Early Family Experiences, Drug Use, and Psychosocial Adjustment across the Life Span: Is Parental Strictness Always a Protective Factor?

Objective: This study analyzes whether parental strictness, which is shared by authoritative parenting (strictness and warmth) and authoritarian parenting (strictness without warmth) styles, always acts as a main protective factor against drug use and psychosocial maladjustment in children. This conclusion has already been stated in numerous classic studies, though emergent research suggests that there are benefits to parental warmth regardless of whether strictness is present or not. Method: Sample were 2,095 Spanish participants (1,227 females, 58.6%), 581 adolescent children (aged 12-18 years, 27.7%) and 1,514 adult children (72.3%). The measures were the main parenting style dimensions (warmth and strictness), drug use, and a set of indicators of psychosocial adjustment. A 4 × 2 × 4 MANOVA was applied for all outcomes with parenting style, sex, and age as independent variables. Results: Indulgent parenting (warmth without strictness) was related to less drug use than parenting without warmth (authoritarian and neglectful). Additionally, indulgent and authoritative parenting styles were related to better scores on psychosocial adjustment than authoritarian and neglectful styles, although the indulgent parenting was the only style related to the optimal scores being equal or even more effective than the authoritative style. Conclusion: Contrary to classical studies, present findings suggest that it is the parental warmth instead of the parental strictness that seems to be effective in protecting against drug use and psychosocial maladjustment.

Objetivo: En este estudio se analiza si, como asumen numerosos estudios clásicos, el componente de severidad que comparte el estilo parental autorizativo (severidad y afecto) con el estilo autoritario (severidad sin afecto) actúan siempre como el principal factor protector del consumo de drogas y el desajuste psicosocial de los hijos. Sin embargo, la investigación emergente sugiere los beneficios del afecto parental independientemente de la severidad. Método: Los participantes fueron 2,095 hijos españoles (1,227 mujeres, 58.6%), 581 adolescentes (de 12 a 18 años, 27.7%) y 1,514 adultos (72.3%). Las medidas fueron de las principales dimensiones del estilo parental (afecto y severidad), del consumo de drogas y un conjunto de indicadores del ajuste psicosocial. Se aplicó un MANOVA 4 × 2 × 4 con todos los criterios evaluados analizando el estilo parental, el sexo y la edad como variables independientes. Resultados: El estilo indulgente (afecto sin severidad) se relacionó con un menor consumo de drogas que los estilos sin afecto (autoritario y negligente). Además, los estilos indulgente y autorizativo se relacionaron con mejores puntuaciones en ajuste psicosocial, aunque el indulgente fue el único estilo relacionado con las puntuaciones óptimas siendo igual o incluso más eficaz que el estilo autorizativo. Conclusión: A diferencia de los estudios clásicos, los presentes resultados sugieren que el afecto parental, en vez de la severidad, parece ser eficaz como protección frente al consumo de drogas y el desajuste psicosocial.

Parental Socialization and Adjustment Components in Adolescents and Middle-Aged Adults: How are They Related?

Purpose: Classic studies mainly of European-American families broadly identify the benefits of parental strictness combined with parental warmth. However, current research tends to identify parental warmth as positive for adjustment, even without parental strictness. In addition, less is known about the relationship between parenting and adjustment beyond adolescence. The present study examined warmth and strictness and its relationship with self, sexism, and stimulation values. Self-esteem, academic-professional self-concept, benevolent sexism, and stimulation values were used to capture adjustment. Patients and Methods: Participants (n = 1125) were adolescents and adult children of middle-age from Spain. The statistical analyses used were correlation analysis and multiple linear regression. Results: In general, the relationship between parenting and adjustment was found to have a similar pattern for adolescent and middle-aged adult children, although more marked in adolescents. Parental warmth and strictness were predictors of adjustment, but in a different direction. Specifically, parental warmth positively predicted academic-professional self-concept and self-esteem, whereas parental strictness was detrimental as a predictor of higher benevolent sexism. Conclusion: Overall, the present findings suggest that an effective socialization during the socialization years and even beyond can be positively predicted by parental warmth, whereas parental strictness might be unnecessary or even detrimental.

Adjustment and maladjustment to later life: Evidence about early experiences in the family.

Introduction: Previous parenting studies with European-American families have identified optimal parenting as being based on warmth combined with strictness (i.e., authoritative parenting). The present study analyzes, in adolescents and adults, their adjustment and maladjustment related to age and their early experiences in the family. Methods: The sample consisted of 2,158 Spanish people (58.29% women): 624 adolescents, 630 young adults, 504 middle-aged adults, and 400 older adults. The families were classified into one of the four parental typologies (authoritative, indulgent, authoritarian, and neglectful) based on their scores in the two main dimensions (warmth and strictness). Child functioning was measured as components of adjustment (self-esteem, emotional self-concept, and empathy) and maladjustment (aggression and hostile sexism). Results: Overall, only adolescents and adult children raised in indulgent families reported the highest self-esteem, emotional self-concept, and empathy, and the lowest aggression and hostile sexism. Authoritative parenting (warmth with strictness) was related to a lower emotional self-concept and greater aggression and hostile sexism than indulgent parenting (warmth without strictness). The worst scores corresponded to authoritarian and neglectful parenting. Discussion: The present findings provide new evidence about early experiences in the family, even after parental socialization has ended. Interestingly, contrary to the main findings from classic studies with European-American families, only high parental warmth combined with low parental strictness (i.e., indulgent parenting) is always positive for greater adjustment and less maladjustment in all age groups.

Analyzing when parental warmth but without parental strictness leads to more adolescent empathy and self-concept: Evidence from Spanish homes.

Introduction: Classical research mainly conducted with European-American families has identified the combination of warmth and strictness (authoritative style) as the parenting always associated with the highest scores on developmental outcomes. Additionally, despite the benefits of empathy for prosocial behaviors and protection against antisocial behaviors, most research has considered the contribution of specific practices (e.g., reasoning or power assertion), but not so much the parenting styles. Similarly, family studies tend to study the relationship between parenting and global self-perceptions (self-esteem), but not so much those of each dimension (self-concept). Methods: In the present study, 600 Spanish adolescents from 12 to 17 years old (M = 15.25, SD = 2.01) were classified within one of the four household typologies (i.e., authoritative, indulgent, authoritarian, or neglectful). Adolescent developmental outcomes were cognitive empathy (adopting perspectives and emotional understanding), emotional empathy (empathic stress and empathic happiness), and self-concept (academic, social, emotional, family and physical). Results: The results showed that the indulgent parenting (warmth but not strictness) was related to equal or even better empathy and self-concept than the authoritative style (warmth and strictness), whereas non-warm parenting (authoritarian and neglectful) was consistently associated with poor results. Discussion: Overall, the present findings seriously question that parental strictness combined with parental warmth (authoritative style) is always the parenting style related to the greatest outcomes. By contrast, it seems that reasoning, warmth and involvement, without strictness (indulgent parenting) help adolescents to achieve a good orientation toward others in terms of cognitive and affective empathy and a good self-evaluation in terms of self-concept.

Parental Socialization, Delinquency during Adolescence and Adjustment in Adolescents and Adult Children.

Although parental socialization has an influence on child development, current research is questioning which combination of parental strictness and warmth acts as protective or risk factors, especially during adolescence when the child is more vulnerable. The sample was 2125 participants, 58.7% female, divided into four age groups: adolescents (28.57%), young adults (28.38%), middle-aged adults (23.95%), and older adults (19.11%). The families were classified into four parenting styles: neglectful, indulgent, authoritative, and authoritarian according to their warmth and strictness scores. The psychosocial adjustment was measured by children's scores on academic/professional self-concept, self-esteem, delinquency during adolescence, and benevolence values. A MANOVA 4 × 2 × 4 was applied with parenting styles, sex, and age group as independent variables. The results showed that, for adolescents and adult children, only parenting styles characterized by warmth (i.e., indulgent, and authoritative) were found to factor against delinquency during adolescence and benefit greater academic/professional self-concept, self-esteem, and benevolence values, while parenting without warmth (i.e., authoritarian, and neglectful) were identified as risk factors. Contrary to classical research, the present findings seriously question the universal benefits of strict parenting as the only optimal strategy to protect not only against delinquency, but also to foster an adequate self and the internalization of social values.

Positive parenting style and positive health beyond the authoritative: Self, universalism values, and protection against emotional vulnerability from Spanish adolescents and adult children.

Introduction: Recent research is fully questioning whether the combination of parenting warmth and strictness (the authoritative style) is always identified as positive parenting across the globe. This study analyzes parenting styles and the positive health of adolescents and adult children. Methods: The sample was 2,090 Spanish children (59.9% women), from four age groups: 600 adolescents, 591 young adults, 507 middle-aged adults, and 392 older adults. Parenting styles (indulgent, authoritative, authoritarian, and neglectful) were obtained by warmth and strictness measures. Children's positive health was measured by self (family self-concept, self-esteem, and negative self-efficacy), universalism values, and emotional vulnerability. Results: The main results showed that the indulgent parenting style was associated with equal and even better scores than the authoritative style, whereas the authoritarian and neglectful styles were consistently associated with low scores in positive health indicators for all age groups. However, two triple interactions of sex by age group by parenting style showed that women children from neglectful families reported the lowest family self-concept in old age and the highest emotional vulnerability in middle age. Discussion: The study findings question the universal benefits of the so-called positive parenting (the authoritative style) for positive health.

The Prospera conditional cash transfer program and its impact on education, labor, and migration in an indigenous Mayan community in Chiapas, Mexico.

Prospera, a Conditional Cash Transfer (CCTs) program in Mexico, provides recipients with cash contingent on three nodes of civic engagement: health, nutrition and education. This article examines the educational component of Prospera in La Gloria, in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. I utilize gender and culture of migration theories to explore the role gender plays in the educational, employment and migration outcomes of 31 high school students, and a smaller sample that pursued post-secondary education, six years after participating in the Prospera program. My findings raise questions about the ability of Prospera to ameliorate social inequalities, foster gender equity, and economic mobility among indigenous recipient households.

Raising Spanish Children With an Antisocial Tendency: Do We Know What the Optimal Parenting Style Is?

Families can play an essential role in preventing violent and antisocial behaviors, which are considered a significant public health issue. However, some studies argue that most children are antisocial only during adolescence, and even teenagers can mimic antisocial behavior in ways that are normative and well-adjusted. This study analyzed patterns of competence and adjustment in young adults with and without an antisocial tendency during adolescence from authoritative (characterized by warmth and strictness), authoritarian (strictness but not warmth), indulgent (warmth but not strictness), and neglectful (neither warmth nor strictness) families. Emergent research has indicated that in a European context, the indulgent parenting style is optimal. Offspring's competence and adjustment were captured through self-esteem (academic and family), psychosocial development (self-competence and empathy), and low emotional maladjustment (nervousness and hostility). Participants consisted of a community sample of 489 Spanish young adults, 191 men (39.1%) and 298 women (60.9%), aged 18 to 34 years old. The design was a 4 × 2 × 2 × 2 MANOVA (parenting style × antisocial tendency × sex × age). Analysis of main effects showed that youths with an antisocial tendency have less self-esteem and psychosocial development, but more emotional maladjustment. Regardless of the parenting style, an antisocial tendency during adolescence is consistently associated with worse adjustment in young adults. Both the authoritative and indulgent parenting styles are consistently associated with better outcomes (higher self-esteem and psychosocial development, and lower emotional maladjustment) than the authoritarian and neglectful parenting styles. However, there are interactions between the parenting style and the antisocial tendency. For young adults without an antisocial tendency, only indulgent parenting is associated with less emotional maladjustment. These results support the idea that in Europe the indulgent parenting style performs better than the authoritative style, but only when raising adolescents without an antisocial tendency. For young adults with an antisocial tendency, indulgent and authoritative parenting are equally optimal for all the studied outcomes.

Parenting Warmth and Strictness across Three Generations: Parenting Styles and Psychosocial Adjustment.

Recent emergent research is seriously questioning whether parental strictness contributes to children's psychosocial adjustment in all cultural contexts. We examined cross-generational differences in parental practices characterized by warmth and practices characterized by strictness, as well as the relationship between parenting styles (authoritative, indulgent, authoritarian, and neglectful) and psychosocial adjustment in adulthood. Parenting practices characterized by warmth (affection, reasoning, indifference, and detachment) and strictness (revoking privileges, verbal scolding, and physical punishment) were examined. Psychosocial adjustment was captured with multidimensional self-concept and well-being (life satisfaction and happiness). Participants were 871 individuals who were members of three generations of Spanish families: College students (G3), their parents (G2), and their grandparents (G1). Results showed two different cross-generational patterns in parenting practices, with an increased tendency toward parental warmth (parents use more affection and reasoning but less indifference across generations) and a decreased tendency toward parental strictness (parents use revoking privileges, verbal scolding, and physical punishment less across generations). Interestingly, despite cross-generational differences in parenting practices, a common pattern between parenting styles and psychosocial adjustment was found: indulgent parenting was related to equal or even better self-concept and well-being than authoritative parenting, whereas parenting characterized by non-warmth (authoritarian and neglectful) was related to poor scores.

Parental Socialization and Its Impact across the Lifespan.

Classical studies have found that parental warmth combined with parental strictness is the best parental strategy to promote children's psychosocial development. Nevertheless, a growing set of emergent studies has questioned the benefits of parental strictness. The present study examined parental socialization and its short- and long-term impact on the psychosocial development of adolescents and adult children. The sample consisted of 2150 Spanish participants, 623 adolescents (12-18 years), 619 young adults (19-35 years), 502 middle-aged adults (35-59 years), and 406 older adults (60 years or older). Families were classified into one of four typologies (indulgent, authoritative, authoritarian, and neglectful). Psychosocial development was examined with five indicators (physical and family self-concept, nervousness, empathy, and internalization of social values of benevolence). The results show a common short- and long-term pattern between parenting styles and psychosocial development: the indulgent style equaled or even surpassed the authoritative style, whereas the neglectful and authoritarian styles were associated with low scores. The present findings were discussed by considering the importance of the cultural context in family socialization. Additionally, the long-term impact of parental socialization seems to be crucial, even in adulthood.

Self and Nature: Parental Socialization, Self-Esteem, and Environmental Values in Spanish Adolescents.

Emergent research seriously questions the use of parental strictness as the best parenting strategy in all cultural contexts. Moreover, previous research on environmental socialization offers inconsistent findings about which specific parenting practices would be the most appropriate for environmental socialization. The present paper aims to examine parents' contribution (i.e., authoritative, indulgent, authoritarian, and neglectful) to adolescents' self-esteem and internalization of environmental values. Participants were 308 Spanish adolescents with 171 females (55.5%), between 12 and 17 years old. The four parenting styles were defined using measures of parental warmth and strictness. Self-esteem was captured with global and multidimensional measures. Internalization of environmental values was evaluated by measuring the priority given to biospheric values. Results revealed a consistent pattern between parenting styles and adolescent self-esteem and internalization of environmental values. Overall, adolescents from homes characterized by parental warmth (i.e., indulgent and authoritative) have higher self-esteem and greater internalization of environmental values than their counterparts. These findings clearly contrast with those obtained in other cultural contexts where parental strictness is essential in achieving well-adjusted children with optimal psychosocial development.

Parenting Styles, Internalization of Values and Self-Esteem: A Cross-Cultural Study in Spain, Portugal and Brazil.

The present study analyzes the impact of parenting styles on adolescents' self-esteem and internalization of social values in three countries, Spain, Portugal and Brazil. The sample of the study was comprised of 2091 adolescents from Spain (n = 793), Portugal (n = 675), and Brazil (n = 623) from 12-18 years old (52.1% females). The four types of parenting styles, authoritative, indulgent, authoritarian and neglectful, were measured through the warmth and strictness dimensions of the Scale of Parental Socialization ESPA29. The two criteria variables were captured with the five dimensions of the AF5, Five-Factor Self-Concept Questionnaire, and with self-transcendence and conservation Schwartz values. Results confirm emergent research in parenting socialization: the use of parental warmth is evidenced as key for adolescent self-esteem and internalization of social values in the three countries analyzed. Indulgent and authoritative parenting (both characterized by parental warmth) are associated with the highest value internalization in the three countries. Furthermore, indulgent parenting (use of warmth) is associated with the highest adolescent self-esteem, overcoming authoritative parenting (use of warmth and strictness). The influence of parenting over adolescent self-esteem and values internalization is maintained independent of the differences in self-esteem and value priorities observed in the cultural context, the sex and age of the participants.

Alcohol use and abuse and motivations for drinking and non-drinking among Spanish adolescents: do we know enough when we know parenting style?

Objective: We examine parenting styles (characterized by warmth and strictness, i.e., neglectful, indulgent, authoritarian and authoritative) as either a protective or risk factor for adolescence drinking.Design: Two 4 × 2 × 3 multi-factorial MANOVAs. Sample consisted of 996 underage Spanish adolescents, 532 males (53.4%), ranging from 15 to 17 years old.Main outcome measures: Alcohol use (wine, beer, mixed drinks and liquors) and abuse and motivations for drinking (social acceptance and self-enhancement) and non-drinking (harsh preventive rules and awareness of alcohol's harmful effects).Results: Lower risk of alcohol use and abuse was found in adolescents with indulgent parenting, and higher risk for adolescents with authoritarian parenting. Adolescents from indulgent parenting style homes had equal adjustment (lower self-enhancement and higher harsh preventive rules and awareness of alcohol's harmful effects) or even better (lower social acceptance) than those from authoritative parenting style homes. Consistently, the highest risk parenting styles identified were the authoritarian and neglectful styles (α=.05).Conclusion: At least in some cultures, warmth and reasoning, shared by authoritative and indulgent parenting styles, seem the recommended way to protect offspring from drinking. Effective alcohol prevention and intervention programs should include strategies tailored specifically to this new cultural context where parenting takes place.

A Third Emerging Stage for the Current Digital Society? Optimal Parenting Styles in Spain, the United States, Germany, and Brazil.

We propose a new paradigm with three historical stages for an optimal parenting style (i.e., indulgent parenting style), which extends the traditional paradigm of only two stages (i.e., authoritarian and authoritative parenting styles). The three stages concur, at the same time, in different environments, context, and cultures. We studied the third stage for optimal parent-child relationships through the offspring's personal and social well-being, with four adolescent samples from 11 to 19 years old (52.2% girls) from Spain (n = 689), the United States (n = 488), Germany (n = 606), and Brazil (n = 672). The offspring's personal well-being was measured through self-esteem (academic, social, emotional, family, and physical), while social well-being was measured with the internalization of self-transcendence (universalism and benevolence) and conservation values (security, conformity, and tradition). The parent-child parenting style was measured through parental warmth and strictness, and the adolescents' parents were classified into one of four groups (indulgent, authoritarian, authoritative, and neglectful). Remarkably, the greatest personal well-being was found for adolescents raised with higher parental warmth and lower parental strictness (i.e., indulgent), and the greatest social well-being was found for adolescents raised with higher parental warmth (i.e., indulgent and authoritative; p < 0.05 for all countries). Consistently, poorer personal well-being and social well-being were associated with less parental warmth (i.e., authoritarian and neglectful). Findings suggest that the parent-child relationships analyzed have a common pattern associated with personal and social well-being that coincide with a proposed third stage.

Raising Children with Poor School Performance: Parenting Styles and Short- and Long-Term Consequences for Adolescent and Adult Development.

This study examines the correlates of authoritative (warmth and strictness), indulgent (warmth but not strictness), authoritarian (strictness but not warmth), and neglectful (neither warmth nor strictness) parenting with short- and long-term socialization outcomes in adolescents and adults, with and without poor school performance during adolescence. Short- and long-term socialization outcomes were captured by multidimensional self-esteem (academic/professional, emotional, and family), psychological maturity (self-competence, social competence, and empathy), and emotional maladjustment (nervousness, emotional instability, and hostility). Participants (1195 female and 874 male) consisted of a community sample of adolescents (n = 602), young adults (n = 610), middle-aged adults (n = 469) and older adults (n = 388). Design was a 4 × 3 × 2 × 4 MANOVA (parenting style × school performance × sex × age). Results indicated that the relationship between parenting styles and children's socialization outcomes does not vary as a function of school performance. The link between parenting styles and socialization outcomes shares a common short- and long- term pattern in adolescents and adults: Indulgent parenting was related to equal or even better socialization outcomes than authoritative parenting, whereas authoritarian and neglectful styles were associated with the worst socialization outcomes.

Integration of Unaccompanied Migrant Youth in the United States: A Call for Research.

Between October 2013 and July 2016, over 156,000 children traveling without their guardians were apprehended at the US-Mexico border and transferred to the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). During that same period, ORR placed over 123,000 unaccompanied migrant youth-predominantly from Central America-with a parent or other adult sponsor residing in the US. Following placement, local communities are tasked with integrating migrant youth, many of whom experience pre- and in-transit migration traumas, family separation, limited/interrupted schooling, and unauthorised legal status, placing them at heightened risk for psychological distress, academic disengagement, maltreatment, and human trafficking. Nonetheless, fewer than 10% of young people receive formal post-release services. This paper addresses the paucity of research on the experiences of the 90% of children and youth without access to post-release services. To bridge this gap, this article: (a) describes the post-release experiences of unaccompanied youth, focusing on legal, family, health, and educational contexts; (b) identifies methodological and ethical challenges and solutions in conducting research with this population of young people and their families; and (c) proposes research to identify structural challenges to the provision of services and to inform best practices in support of unaccompanied youth.

Researching Parental Socialization Styles across Three Cultural Contexts: Scale ESPA29 Bi-Dimensional Validity in Spain, Portugal, and Brazil.

Recent research that relates parenting with adolescent adjustment has shown the importance of considering the cultural context of the relationship. New results are emerging when considering the classical four-typologies model of parental socialization in some European and South-American countries. Among the instruments used in this emergent research is the Parental Socialization Scale ESPA29. This scale is a bi-dimensional parenting instrument that was specifically developed to measure the four parenting typologies, through the dimensions of acceptance/involvement and strictness/imposition. This study examines the good fit of the orthogonal bi-factor model based on the ESPA29 versus one-dimensional and bi-dimensional oblique alternative models, with three adolescent samples from 12 to 17 years old (53.4% girls), from Spain (N = 826), Portugal (N = 752), and Brazil (N = 628). We applied structural equation models (SEMs) to analyze the fit of the models to the data. The results confirm a better fit to the data for the orthogonal bi-factor model versus one-dimensional and bi-dimensional oblique alternative models across country, adolescent sex, and the three age groups. Additionally, the convergent validity of the scale was proved by showing the relation of the two parenting dimensions with self-concept. The results guarantee the adequacy of the ESPA29 to measure parenting styles.

Validation of the Five-Factor Self-Concept Questionnaire AF5 in Brazil: Testing Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance Across Language (Brazilian and Spanish), Gender, and Age.

Self-concept is widely conceptualized as multidimensional (Shavelson et al., 1976). The Five-Factor Self-Concept Questionnaire (AF5, García and Musitu, 2009) assesses five specific dimensions (i.e., academic, social, emotional, family, and physical). It is a psychometrically sound questionnaire, developed, and normed in Spain, which is widely used with Spanish-speaking samples. The validation of the AF5 in Brazil would expand its potential, and would facilitate cross-cultural research. To validate the Brazilian version of the AF5, the present study apply confirmatory factor analysis and multi-sample invariance analysis across sex (women vs. men), age (11-18 years old), and language (Brazilian [Portuguese] vs. Spanish). The sample consisted of 4,534 students (54.6%, women, 53.7%, Spanish) ranging in age from 11 to 18 years old (M = 14.61, SD = 2.09). The findings of the present study confirmed that the five-dimensional AF5 factorial structure provided the better fit to the data compared to alternative one-dimensional and orthogonal five-dimensional structures. The 30 items loaded appropriately on the five dimensions. Multi-group analysis for invariance between sex, age, and language groups showed equal loading in the five factors, equal covariation between the five dimensions, and equal error variances of items. Additionally, in order to obtain an external validity index, the five AF5 factors were related to both acceptance/involvement and strictness/imposition parenting dimensions. These results provide an adequate basis for meaningful comparative studies on a highly relevant construct, multidimensional self-concept, between male and female adolescents of different ages, and Brazilian (Portuguese) and Spanish-speaking samples. These results validate the instrument and confirm its suitability in cross-cultural research.

English Validation of the Parental Socialization Scale-ESPA29.

Parenting styles have traditionally been studied following the classical two-dimensional orthogonal model of parental socialization. The Parental Socialization Scale ESPA29 is used to measure the four styles of parental socialization through the acceptance/involvement and strictness/imposition dimensions. The ESPA29 scale is a developmentally appropriate measure of parenting styles, which has been validated in several languages including Spanish, Italian, and Brazilian Portuguese. In this study, the English translation of the ESPA29 was evaluated. The objective of the work is to test the ESPA29's structure of parenting practices with a United States sample measuring parenting practices using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The scores of fathers' and mothers' behavioral practices toward their children were obtained for a sample of 911 United States adolescents between 14 and 18 years of age. First, the total sample was split and a principal components analysis with varimax rotation was carried out with one of the two halves. EFA showed a two-factor structure fully congruent with the theoretical model for mothers' and fathers' scores. Next, a CFA was calculated on the second half by using the factor structure obtained in the previous EFA. The CFA replicated the two-factor structure with appropriate fit index. The seven parenting practices that were measured loaded appropriately on the acceptance/involvement and strictness/imposition dimensions. Then, the multigroup analysis between girls and boys showed equal loading in the factors and equal covariation between the acceptance/involvement and the strictness/imposition dimensions. Additionally, the two dimensions of the ESPA29 scale were related to self-esteem in order to obtain an external validity index. The findings confirm the invariant structure of the ESPA29 was in the United States and their equivalence in both fathers' and mothers' scores. These findings validate the instrument and confirm its applicability in cross-cultural research on parenting practices and child adjustment.