Middle Eastern Journal of Disability Studies

Abstract
Background & Objective: Children will experience emotional and cognitive changes in different aspects when they mature into adolescence. During this period, growth and transformation occur in physical, cognitive, and social–emotional fields. Excluding the infancy period, the most extensive changes occur in adolescence. The beginning of adolescence is associated with puberty, containing physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development. During this period, significant and widespread changes occur in the self–concept of teenagers due to the experience of an identity crisis. Family and its status are the first and most crucial social system that effectively forms self–efficacy and self–esteem in their children. Many factors, including sociocultural factors, influence how families educate their teenagers and promote their self–efficacy. Parenting and its relationships are important because evidence shows that parents' interaction with their children plays a significant role in determining the children's self–efficacy. Children's psychological characteristics and gender also affect parents' interaction methods and parenting styles. Different parenting styles create different behaviors among children and teenagers. In other words, children's behavior is strongly influenced by the family's parenting styles. This research aimed to compare parenting styles and self–efficacy in male and female teenagers in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
Methods: The research method was descriptive–analytical and of comparative causal type. The statistical population of the current study included all 10000 high school students studying in the city of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in the academic year of 2010–2011. Of them, 300 eligible girls and boys were randomly selected by multi–stage cluster sampling method. In this way, 6 schools were randomly selected from secondary high schools in Dushanbe in the first stage. In the next stage, 3 secondary schools were randomly selected from each school. The inclusion criteria were as follows: growing up under a mother's guardian during childhood and adolescence, lacking physical disabilities and chronic diseases, and not taking drugs. The exclusion criterion was incomplete answering to the study questionnaires. The research tools were the Baumrind Parenting Styles Questionnaire (Baumrind, 1991) and the Self–efficacy Scale (Sherer et al.,1982). Data analysis was done using the t test comparing the averages of two independent groups at a significance level of 0.05.
Results: In the present study, the mean ± SD age of the study females was 16.50 ± 1.09, and that of the males was 16.48 ± 1.08 years. The results of the present study showed a significant difference between the two groups of males and females in the variables of self–efficacy (p=0.041) and authoritarian parenting style (p=0.048). Teenage females obtained a higher average score (66.40±10.70) in self–efficacy than males (61.31±15.97). Also, adolescent males received a higher average score (111.00±8.02) in authoritarian parenting style than females (127.54±5.84).
Conclusion: The results of the present study showed differences between the two groups of teenage females and males in Tajikistan in terms of perceived self–efficacy and parenting styles. The adolescent males reported a higher authoritarian parenting style. In general, authoritative parenting is characterized by high demands from parents and their inadequate responses. These parents do not see the need to provide a reason for their orders and emphasize their children's unconditional obedience and respect. Parents encourage girls to seek and maintain close relationships. On the other hand, boys' tendency to be independent in individual and interpersonal situations imposes a heavy burden on them and forces them to fight hard to get rid of their parents' domination. Such a struggle is considered disobedience by parents and sometimes forces them to be strict in interacting with boys, ultimately reducing the teenagers' self–efficacy. One of the effects of correct parenting roles and methods in the family is the opportunities provided for children to know their capabilities and talents and take steps toward self–efficacy. This issue makes their time and energy optimally spent on positive things. Dealing with positive things and feeling that parents always have a supportive role, in turn, makes children feel self–efficacy. Developing effective educational programs and counseling to the family to use the best parenting style to increase self–efficacy, especially in male adolescents, are suggested among families.