Perceived Parenting Styles and Social Anxiety Among Young Adults

Abstract

The dissertation investigates the relationship between perceived parenting style and levels of social anxiety among young adults. Parents play a key role in shaping the child’s emotional and well-being, especially in an Indian context. The research explores how different parenting styles—authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive—impact the social anxiety levels of individuals aged 18 to 25. The research also aims to find the significant differences in the prevalence of social anxiety and parenting styles based on age, gender, and socioeconomic status. Data was collected from a sample of young adults through Parental Authority Questionnaire and Social Interaction Anxiety Scale. The results indicate there is no significant correlation between parenting styles and social anxiety among young adults. This is because there are many different factors such as cultural, environmental, or personal factors which contribute to a person’s social anxiety levels along with parenting style of the parent. One significant finding was that father’s parenting style depends on the gender of the child. The findings may help in developing interventions for children with anxiety and designing training programs for parents of vulnerable children in India as we now know that parental contribution is not the only factor. The findings encourage further exploration into this area with more nuanced methodologies or larger sample sizes to better understand the factors contributing to social anxiety in young adults.