Influence of parenting style on the visually impaired adolescents and their self-esteem : analysis based on a Saudi population

Purpose: To investigate the attitude of visually impaired adolescents, towards parents and examine the parents’ attitudes toward the visually impaired child. We also assessed the effects of the parenting styles on the self-esteem of the visually impaired adolescent. Methods: Buri’s parental authority questionnaire was completed by children and their parents and used to assess the perceived parental style of both groups. The short form of the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (sort form) [TSCS-2] completed by 125 children and 250 parents of visually impaired school and public schools in Riyadh Central province of Saudi Arabia. Of the students who responded (39/125, 31.2%), 21 were males and 18 females and their age ranged from 13 to 18 years (mean age, 15 years). Of the parents who responded (119/250, 47.6%), 58 were males and 61 females and their age ranged from 19 to 36 years (mean = 27). Results: Parental Authority Questionnaire showed that more than one-half of the adolescents perceived parenting as authoritative (57%) and the remaining perceived parenting as either authoritarian (28%) or permissive (15%) but the differences was not significant (ANOVA: P< 0.80) and remained unaffected by the students’ gender (P>0.05). The associations between the Tennessee Self Concept Score (TSCS) and the parenting styles was at borderline significance only for authoritative parenting style (P=0.08, r=0.28). The levels of self-esteem were higher in males than female (69%vs 31%) students. There was no difference in responses between students who attended public schools and those in the visually impaired school. Conclusion: The majority of visually impaired adolescents perceived parents as authoritative, had higher self-esteem than the fewer students with either authoritarians or permissive parents and had lower self-esteem. Further testing to elicit separate responses for mothers and fathers parenting styles could help reinforce these findings.