SHIELDING THE YOUTH: EXPLORING THE MEDIATING ROLE OF SELF ESTEEM AND LIFE SATISFACTION ON THE RELATIONSHIP OF PARENTING STYLE AND ADOLESCENT’S DEVIANT BEHAVIOR

The investigation by this study focuses on Baumrind's (1991) parenting style typology authoritative, authoritarian and permissive to analyze their effects on adolescent deviant actions while studying how self-esteem acts as a possible connection between these factors and how gender influences behavioral outcomes in Pakistan's cultural framework. Parenting styles impact adolescent deviant behavior according to the formulated hypotheses which state that self-esteem and life satisfaction operates as a mediating factor while authoritative parenting produces higher self-esteem and better behavior than authoritarian or permissive styles and permits lower self-esteem than authoritative parenting and male adolescents from authoritarian families display greater deviant actions than female adolescents. A cross-sectional research design with two phases was implemented through Phase I which included 20 participants for instrument reliability testing and Phase II featuring 200 adolescents (100 males and 100 females within the 12–18 age group) located in Islamabad, Pakistan who were conveniently sampled. Informed consent and confidentiality as ethical standards were followed. Research data confirm the existence of mediation through life satisfaction as a link between parenting approaches and adolescent deviance (B = -0.125, p = .001). The findings validated that authoritative parenting resulted in higher self-esteem by 4.07 points (p < .001), with lower deviant behavior (-1.11 points, p = .01) than authoritarian and permissive parenting patterns and permissive parenting produced lower self-esteem than authoritative parenting at p < .001. The research demonstrates that authoritative parenting methods deliver effective results and recommends culture-specific programs to boost positive adolescent developments in Pakistan.