and academic self-efficacy would predict decision-making power among university students.
3. Parenting style would likely to vary among men and women.
4. Women would score higher on academic self-efficacy and decision-making as compared to men.

Method

Research Design

This study employed a correlational research design to examine the relationship between parenting styles, academic self-efficacy, and decision-making power among university students. The sample consisted of 200 Pakistani university students (men: n = 100; women: n = 100), aged 18-28 years. The participants were selected using purposive sampling and actively engaged in the study by completing a questionnaire in person.

Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

The study included students aged 18-28 with a GPA of 3.0 or higher, enrolled in a higher education institution recognized by the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan. Students enrolled in bachelor or master programs were eligible for participation. Participants were recruited from various universities. Additionally, students below the bachelor level, those who faced difficulty in understanding English, and those who took less than the expected time to fill the questionnaire were excluded.

Assessment Measures

Demographic Information Sheet

A demographic information sheet was designed to collect personal information about the participants. The form included age, education, GPA, gender, and the name of university.

Scale for Parenting Styles

The Scale for Parenting Styles is the short version of Parental Authority Questionnaire (PAQ). It was developed by (Alkharusi et al., 2011). This scale contains 20 items and rating is done through a 5-point Likert scale. It has three subscales, namely authoritative parenting measured by items 1-7, authoritarian parenting measured by items 8-14, and permissive parenting measured by items 15-20. Cronbach’s alpha value for authoritative parenting is .75, authoritarian parenting is .72, and permissive parenting is .65.

Academic Self-Efficacy Scale

The Academic Self-Efficacy Scale assesses student confidence across various academic domains using 40 statements on a 5-point Likert scale. The scale delves into areas such as time management skills using a 5-point Likert scale (Gafoor & Ashraf, 2007). Both positive and negative statements are included for a more complete picture. The scale probes specific areas such as learning process (items 1, 36), reading comprehension (items 2, 13, 24), and memory (item 4, 14, 25). It also assesses time management skills (items 6, 17), teacher-student relationship (items 7, 29), and resource utilization (items 8, 18, 26). Additionally, the scale delves into goal orientation (items 10, 21), psychological adjustment (items 11, 20, 28, 31, 34, 37, 39), and also examines examination confidence (items 12, 22, 30, 32, 35, 38, 40). This comprehensive design and good test-retest reliability makes the scale a valuable tool for educators and researchers to assess students' academic self-beliefs. The test-retest coefficient correlation of this scale is =.85.

Decision‐Making Collaboration Scale

The Collaboration Decision-Making Scale (CDMS), which is a widely used and well-established tool for assessing decision-making abilities (Anderson et al., 1998). This scale consists of 13 items ranked on a 5-point Likert scale, starting from ‘almost never true’ to ‘almost always true’. The value of Cronbach’s alpha is .87. Items 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 would be re-coded during scoring.

Procedure

Before starting the research, institutional approval was obtained from Kinnaird College for Women to carry out the study. The sample consisted of 200 Pakistani university students (100 men and 100 women) aged 18-28 years. The participants were recruited through purposive sampling after obtaining permission from the heads of the departments of universities. Initially, they were explained the purpose of the study, their role, and their rights as study participants. To ensure voluntary participation they were requested to provide informed consent and then fill a set of questionnaires consisting of a demographic sheet and formal assessment measures.

Results

Table 1

Psychometric Properties of Parenting Styles, Academic Self-Efficacy, and Decision-Making Power (N=200)

Table 1 suggests that the sample distribution is free of significant skewness and kurtosis values, that is, all values fall within the acceptable range of +-1.96, indicating that the sample data distributions are approximately normal. The Cronbach’s alpha value for the academic self-efficacy scale is .88, which is ‘excellent’. Cronbach’s alpha value for parenting styles is 0.69, which indicates ‘fair’ category. The value of authoritative is 0.75 and authoritarian is 0.77 which indicates that these styles are ‘good’. Whereas for permissive parenting is 0.56 and the value for decision making-power is 0.62, which falls in the category of ‘fair’ (Jones & Loe, 2013).

Table 2 shows that one subscale of parenting styles, that is, authoritative parenting has a significant positive relationship with decision-making power among university students. Moreover, all subscales of academic self-efficacy, that is, learning process, reading, memory, comprehension, curricular activities, time management, teacher-student relationship, utilization of resources, peer relationships, goal orientation, adjustment, and examination have a significant positive relationship with decision-making power among university students. However, two subscales of parenting styles, that is, authoritarian and permissive parenting style have no significant relationship with decision-making power among university students. 

Table 2

Pearson Product Moment Correlation between Parenting Styles, Academic Self-Efficacy, and Decision-Making Power among University Students (N=200)

Note: ATT=Authoritative parenting, ATR=Authoritarian parenting, PER=Permissive parenting, LP=Learning process, R=Reading, C=Comprehension, M=Memory, CA=Curricular Activities, TM=Time management, TSR=Teacher student relationship, UOR=Utilization of resources, PR=Peer relationships, GO=Goal orientation, A=Adjustment, E=Examination, DMC=Decision making collaboration, M=Mean, SD=standard deviation, *p<.05. **p<0.01. ***p<0.001

Table 3

Multiple Hierarchical Linear Regression Showing Parenting Styles and Academic Self-Efficacy as Predictors of Decision-Making Power among University Students

Note. ATT=Authoritative parenting, ATR=Authoritarian parenting, PER=Permissive parenting, LP=Learning process, R=Reading, C=Comprehension, M=Memory, CA=Curricular Activities, TM=Time management, TSR=Teacher student relationship, UOR=Utilization of resources, PR=Peer relationships, GO=Goal orientation, A=Adjustment, E=Examination, DMC=Decision making collaboration.

*p<0.05. **p<0.01. ***p<0.001.

Multiple hierarchical linear regression was used to test parenting styles and academic self-efficacy as predictors of decision-making power among university students. Parenting styles, with its three subscales namely authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting, was used as predictor in Model I. In Model II, academic self-efficacy with its 12 dimensions was run as a predictor of decision-making power.

The assumption of independent error was met as Durbin-Watson value (2.18) is between 1- 3. The assumption of no perfect multi-collinearity was tested by checking the tolerance value and the assumption was met because all the values are greater than 0.2. 

In Model 1, three subscales of parenting styles were entered as predictor variables and the regression model was significant with R²= .08, F (3, 196) = 5.80, and p<.001. In Model II, academic self-efficacy was added along with the three dimensions of parenting styles and the regression model remained significant with R²= .33, F (15, 184) = 6.01, p<.000.  When the effect of Model I was excluded, Model II still remained significant, ΔR²= .25, F (12, 184) = 5.65 p<.000.

Among the predictors, authoritative parenting, utilization of resources, and adjustment emerged as significant positive predictors of decision-making power among university students. Whereas, permissive parenting and curricular activities emerged as negative predictors of decision-making power among university students.

Table 4

Independent Sample t-test Showing Gender Differences in Parenting Styles, Academic Self-Efficacy, and Decision-Making Power among University Students

An independent sample t-test was run to examine the gender differences. The results revealed significant gender differences in parental authority, authoritarian parenting, permissive parenting, curricular activities, and time management. Men were found to experience more parental authority and had authoritarian parents compared to women who had permissive parents. In contrast to men, women performed better in curricular activities and exhibited superior time management skills compared to men. The value of Cohen’s d is below 1 for all variables which indicates a small effect size. No significant gender differences were found in authoritative parenting, permissive parenting, learning process, reading, memory, comprehension, teacher-student relationship, utilization of resources, peer relationships, adjustment, goal orientation, examination, and decision-making skills. 

Figure 1

Emerged Model of Parenting Styles, Academic Self-Efficacy, and Decision-Making Power

Parenting Styles

Discussion

This study aimed to explore the relationships between parenting styles, academic self-efficacy, and decision-making power among university students. The research sought to determine how these factors interact and influence students' abilities to make decisions effectively. Overall, the results suggested that there is a significant positive relationship between authoritative parenting and decision-making power among university students. Furthermore, academic self-efficacy helps students to increase their decision-making power. The findings align with the previous literature.

A study conducted by (Michaels, 2016) indicated that parenting practices, especially those involving anxiety and supervision, were linked with lower decision-making competence in children in the age group of 10-12 and even at the age of 19 years. Another research conducted by Cenkseven-Önden et al. (2010) indicated that students who had authoritative parents were more likely to make appropriate decisions. The findings of Multiple Hierarchical Regression indicated authoritative parenting, utilization of resources, and adjustment as positive predictors of the decision-making power. Authoritative parents show warmth and love to their children which is positively associated with the decision-making capacities of adolescents.  Whereas, permissive parenting and curricular activities act as negative predictors of decision-making power among university students.

Similarly, another study by Davids et al. (2015) concluded that maternal parenting and decision-making style are mutually correlated, while paternal parenting style is correlated with the decision-making style and healthy lifestyle behaviors. The results of this study demonstrated that parents play a vital role in decisions that adolescents and children make, as well as how they make these decisions or how the process leaves an influence on their behavioral outcomes. The results also supported the previous literature by identifying a significant positive association between academic self-efficacy and decision-making power among university students (Cheng, 2023).

A study done by (Al-Rashidi & Abdel-Al Ibrahim, 2023) indicated that academic self-efficacy was negatively correlated with help-seeking. This is because students with higher academic self-efficacy did not ask for help. Such students did not depend on others to make appropriate decisions or conduct any other activity. It is also supported by the theory of Bandura that people with a high sense of self-efficacy are more likely to deal with everyday problems effectively and make appropriate decisions, whereas those who are attacked by self-doubts face difficulties in making decisions (Lopez-Garrido, 2020). Another study employed a purely quantitative research design, combining both descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of this study revealed a significant positive relationship between authoritative parenting and decision-making power among university students (Michaels, 2016; Cenkseven-Önden et al., 2010). Additionally, the study found that academic self-efficacy was a significant predictor of decision-making power, with higher levels of academic self-efficacy associated with greater decision-making power (Cheng, 2023)

The current study also found that academic self-efficacy as well as utilization of resources and adjustment are predictors of decision-making abilities among university students. It is confirmed by previous research conducted by (Chemers et al., 2001) indicating that academic self-efficacy was strongly linked to college adjustment and students’ problems at the college level. The results indicated that students who had higher academic self-efficacy did not face stress or any difficulty while adjusting to college, whereas students who had lower self-efficacy faced stress, health issues, and adjustment problems.

Limitations and Suggestions

1. The data was collected from 200 students only across 5 universities in the city. This restricts the generalizability of the findings to the entire Pakistani university population. Students from different regions or educational levels within the country might not be accurately represented in the data.
2. The study relied on self-reported data through questionnaires which can be susceptible to social desirability bias.
3. Sample only included students from Lahore and did not consider the students studying outside Lahore, such as in any other city of Pakistan.
4. This study used Multiple Hierarchical Regression to predict the decision-making power of university students; however, applying mediation can produce better results in this regard.

Conclusion

This study demonstrates the significant influence of parenting styles and academic self-efficacy on decision-making power among university students. The findings suggest that authoritative parenting and high academic self-efficacy are positively associated with decision-making abilities, while permissive parenting and low academic self-efficacy are negatively correlated with it. These results have important implications for educators and policymakers seeking to enhance the decision-making capacities of students. Future research should investigate the long-term effects of these factors on decision-making and explore strategies to promote healthy decision-making habits among young adults.

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