PARENTAL CONTROL AND PERCEIVED PARENTAL SUPPORT IN YOUNG VIETNAMESE LIVING IN MONTREAL
Baumrind (1966) has evidenced three types of parental control: permissive, authoritarian and authoritative. Permissivity does not lead to self-determination, while authoritarian control results in dysfunctional behaviors. Authoritativeness, on the contrary, seems to engender better results. This study deals with the psychological adaptation of second generation immigrants in Quebec, of Vietnamese origin, and its links with the three parenting control styles. Participants were young Vietnamese, age 18 to 25, almost all Quebec born. In contradiction to previous studies, the father is not anymore the foremost authority in the Vietnamese family: the young adult attributes parental authority to the mother as much as to the father. The Quebec egalitarian sex role is a cultural model that seems to have permeated the Montreal Vietnamese family. The more the mother's or the father's parental authority is perceived as authoritative, the more the young feels parental support is high. The more the young adult perceives receiving support from the father, the less he/she will experience distress symptoms. Self-esteem also depends on the support received from the mother but also from the father, as well as from perceiving the father's parenting authority as permissive. Being aware that both parents offer support and that the father is permissive (or even authoritative) rather than authoritarian, will contribute to a higher level of self-esteem in the young Vietnamese of Montreal.