Patterns of Family Functioning and Dimensions of Parenting Style

The systemic approach to family and the assumption that there is a correlation between patterns of family functioning and parenting styles are considered to be most appropriate when examining this problem. According to the Circumplex model proposed by Olson and his associates, balanced cohesion and flexibility are related to the democratic/authoritative parenting, which is the most desirable style from the standpoint of the developmental needs of a child. The aim of our study was to examine this assumption on a sample of students studying at the University of Nis (316 male and 268 female students). FACES IV (Olson et al., 2006) was applied for testing family relationships, while PSDQ questionnaire (Robinson et al., 2001) was used for testing parental styles. According to the results, balanced cohesion and flexibility correlate with all three sub-dimensions of the democratic/authoritative style: connection, regulation, and autonomy granting. Authoritarian parenting style correlates negatively with all the functional patterns of family functioning and positively with all the dysfunctional patterns of family functioning. Mother's permissiveness correlates positively only with the dysfunctional patterns of family functioning, enmeshed and chaotic. These findings support the hypothesis that the patterns of family functioning are reflected in the parenting style, which implies that interventions targeting the parenting model cannot significantly affect the principal model of family functioning. Focusing on the strengthening of parenting skills should be replaced by influencing the patterns of family functioning, in order for the effects of the intervention on the parental subsystem to be adequate and efficient.