Psycho-Social Well-being in Female Students: the Role of Perceived Parental Autonomy Support and Warmth

Abstract

Purpose: According to self-determination theory well-being of individuals rests upon meeting the psychological need to autonomy, competence, and relatedness and the environment which provides the ground to meet these needs can facilitate psychological well-being of people. The goal of present research is to investigate the role of paternal and maternal autonomy support and warmth in psychological and social well-being of female students. Methodology: The design was correlational studies; 182 female freshmen students of Mashhad Payam-Noor University were selected using multistage random sampling and completed Perceptions of Parents Styles (POPS; Robbins, 1994), psychological well-being (Ryff, 1989) and social well-being (Keyes, 1998) questionnaires. Data analysis was done using correlation coefficients and stepwise regression in SPSS software. Findings: The findings showed that there was significant and positive relationship between paternal autonomy and social integration. Maternal warmth has positive relationships with self-acceptance, personal growth, social integration and social well-being. Paternal warmth has a positive significant relationship with self-acceptance, personal growth, psychological well-being, social integration, social contribution and social well-being. There was no significant relationship among maternal autonomy support with none of the research variables. Conclusion: It seems that warm and friendly behavior along with parents' affection toward children can have sustainable impacts on children's well-being.