Parenting Practice Profiling and Its Associated Factors among Secondary Vocational School Students in China

Background: Parenting styles have a tremendous influence on a child’s development and behavior. Studies on parenting styles using latent profile analysis have been increasing in recent years. However, there are few such studies conducted in China, especially concerning joint parenting styles (that simultaneously characterize maternal and paternal practices), which are held over the age group of secondary vocational school students. This study aimed to identify the profiles of parenting styles and their associated factors among the parents of secondary vocational school students in China, based on natural samples and not a predetermined model. Method: Data were drawn from a cross-sectional study conducted among 3180 students from six secondary vocational schools in Shanghai Municipality and Shaanxi Province. A total of 2392 students who have lived with their parents for most of their lifetime were included in the study. Latent profile analysis was used to identify the profiles of parenting styles of the respondent’s parents. Multinominal logistic regression models were used to examine the association between parenting style and demographic characteristics and family background and adolescent outcomes. Results: We identified five latent profiles: “free-range parenting” (27.05%), “behavioral monitoring parenting” (33.65%), “authoritative parenting” (11.75%), “psychological control parenting” (14.38%) and “tiger parenting” (13.17%). The associations between these profiles and adolescent outcomes indicated that these profiles were rational. Participants’ gender, grade, residential area, family economic level, parental marital relationship, and parental educational level were predictive factors for parenting styles. Conclusions: The parenting styles held over secondary vocational school students were somewhat different from Baumrind’s parenting style model. A considerable number of students received a parenting style that might predispose them to behavioral and mental health outcomes and merit a tailored intervention using the predictive factors of parenting styles.