J Youth Adolescence (2008) 37:616–626DOI 10.1007/s10964-007-9169-3

ORIGINAL PAPER

Parental Inconsistency Versus Parental Authoritarianism:Associations with Symptoms of Psychological DisordersMarwan Adeeb Dwairy

Received: 2 October 2006 / Accepted: 16 January 2007 / Published online: 27 April 2007C© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007

Abstract While in western countries, such as the US andEurope, authoritarian parenting is associated with negativepsycho-social outcomes. Studies have indicated that this isnot the case in collective/authoritarian cultures. It has beenhypothesized that inconsistency in parenting style and cul-ture contributes to these negative outcomes. In this study ascale of authoritarian parenting and parental inconsistencyhas been developed. This scale and other scales of authori-tarian parenting, adolescent-family connectedness, and psy-chological disorders were administered to 72 female and106 male 11th grade Arab students. The results show that,while no measures of authoritarian parenting were associatedwith psychological disorders, all the measures of parental in-consistency were so associated. The results give empiricalsupport to theories that indicate that parental inconsistencyis an important factor in psychopathology. More researchthat is focused on inconsistency is needed across differentpsychological symptoms and across cultures.

Keywords Inconsistency . Authoritarian . Parenting .

Psychological disorders . Collective

Marwan Dwairy, D.Sc., is associated professor of psychology in EmekYezreel college and Oranim college. He is a licensed expert andsupervisor in three areas: educational, medical, and developmentalpsychology. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in psychologyfrom Haifa University, and his D.Sc. from the Faculty of Medicine atthe Technion in 1991. http://Web:www.marwandwairy.com.

M. A. Dwairy (�)Emek Yezreel Academic College and Oranim Academic College,P.O. Box 14710, Ora St. 3b,Nazerat Ellit 17000, Israele-mail: psy@marwandwairy.com

Many studies have shown that authoritarian parenting is as-sociated with different outcomes across different cultures:Studies in the west have shown that authoritarian parentingis associated with a variety of future addictions, problemsin intimate relationships, depression, low self esteem, lowinitiative, and difficulties in making decisions in adulthood(Baumrind, 1991; Bigner, 1994; Forward, 1989; Maccobyand Martin, 1983; Wenar, 1994; Whitfield, 1987). Otherstudies among non-western cultures have shown that au-thoritarian parenting is associated with positive outcomes(Chao, 1994; Leung et al., 1998; Steinberg et al., 1992b)or is not associated with negative outcomes (Dwairy et al.,2006b). Inconsistency between parenting styles and culture,rather than the authoritarian parenting itself, was indicatedas a possible factor that is associated with negative outcomes(Dwairy et al., 2006b). This research studies the role thatinconsistent parenting plays, in addition to other factors, inthe mental health of adolescents.

Parenting styles and psychological adjustment

Studies that investigated parental childrearing practice haveconsistently revealed two basic dimensions: affection andcontrol (Schaefer, 1965; Baumrind, 1975; Maccoby andMartin, 1983). Baumrind (1966, 1967, 1991) identified threebasic styles of childrearing: authoritarian, permissive, andauthoritative. The three parenting styles differ in nurturing(or warmth) and control (Baumrind, 1991). Thus, parentswho practice the authoritarian style emphasize their con-trol of the child and the child’s obedience, and restrict theautonomy of the child. These parents are the sole regulat-ing authority in the child’s life, using punishment to controlhim/her, and seldom explaining the reasoning behind rulesand regulations. The nurturing skills of authoritarian parents

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tend to be low. They rarely use words of comfort, and areunlikely to demonstrate affection or to praise their adoles-cents (Baumrind, 1966; Reitman et al., 2002). Most researchconducted in the Western societies associate authoritarianparenting with negative psycho-social outcomes (Baumrind,1991; Bigner, 1994; Forward, 1989; Maccoby and Martin1983; Wenar, 1994; Whitfield, 1987).

Permissive parents enable their children to be autonomousand to make their own decisions and regulate their own ac-tivities. These parents avoid confrontation and tend to bewarm, supportive parents. The nurturing skills of permissiveparents tend to be moderate to high, while their control oftheir children is poor (Baumrind, 1991; Reitman et al., 2002).

The authoritative style lies somewhere near the middle be-tween the authoritarian and permissive parenting styles. Par-ents who adopt this style tend to have good nurturing skillsand exercise moderate parental control to allow the child tobecome progressively more autonomous (Baumrind, 1966,1967, 1991; Reitman et al., 2002). Authoritative parents doenforce limits in various ways, such as reasoning, verbal giveand take, overt power, and positive reinforcements. The au-thoritative parenting style has been associated with positiveoutcomes in terms of the child’s psychosocial development(Steinberg et al., 1991, 1992a,b). Children of authoritativeparents display a high level of self-esteem and tend to beself-reliant, self-controlled, secure, popular, and inquisitive(Buri et al., 1988; Wenar, 1994); they also manifest fewerpsychological and behavioral problems than do youth havingauthoritarian or permissive parents (Lamborn et al., 1991).(For review of parental discipline, see Maccoby and Martin,1983).

Parenting styles and culture

Culture constitutes a strong factor in structuring parentalpractices, since it can transmit guidelines about parenting.Vygotsky (1978) and Bronfenbrenner (1979) emphasizedthe role of culture in the child’s development. For them,parenting is only one factor among many that influence thechild’s mental health and well-being; extra-familial factorssuch as school, media, society, and culture influence thechild as well. These theories lead us to rethink the effect ofparenting styles on the child, putting it in a cultural contextand assuming that the influence of parenting style may differacross cultural groups (Hill, 1995).

Generally speaking, non-western cultures tend to be moreauthoritarian and collective. In most of these cultures, indi-viduals are less autonomous than their western counterparts(in North America and Europe), possess a collective self andidentity, are more dependent and emotionally and financiallyconnected to their families, and submit to the family author-ity (Kagitcibasi, 2005; Markus and Kitayama, 1991; Triandiset al., 1988).

Indeed, studies in non-western societies indicate an as-sociation between authoritarian parenting and positive out-comes in terms of children’s psycho-social adjustment. Chao(1994) has challenged Baumrind’s typology as claims ap-plied to Chinese families. She claims that among Chinesefamilies authoritarian parenting is associated with close in-volvement with the child, devotion and willingness to makesacrifices for the child’s well being, and family-based controlthat is seen by both children and parents as supportive (Chaoand Sue, 1996). Kagitcibasi (1970, 1994, 2005), who hasstudied the Turkish and other collective cultures, also sug-gests that parental control and warmth should be looked asbeing compatible rather than competitive components. Bald-win et al. (1990) found that authoritarian parenting is asso-ciated with positive outcomes in terms of adolescents’ com-petency to cope in a high-risk environment. Steinberg et al.(1994) have found that the authoritarian parenting style is as-sociated with better adjustment and academic performanceof Asian Americans than is authoritative parenting. Rohnerand Pettengill (1985) have shown that Korean youth asso-ciated parental strictness and control with parental warmthand a low level of neglect.

Rohner (1999, 2005) believes that the perceivedacceptance-rejection of the youth is the factor that contributesto psychological maladjustment. In two recent studies con-ducted by his colleagues in Turkey (Erkman and Rohner,2006) and Jamaica (Steely and Rohner, 2006), it was foundthat parental punishment per se had little effect on youths’psychological adjustment, and the relation between parentalpunishment and a youth’s psychological adjustment is almostcompletely mediated by the youth’s perception of parentalacceptance.

Arab societies, where individuals are connected to theirfamilies (Dwairy, 2003; Dwairy et al., 2006a), tend to beauthoritarian and collective (Dwairy, 1997, 1998). Studiesamong Arabs indicate that Arab children and youth are sat-isfied with the authoritarian style (Hatab and Makki, 1978),and do not complain about the aggressive, sometimes abu-sive, behavior of teachers (Dwairy, 1998, pp. 43–61). Egyp-tian college female students favoured “absolute submission”to parents and children having the same character and moralsas their parents (Al-Khawaja, 1999). Among Saudi femalecollege students, 67.5% reported that they were physicallypunished at various stages in their life; 65.1% justified phys-ical punishment (Achoui, 2003).

Some other studies have indicated that authoritarianismis not associated with any detriment to the mental health ofArab youth (Dwairy, 2004; Dwairy and Menshar, 2006). Itseems that authoritarian socialization, when applied withinan authoritarian culture such as the Arab/Muslim, has ameaning and effect different from that known in westernsocieties. Within this culture, children consider the applica-tion of the authoritarian style of punishment as the normal

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duty of parents and teachers (Dwairy, 1997). Chinese (Chao,1994), African American (Randolph, 1995), Turkish (Kag-itcibasi, 2005), and Arab (Dwairy et al., 2006) children per-ceive authoritarian parenting as a positive parental attitudethat is associated with caring and love. Authoritarian parent-ing among these cultures is not associated with psychologi-cal disorders but rather with better social and psychologicaladjustment.

The inconsistency factor

Regional research conducted on 2893 Arab adolescentsin eight Arab societies (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt,Algeria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestinian authority, and Pales-tinians in Israel) and published in four articles in the Jour-nal of Cross-Cultural Psychology (37(3), pp. 221–273) in-dicated that authoritarian parenting is not associated withpsychological disorders, and that a pattern of inconsistentparenting is found among Arab parents. The inconsistentpattern was not measured directly, but rather was discoveredthrough a cluster analysis done on Baumrind’s parentingstyles that identified a group of parents who were incon-sistent. However, the inconsistent pattern that mixes author-itarian and permissive parenting was associated with psy-chological disorders and low connectedness between ado-lescents and their families (Dwairy et al., 2006b). Dwairyet al. (2006) explain the results based on the inconsistencyhypothesis, claiming that it is the inconsistency between au-thoritarian parenting and the liberal culture in the West, ratherthan authoritarianism in itself, that constitutes the main rea-son behind the negative impact of authoritarian parentingin the Western society. Based on this hypothesis, the con-sistency between authoritarian parenting and the authoritar-ian culture among Arabs or other collective cultures dimin-ishes the negative impact of authoritarian parenting in thesecultures.

Inconsistency in the child’s social environment is fre-quently mentioned as one of the factors that may confusethe child and damage the learning and socialization pro-cesses (Wenar, 1994). Hersov (1960) mentioned that incon-sistency between the parenting styles of the mother and thefather may increase separation anxiety and school phobia.Dadds (1995) reported an association between inconsistentparenting and conduct disorders and, according to Patter-son’s coercion model (1982), also inconsistent parenting isassociated with conduct disorders. Gregory Batson identi-fied a particular pattern of parental communication calleddouble-bind, which traps the child between two negativeinjunctions. Within this kind of communication the childfeels accused whichever way he or she chooses. Bateson(1977) claimed that this double-bind communication is be-hind the development of schizophrenia. Many times, incon-sistent parenting puts the child in such a double-bind that

the child is confused and cannot predict the negative re-action of the parents. Additional support for the inconsis-tency hypothesis came from studies that were conductedin Arabic societies that are passing through rapid culturalchanges, such as the Arab Gulf states. The societal systemin these states has transformed within two decades from theBedouin tribal system to a modern wealthy urban one. Stud-ies in these societies indicate that people who live underconditions of a double cultural standard (tribal and modern)are at high risk of psychological distress (Ghubash et al.,1992; Ghubash and Bebbington, 1994; Ibrahim and Al-Nafie,1991).

While studies on parenting have focused on authoritarian-ism, control, warmth and other parenting styles (see specialissue on parenting of the journal Cross-Cultural Research40(3), August, 2006, edited by Ronald P. Rohner), surpris-ingly, inconsistency in parenting has not yet been sufficientlystudied (Rohner, R. P., personal communication 11 May,2006), and thus there is no scale to measure inconsistency inparenting. This study’s goal was to develop a scale of incon-sistency in parenting and to study its impact on psychologicaladjustment and on adolescent-family connectedness.

One major shortcoming of the scales that measure par-enting style, such as the Buri scale, is that the items addressthe child-parent relationship in general and not the parents’reaction to a specific situation. Knowing that parenting style,similarly to other traits, can be manifested in one situationand not in another, or at one time and not at another, it wouldseem logical that authoritarian parenting, too, could be in-consistent and be manifested in one situation or at certaintimes but not at others. When a scale addresses the generalchild-parent relationship, a moderate authoritarian parentingscore could be evidence (or a cover) of an inconsistent au-thoritarianism, which is an important factor that should bemeasured. The proposed scale in this study measures au-thoritarian parenting in specific situations, in terms of thelevel of punishments implemented in conjunction with threeaspects of inconsistency: (a) Situational inconsistency (inthe parents’ reactions in different situations); (b) temporalinconsistency (in the parents’ reactions from time to time);and (c) inconsistency between the two parents. The opera-tional definition is presented in the instrument section below.

Hypotheses

This study has two objectives: (a) to develop and validatea scale that assesses authoritarian parenting and inconsis-tent parenting; and (b) to test the differences between fatherand mother and the relationship between authoritarian par-enting, inconsistent parenting, adolescent-family connected-ness, and psychological disorders. It was hypothesized thatparenting inconsistency would be associated with psycho-logical disorders among adolescents. Because the parenting

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inconsistency factor has not been directly measured and em-pirically studied before, it is premature to base more specifichypotheses on the association between this factor and theothers.

Method

Sample

The sample consisted of 72 female and 106 male 11th gradeArab students (16–17 years old) from two Arab schools inNorth Israel. Based on the demographic data they provided,72% of the fathers and 79% of the mothers had less than 12years of education. About half of the parents had achievedsome high school education. Only about 8% of the parentshad attended a college or university. About 69% of the sub-jects reported that the family economic level was within theaverage range of the Arab population. Only 9% reportedan economic level below the average and 22% above theaverage.

In addition to the demographic information, partici-pants were asked to fill out four questionnaires: Dwairy’sParental Authoritarianism and Inconsistency Scale, Multi-generational Interconnectedness Scale, The PsychologicalState Scale, and Buri’s authoritarian scale (1991). All scaleswere administered in Arabic by master’s degree students ofeducational counseling. The administration lasted for 30–45minutes during a class period. In accordance with the regu-lation of Arab schools, the consent of the school inspectorand/or the parents’ committee was obtained. Participationwas voluntary; however, there were no refusals.

Instruments

Dwairy’s parental authoritarianism and inconsistencyscale (DPAIS)

This scale was developed by the author to assess authoritar-ianism in conjunction with parental inconsistency. It com-prises two parallel parts, each addressing the father or themother’s responses. In each part, ten parent-adolescent con-flicts are addressed, such as conflicts concerning social be-havior, sibling relationship, clothing, school homework, andso on. For each conflict the adolescent is asked to ratethe parent’s (father or mother) response on a 5-point Lik-ert scale (ranging from 5 = punishing to 1 = accepting andforgiving).

For each conflict the subject is asked to rate the par-ent’s response consistency on a scale that ranges from5 = inconsistent and changing from time to time, to1 = always consistent. Here are two examples of questionsconcerning a conflict with the father.

Father’s authoritarianism item:

When I do not obey my father when he asks me for a help,his response will be:

Accepting/forgiving

punishing

1 2 3 4 5

Father’s temporal inconsistency item:

When I do not obey my father when he asks for help,usually his response is:

Alwaysconsistent

Inconsistent&changing

1 2 3 4 5

Based on the average score the Father Authoritarian Par-enting (FAP) and Mother Authoritarian Parenting (MAP) areassessed. The sum of FAP and MAP indicates the generalAuthoritarian Parenting.

Based on the average scores of the ten temporal inconsis-tencies, the Temporal Inconsistency of the father (FTI) andof the mother (MTI) were assessed. In addition, two otherinconsistencies are assessed Situational Inconsistency (SI)assesses the inconsistency in parents’ responses across theconflicts or situations. The standard deviation of the author-itarian scores of the father in the ten different situations isconsidered as the Father Situational Inconsistency (FSI) andof the mother as the Mother Situational Inconsistency (MSI).Father-Mother Inconsistency (FMI) assesses the inconsis-tencies between the two parents in the same situation and iscalculated by the average of the squared differences betweenthe rated authoritarianism of the father and the mother foreach situation.

A principal factor analysis was conducted on the 20 itemsconcerning the father’s responses (FAP and FTI) with vari-max rotation, a priori two factors solution, and a .20 loadingcriterion. The two factors explained 37.7% of the variance.All items of FAP were loaded in one factor and all FTI itemswere loaded in the second factor (Table 1). A second princi-pal factor analysis was conducted on the 20 items concerningthe mother’s responses (MAP and MTI) with varimax rota-tion, a priori two factors solution, and a .20 loading criterion.The two factors explained 45.5% of the variance. All itemsof MAP were loaded in one factor and all MTI items wereloaded in the second factor. Alpha Cronbach’s coefficientof FAP, FTI, MAP, and MTI was .72, .85, .81, and .90,respectively, indicating a good internal consistency of thescales.

In order to test the criterion validity of the authoritarianscale in DPAIS, the correlation coefficient between this scale

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Table 1 Principal component analysis of Dwairy’s parental Authoritarianism and Inconsistency Scale (DPAIS)

Father MotherFactor #1 Factor #2 Factor #1 Factor #2

When I do not take care of my school homework my parent’s∗ response will be: .54 .43My parent’s response when I do not take care of my homework is: .47 .66When I treat my siblings in a way that negates my parent opinion his/her response will be: .57 .63My parent’s response when I treat my siblings in a way that negates his/her opinion is: .60 .69When I disregard my parent’s request for help, his/her response will be: .57 .46My parent’s response when I disregard his/her request for help is: .65 .69When I behave with the opposite sex in a way that negates my parent’s opinion, his/her response

will be:.40 .58

My parent’s response when I behave with the opposite sex in a way that negates his/her opinionis:

.64 .75

When I behave in an aggressive way toward others my parent’s response will be: .59 .73My parent’s response when I behave in an aggressive way toward others is: .71 .74When I behave in a way that negates the religion and ethics my parent’s response will be: .62 .65My parent’s response when I behave in a way that negates the religion and ethics is: .75 .74When I behave in a way that negates the norms in our society, my parent’s response will be: .64 .67My parent’s response when I behave in a way that negates the norms in our society is: .75 .80When I wear clothes that my parent sees it unsuitable, his/her response will be: .48 .68My parent’s response when I wear clothes that s/he sees it unsuitable is: .71 .74When I socialized with same sex friends that my parent is not satisfied with his/her response

will be:.57 .64

When I socialized with same sex friends that my parent is not satisfied with, his/her response is: .73 .76If I chose a spouse that is rejected by my parent his/her response will be: .32 .42My parent’s response if I chose a spouse that s/he is rejecting is: .60 .64Eigenvalue 4.52 2.98 5.31 3.69

∗Parent/s here substitutes father or mother in the original questionnaire.

and the Arabic version of Buri’s authoritarian scale (1991)was calculated. The Buri’s scale was translated and validatedby Dwairy and his colleagues (Dwairy, 2004; Dwairy et al.,2006) and found reliable with an alpha Chronbach’s coeffi-cient .72. The correlation coefficient between the two scaleswas significant (r = .31, p < .000). To evaluate this correla-tion we need to remember that the items in the Buri scaleaddress the authority division between children and parentsand is not limited to a punishing style as is the DPAIS au-thoritarian scale.

Multigenerational interconnectedness scale (MIS)

This scale is intended to measure the connectedness betweenthe individual and the family. Based on the belief that thepersonal level of individuation may be inferred from thequality and degree of connectedness between self and familymembers, the MIS may reflect the subjects’ personal level ofindividuation (Lopez and Gover, 1993).

The MIS was developed by Gavazzi and Sabatelli (1987),and consists of three subscales intended to assess emotional,financial, and functional connectedness between adolescentsand their families. An identical analysis using a differentsample subsequently confirmed this three-factor solution(Gavazzi and Sabatelli, 1988). The conceptual development

and empirical use of MIS was published in 1999 (Gavazziet al., 1999). The emotional (psychological) connectednesssubscale (EMOC) consists of 15 items that address the sub-ject’s degree of emotional dependence on family membersand need for family approval (e.g., I feel upset when fam-ily members do not approve of people I am intimate with).The financial connectedness subscale (FINC) (eight items)reflects the subject’s monetary reliance on family members(e.g., family members help me pay for major life expenses),and the functional connectedness subscale (FUNC) (eightitems) refers to the sharing of daily routines with family(e.g., I help family members with everyday household dutiesand cleaning). The subjects in MIS are asked to respond on a7-point Likert scale (ranging from 7 = always to 1 = never).

The alpha coefficients of the emotional, financial, andfunctional subscales were .84, .86, and .82, respectively. Asfor the construct validity of the scale, Gavazzi and Sabatellireported that older individuals, individuals living on theirown, and subjects whose parents were divorced scored loweron the MIS. Individuals involved in an exclusive dating re-lationship reported lower connectedness in the functionalsubscale. Emotional and financial connectedness scores cor-related negatively with a measure of “psychological matu-rity,” and the emotional subscale was a significant predictorof psychosocial maturity. Males scored consistently lower

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than females. Older males or males who live apart from theirparents reported the lowest level of connectedness in MIS(Gavazzi and Sabatelli, 1987, 1988, 1990).

An Arabic version of the MIS was translated and backtranslated, and validated among 518 male and female Arabadolescents in Grades 10 and 12 in Israel (Dwairy, 2003).Principal factor analysis with a priori three-factor solutionand varimax rotation showed good convergence of the itemsinto three subscales. Cronbach coefficients alpha for theemotional, financial, and functional connectedness subscaleswere .68, .83, and .71, respectively.

For the present study, a shortened version of theArabic MIS was used, which comprises five items each foremotional, financial, and functional connectedness (total 15items). Principal factor analysis conducted on the presentsample with a priori three-factor solution and varimax rota-tion showed good convergence of the items into three sub-scales. The alpha coefficients of the emotional, financial,and functional shortened subscales were .79, .88, and .84,respectively.

The psychological state scale (PSS)

This scale was developed in Arabic by Hamuda and Imam(1996) to assess twenty-seven psychological states amongadolescents and adults in Egypt. Five items, each of whichthe subject is asked to endorse or reject (2 = always true and0 = not true), were designed to pertain to each state. Thescores of each scale are summed. A high score indicates ahigh level of psychological disorder symptoms. Factor anal-ysis and split-half reliability conducted on the scale when ap-plied to normal and clinical Arab groups in Egypt indicatedgood internal-structural validity of the scale. Comparisonbetween the two groups revealed significant differences be-

tween the normal and clinical participants in all of the abovesubscales (Hamuda and Imam, 1996). Because in our presentstudy we are interested in a scale that assesses general men-tal health rather than in making a differential diagnosis, andalso for economic reasons, we chose to use only three psy-chological states with five items each (15 items) that coverthree psychological disorders: Generalized anxiety disorder(I feel fear and anxiety without clear reason; I feel anxiouswhen I go to sleep; I wake up after a short time of sleep, andcan’t fall asleep again; I feel that my extremities are generallycold; and I feel anxious while I do things and afraid of whatwill come next), depression (I feel sad most of the time; I donot enjoy life; I prefer to be alone away from people; I feeldistressed for any reason; and I feel that I am about to cry),and conduct disorder (I do things that oppose others’ opin-ion; I like to do things that hurt others; using violence makesothers respect me; I like to do things that bother others; and Idisobey orders always). To allow a wider range of responses,subjects in the present research were asked to rate their levelof endorsement of each item on a five-point scale (rangingfrom 5 = always true to 1 = not true at all). A principalfactor analysis was conducted on the 15 items of PSS witha varimax rotation and a .20 loading criterion. Two factorswhere revealed: The first explains 28.6% of the variance andwas loaded by all the ten items of anxiety and depression. Allthe five items of conduct disorder were loaded on the secondfactor that explains 18.4% of the variance. Four items loadedin the two factors (Table 2).

The alpha Cronbach’s coefficients of PSS was calculatedamong our present sample and was .87, indicating good inter-nal consistency of the scale. The sum of all the fifteen itemsis considered as a measure of the general level of psycho-logical disorder symptoms (PS), with a low score indicatingbetter mental health.

Table 2 Principal componentanalysis of Psychological StatesScale (PSS)

Disorder Item Factor #1 Factor #2

Anxiety I feel anxious at evenings .71Depression I feel sad most of the times .74Conduct Frequently, I behave aggressively toward others .74Anxiety I suffer from insomnia (difficulty falling asleep) at night .58 .37Depression I do not feel joy in my life .54 .46Conduct Frequently, I express my rage in a way that hurt others .82Anxiety I become stressed easily .54Depression I feel tired most of the time .61 .30Conduct Frequently, they tell me that I am nervous and aggressive .67Anxiety I feel tense while I am doing a task and feel anxious from what

will come after.65

Depression I tend to loneliness away from people .54Conduct Frequently I behave carelessly against the rules and instructions .56Anxiety I feel fear and anxiety with no clear reason .68Depression Frequently, I have tendency to cry .73Conduct Usually, I behave in nervousness and without care .44 .49Eigenvalue 4.40 2.76

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Results

Father and mother authoritarian parenting and inconsistency

Independent sample t-test indicated that there are no sig-nificant differences between Father Authoritarian Parent-ing (FAP) and Mother Authoritarian Parenting (MAP),or between Father’s Situational Inconsistency (FSI) andMother’s Situational Inconsistency (MSI). The correlationcoefficient between FAP and MAP was moderate and signif-icant (r = .54, p < .000). The correlation coefficient be-tween FSI and MSI was moderate and significant (r = .53,p < .000). The temporal inconsistency of the fathers was sig-nificantly different from that of the mothers: Mother’s Tem-poral Inconsistency (MTI) (M = 2.63, SD = .95) was lowerthan Father’s Temporal Inconsistency (FTI) (M = 2.75,SD = .91) (t = 2.04 (df = 163), p < .043), indicating thatfathers tend to be less consistent from one time to another(Table 3).

Authoritarianism, psychological disorder symptoms,connectedness, and inconsistency

The Pearson’s correlation coefficients were calculated totest the relationship between authoritarianism, psycholog-ical disorder symptoms, connectedness, and inconsistency.No significant correlation coefficients were found betweenauthoritarian parenting measures (AP, FAP, and MAP) andpsychological disorder symptoms or between authoritarianparenting measures (AP, FAP, and MAP) and any measureof connectedness. In agreement with earlier results (Dwairy,2004, Dwairy et al., 2006), no significant correlation wasfound between Buri’s scale of authoritarian parenting andpsychological disorder symptoms. No significant correlationwas found between authoritarian parenting (AP, FAP, andMAP) and any measure of connectedness. In order to test therelationship between authoritarian parenting and psycholog-ical disorder symptoms among those who are very connectedand those who are less connected to their parents, the sample

Table 3 Means and standard deviations of authoritarian parentingand inconsistency in parenting

Father Mother

Authoritarianism M 3.26 3.22SD .61 .70

Temporal Inconsistency∗ M 2.76 2.63SD .91 .95

Situational Inconsistency M 1.03 1.00SD .69 .85

Father-Mother Inconsistency M 1.53SD 1.49

∗Significant at p < .043.

was divided into two groups: high- and low-level connected-ness. The relationship between measures of authoritarianismand psychological disorder symptoms was tested separatelyamong those who have a high and those who have a lowlevel of connectedness to their families. It was found that,regardless of the level of connectedness, authoritarianismmeasures continue to be unrelated to psychological disordersymptoms.

The relationship between authoritarian parenting and in-consistency in parenting was tested. It was found that bothFather Authoritarian Parenting (FAP) and Mother Author-itarian Parenting (MAP) have negative correlation coeffi-cients with Father-Mother inconsistency (FMI). Only MAPhas a negative correlation coefficient with situational incon-sistency of the father (FSI), and with temporal inconsistencyof the father (FTI) and of the mother (MSI). These resultssuggest that more authoritarian parenting is associated withmore consistency between father and mother, and that moreauthoritarian mothering is associated with more consistentresponses (Table 4).

Inconsistency, psychological disorder symptoms, andconnectedness

All measures of parental inconsistency have significant cor-relation coefficients with psychological disorder symptoms,suggesting that inconsistency is associated with psycholog-ical disorder symptoms. Because variables of inconsistencymay overlap (have shared variance), a linear stepwise re-gression was conducted, for which the entry probability ofF was 0.05 and removal probability of F was 0.10, with thepsychological disorder symptom being the dependent vari-able and measures of inconsistency (FTI, MTI, FSI, MSI,and FMI) the independent variables. The results revealedthat psychological disorder symptoms could be predictedby father-mother inconsistency (FMI) and mother tempo-ral inconsistency (MTI) with R = .397 (F(2, 168) = 13.56,p < .000). The Beta of FMI and MTI was .33, and .22, re-spectively, and all were significant with p < .02.

When the relationship between inconsistencies and psy-chological disorder symptoms among those who are veryconnected and those who are less connected to their par-ents was tested, it was found that among the very connectedadolescents almost all the measures of inconsistency are sig-nificantly correlated with psychological disorder symptoms,while among those who have low-level connectedness onlythe father-mother inconsistency showed a significant cor-relation with psychological disorder symptoms. This resultindicates that inconsistency in parenting is more dangerouswithin highly connected families.

No significant correlation coefficients were found be-tween most measures of inconsistency and measures of con-nectedness (only a minor negative correlation was found

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Table 4 Correlation coefficient between authoritarian, inconsistency, connectedness, and psychological disorder symptoms measures

Temporal Father-mother Situational PsychologicalAuthoritarianparenting

inconsistency incons inconsistency Connectedness Disordersymptoms

Father Mother Father Mother Father Mother Emotional Financial FunctionalFAP MAP FTI MTI FMI FSI MSI EMOC FINC FUNC PS

FAP .54∗∗ .07 − .10 − .21∗∗ − .13 − .15 .11 − .03 − .01 .00MAP − .16∗ − .08 − .38∗∗ − .21∗∗ − .21∗∗ .11 .04 − .06 .00FTI .74∗∗ .07 .14 .02 − .02 − .06 − .12 .18∗

MTI .01 − .01 .00 .06 − .10 − .19∗ .22∗∗

FMI .56∗∗ .36∗∗ − .07 − .13 − .08 .36∗∗

FSI .53∗∗ .00 .02 .09 .18∗

MSI − .04 − .01 − .04 .16∗

EMOC .37∗∗ .48∗∗ − .16∗

FINC .40∗∗ − .08FUNC − .29∗∗

∗Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level.∗∗Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level.

between mother temporal inconsistency (MTI) and func-tional connectedness FUNC R = − .191).

To test whether parenting inconsistency interacts withparental authoritarianism in their effect on psychologicaldisorder symptoms, a general standardized score of incon-sistency was calculated based on the sum of the standardscores of the three measures of inconsistency (temporal, sit-uational, and father-mother inconsistency), and a generallevel of authoritarianism was calculated based on the sum ofFAP and MAP. A univariate ANOVA was conducted to testthe effect of inconsistency and authoritarianism on psycho-logical disorders. No significant interaction between author-itarianism and inconsistency and no effect of authoritarian-ism on psychological disorders were found. Along with theaforementioned results, the general inconsistency score wassignificantly associated with psychological disorders [F(1,173) = 8.90, p < .003, Partial Eta2 = .058].

Connectedness and psychological disorder symptoms

Significant negative correlation coefficients were found be-tween emotional (EMOC) and functional (FUNC) con-nectedness and psychological disorder symptoms, suggest-ing that psychological health is associated with higher-level adolescent-family connectedness. The financial con-nectedness was not associated with psychological disordersymptoms.

Discussion

As a continuance of former studies (Dwairy et al., 2006),which indicated that parental inconsistency, rather than au-thoritarian parenting, is associated among collective cultures

with psychological disorder symptoms of adolescents, wedeveloped a scale that measures authoritarian parenting inconjunction with three parental inconsistencies: temporal,situational, and father-mother. The results support the incon-sistency hypothesis: Inconsistency measures were associatedwith psychological disorder symptoms, while, regardless ofthe level of connectedness in the family, none of the authori-tarian measures of DPAIS or the Buri authoritarian scale wasassociated with psychological disorders. The association be-tween inconsistency and psychological disorder symptomswas more prevalent among those adolescents who were moreconnected to their parents than among those who were lessso. This may indicate that inconsistency is a crucial issue incultures of a more collective character where people, includ-ing parents, are expected to respond consistently according tocultural norms and rules with little room being left for per-sonal choice or circumstantial consideration. Interestingly,we found no interaction between the effect of inconsistencyand authoritarian parenting, suggesting that inconsistencyhas its independent association with psychological disordersymptoms, with and without the authoritarian parenting.

Authoritarian parenting measures have negative correla-tions with inconsistency measures, suggesting that the moreauthoritarian the parents the more consistent are their re-sponses with each other (FMI) and between situations. Thelink was more salient between the authoritarianism of themother and the inconsistency measures, suggesting that themother has a stronger role in controlling consistent parenting.The link between inconsistency and psychological disordersymptoms suggests that mothers play a stronger role heretoo. Based on the stepwise regression analysis the father-mother inconsistency (FMI) and the temporal inconsistencyof the mother (MTI) were the main predictors of psycholog-ical disorders.

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This research gave empirical support to theories that as-sociate inconsistency in parenting with psychological disor-ders, such as Bateson (1977) and Patterson’s coercion model(1982). Literature on psychopathology does not put enoughemphasis on the inconsistency factor, emphasizing ratherfixation, regression, and intrapsychic conflicts (Freud, 1900,1964), splitting and lack of “good enough mother,” (Mahleret al., 1975; Winnicott, 1953), lack of unconditional positiveregard (Rogers, 1951, 1961), or perceived rejection (Rohner,1999, 2005). Within this theoretical context, the parental in-consistency factor remains at best implicit in other such over-arching concepts. The consistency factor does not contradictthese concepts, but rather gives them additional meaning: It isnot enough for the parents to avoid extra frustration or lack offrustration (Freud), to be “good enough” (Winnicott), to offerunconditional regard (Rogers), or accept the child (Rohner);they need to be consistent too. In addition, inconsistencyin parenting seems very much associated with the conceptof “splitting” between the good and the bad mother, whichmakes the integration between the two components in oneself harder, which disturbs the psychological development(Mahler et al., 1975).

It addition to the contribution of the inconsistencyhypothesis to the understanding of psychopathology, it alsohelps to explain why authoritarian parenting is associatedwith positive or normal psycho-social outcomes in author-itarian/collective cultures as had been indicated in manycross-cultural studies (Chao and Sue, 1996; Dwairy et al.,2006; Kagitcibasi, 1970, 1994, 2005; Lamborn et al., 1991;Randolph, 1995; Rohner and Pettengill, 1985), and offers analternative explanation for the association between author-itarian parenting and negative psycho-social outcomes inthe Western individualistic/liberal culture (Baumrind, 1991;Bigner, 1994; Forward, 1989; Maccoby and Martin 1983;Wenar, 1994; Whitfield, 1987). Authoritarian parenting isconsistent with collective/authoritarian cultures, so that thepsycho-social outcomes are positive and inconsistent withthe individualistic/liberal cultures so that the outcomes arenegative.

The inconsistency hypothesis has a wide range of im-plications regarding parental practices, teachers’ behavior,coordination between home and school, and implementa-tion of educational projects at schools. In all these domains,inconsistency should be controlled or avoided in order toensure positive outcomes.

Although the self-report technique has been used in manystudies of adolescent subjects, the end results reflect onlyhow the adolescents report or perceive their parents’ reac-tions and their psychological complaints. Therefore, deduc-tions drawn from the results should be treated with cautionuntil further measures and instruments of inconsistency canbe developed and validated, using other techniques, such asobservations or parents’ self-report.

This study highlights the association between inconsis-tency in parenting and psychological disorders, regardless ofthe parenting style adopted toward children and adolescents.The understanding of this association is still in its infancy,and many more studies are needed in conjunction with otherfactors such as the perceived rejection factor (Rohner, 1999,2005). It would be interesting in future studies to learn howthese two factors are associated or may interact together intheir effect on psychological adjustment. In addition, morestudies are needed on inconsistency among different clinicalgroups such as conduct disorders, depression, anxiety, andschizophrenia, among different aged individuals includingchildren, adolescents and adults, and among more collectiveand individualistic cultures.

Acknowledgments I wish to thank my assistant Insaf Khatib whoprovided valuable help in conducting this research.

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