Parental practices: a comparative study of Portuguese and Spanish adolescents

The aim of the present work is to study differences in the adolescents' perception their affection and criticism shown by their parents and the way their parents establish and enforce rules, according to nationality (Portuguese and Spanish), adolescents' gender, and the interaction of the adolescents' nationality/gender. A total of 1260 adolescents (674 Portuguese and 531 Spanish) between 12 and 16 years old (M = 13.98, SD = 1.3) participated. The data were obtained through self-reports that evaluate the perception of Affect-Communication and Criticism-Rejection (EA-H) and the forms (inductive, rigid and indulgent) that parents have to establish and demand compliance with the norms (ENE-H). Using a cross-sectional design, and through multivariate analysis of repeated and regression measures, we confirm: the existence of intercultural and intracultural differences in the perception of affection-communication, criticism-rejection, and parental style. That the inductive form is a strong predictor of the affection of the Spanish and Portuguese parents.