Translating Parenting Into Affiliative Reward in Early Adolescence: Sex Differences

Early adolescents internalize perceptions of parenting practices to derive affiliative rewards. However, gendered socialization may alter both exposure to different parenting practices and the internalization process itself, leading to differences in experienced affiliative reward. To test this hypothesis, we collected self-reported data from 1132 early adolescents, who completed the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire and the Network of Relationships Inventory. Relative to girls, boys reported: (1) similar levels of positive parenting and involvement, (2) higher levels of poor monitoring, inconsistent discipline and corporal punishment, and (3) lower levels of affiliative reward derived from relationships with mothers, fathers and best friends. The pathways from parenting practices to affiliative reward were similarly strong across groups, except for corporal punishment, which impacted boys more strongly. The findings suggest that the internalization process is similar for boys and girls, but boys’ exposure to more negative parenting impacts their bonds by altering the inputs of this process.