Effects of Parenting Practices and Marital Satisfaction on Adolescent Behavioral Problems

The present study aimed to know the effect of parenting practices and marital satisfaction on adolescent behavioral problems. The sample comprised of 245 urban and rural adolescents of Dharwad between ages of 12-15 years. The parents of adolescent were also included in the study. The results revealed that adolescents’ age and gender (female adolescent) was significantly associated with normal prosocial behavior, internalizing and externalizing problems. Families with less number of children and belonged to high socio-economic status were associated with high prosocial behavior. Specifically, parental positive parenting was significantly associated with adolescents’ normal pro social while negative parenting was significantly associated with abnormal externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. Likewise, parents with low marital satisfaction were significantly associated with adolescents’ abnormal pro social behavior, externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems. Parental factors accounted for the variance in externalizing problems of rural adolescents (44.0 %) was found higher compared to urban adolescents (33.9 %). This signifies that parental factors play as significant risks factors on their adolescent’s outcomes and that varies locally.