Parenting Behavior and Attitudes of a Group of South African Foster Parents Caring for Adolescents Presenting with Risk Behavior

This article reports on one of the objectives of a larger study aiming at the development of an adolescent risk-behavior management program for foster parents. The objective relevant to this article entailed the exploration of parenting behaviors and attitudes of parents fostering adolescents presenting with risk behavior. The respondents were recruited from the clientele of designated welfare organizations in the North West Province of South Africa. A quantitative survey using the multi-dimensional Parental Style Dimension Questionnaire (PSDQ) was administered to a purposive sample of 150 respondents. A response rate of 64.5% was achieved, with only foster mothers participating in the study. Data analysis was done by the Statistical Consultation Services of the North-West University (Potchefstroom Campus) using IBM SPSS Statistics Version 25, Release 25.0 SPSS. In addition, T-Tests and ANOVAs were used to test the hypothesis at a 0.05 level of significance and Spearman's correlations examine correlations between sub-scale scores and biographical data. Sub-scales of the PSDQ were tested for internal consistency reliability and reasonable coefficients were rendered, except for the permissive parenting style scale that was excluded from analysis. The results showed a significant, positive correlation between authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles amongst the respondents. Parental attitudes and responses to risk behavior significantly affected their actual behavior towards fostered adolescents presenting with risk behavior. The researchers concluded that consideration of parenting styles in the foster care relationship context will greatly determine the nature of further interventions.