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Positive Parenting During Adolescence and Career Success in Young Adulthood

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Abstract

Research findings suggested that positive parenting behaviors during adolescence continue to have lasting effects on children, even when they enter young adulthood; though few studies have investigated how positive parenting behaviors affect career success in young adulthood. Career success is central to young adults’ identity formation, life satisfaction, marital relations and mental health. In this study, we examine how positive parenting behaviors influence young adults’ career success. Using a large, nationally representative, and longitudinal sample, results from regression analyses suggested that positive parenting behaviors during adolescence were positively associated with young adults’ career outcomes, including career satisfaction, career autonomy, career commitment, and income. Furthermore, the association between positive parenting during adolescence and career success was mediated in part by education attainment in young adulthood.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by a Grant (1R03HD064836) from the Eunice Kenney Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. This study uses data from Add Health, a program project directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris and designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter, S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and funded by a Grant P01-HD31921 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Special acknowledgement is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Information on how to obtain the Add Health data files is available on the Add Health website (http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth). No direct support was received from Grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of Delaware, 111 Allison Hall West, Newark, DE, 19716, USA

    Mellissa S. Gordon

  2. Department of Family and Child Sciences, The Florida State University, 216 Sandels Building, Tallahassee, FL, 32303, USA

    Ming Cui

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  1. Mellissa S. Gordon
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  2. Ming Cui
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Correspondence to Mellissa S. Gordon.

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Gordon, M.S., Cui, M. Positive Parenting During Adolescence and Career Success in Young Adulthood. J Child Fam Stud 24, 762–771 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-013-9887-y

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