Introduction

Parents have a huge and meaningful impact on children and adolescent's lives. The number of studies in the area of parenting matches the importance of choosing the right parenting style to raise and educate their children and adolescents in the appropriate forms. Parenting, in general, is a profession that finds itself, often without any formal education or training. Therefore, most people turn to past personal experiences, which can be negative or positive. Parenting prepares children for responsible living and survival in society (^{Wahler & Cerezo, 2005}). Psychologist ^{Baumrind (1991}) has identified four parenting styles based on two aspects of parental behavior: control and warmth. Parental control refers to how their parents manage their children's behavior, from being too controlling to set specific rules and requirements. The parents’ warmth refers to how the parents accept and respond to their children's behavior instead of their disrespect and opposition. When both aspects of parenting behavior are combined in different ways, four main parenting styles emerge: Authoritative parents - are warm and determined. They encourage their adolescent to be independent by keeping boundaries and control over their actions. Authoritarian parents - show little warmth and are very controlling. They are strict and disciplined, use a restrictive, punitive style, and insist that their adolescent follow his/her parents' instructions. Permissive - tolerant parents - are very warm but incongruous. They are passive in their parenting and believe that the way to demonstrate their love is to submit to their adolescent's wishes. Negligent (uninvolved) Parents - are not warm and do not meet the requirements of their adolescent. They minimize the time of their interaction with children and are not involved at all in some cases. The parenting styles described by ^{Baumrind (1991}) can be seen as changes in parents 'informative assumptions about effective child-rearing strategies and child development competencies, which in turn influence parents' evaluative judgments about the withdraw adolescent behavior and the behaviors that guide those beliefs. The questions asked in this study are: a) Which parenting style is more prevalent in Kosova? b) Are mothers more authoritative or tolerant than fathers? c) Are fathers more authoritative or tolerant than mothers? While the main objectives of this study were: to determine the most common parenting styles, to investigate adolescent's perceptions of their mother's and father's parenting styles, and to determine adolescent's gender comparisons about parenting style for their mothers and fathers.

Literature review

Parents work together to take care of and discipline their children so that no parent is excluded from the relationship. Developing a stable and coherent identity is considered a central developmental task during adolescence (^{Erikson, 1968}). Although examining specific parenting behaviors allows researchers to move away from global constructs, parental influences on adolescent behavior are multifaceted and may not be fully understood when isolating and focusing on a single dimension (^{Hoskins, 2014}). Parental school involvement during adolescence is warranted; authoritative parenting styles are associated with higher adolescent school achievement (^{Spera, 2005}). There are several practical factors in students' educational attainment, including; motivational variables, teaching practices, and classroom construction. Parental influence plays a vital role in students' academic performance (^{Rahimpour, Direkvand-Moghadam, Direkvand-Moghadam, & Hashemian, 2015}). Mother-child relational qualities (children's satisfaction with parental control, parent's trust of the child, child's belief of the parent, child's readiness to communicate with the parent, and responsiveness) were more positive than father-child relational qualities (^{Shek, 2005}). Mothers are generally perceived as overprotective, whereas fathers are mainly perceived as rejecting their children's subjective perception of their parents (^{Anlı & Karslı, 2010}).

Parenting style is an essential psychological construct, representing the strategies of parents used in their child. As adolescence is a unique human period, adolescent development is influenced by their parents, society, and teachers (^{Spera, 2005}; ^{Rahimpour, Direkvand-Moghadam, Direkvand-Moghadam, & Hashemian, 2015}). Authoritative parenting style is effective in childhood and adolescence because an added dimension of 'psychological autonomy' is essential in youth. Parents allow adolescent boys and girls to develop their thoughts and beliefs. The opposite of granting psychological autonomy, namely psychological control, can become intrusive or highly protective (^{Steinberg & Sheffield Morris, 2001}). The cause of adolescent-parent conflict, teens' relationships with their parents, is undoubtedly influenced by parenting style. Dozens of studies have shown that children whose parents were authoritative, warm, and determined demonstrated higher competence and social maturity than children raised by tolerant, authoritarian, neglectful, or indifferent parents (^{Baumrind, 1991}). Authoritative parenting, which is the combination of parental responsibility and constant demand, has been linked by many studies to positive emotional regulation, secondary school performance, and overall maturity in childhood and adolescence.

Conversely, parents whose style is not authoritative may encounter new difficulties when their children enter adolescence (^{Steinberg, 2001}). Adolescent behavior also influences parenting style. Suppose an adolescent is cooperative, motivated, and responsible. In that case, it may be because there are parents who practice an authoritative parenting style. Simultaneously, a non-cooperative, immature, and irresponsible adolescent may have a parent with an authoritarian or negligent style (^{Kopko, 2014}). In particular, it has been found that authoritative parents have beneficial effects on adolescent lifestyles. Adolescents growing up in an authoritative parental climate eat more fruit, smokeless, drink less alcohol, and are less likely to use marijuana (^{Radziszewska, Richardson, Dent, & Flay, 1996}; ^{Christine, Henriksen, & Foshee, 1998}; ^{Kremers, Brug, Vries, & Engels, 2003}; ^{Huver, Otten, Vries, & Engels, 2010}). Authoritarian parents provide a warm family climate and set standards, resulting in more active career exploration by children (^{Nyarko, 2011}). Adolescents from authoritative families seemed to apply the most adaptive, task-oriented strategies in achievement situations (^{Aunola, Stattin, & Nurmi, 2000}). Extraverted, agreeable, and emotionally unstable parents were most likely to exhibit a favorable, so-called authoritative parenting style (^{Huver, Otten, Vries, & Engels, 2010}). Permissive parents behave positively towards adolescents' impulses, desires, and actions, and consult with them about family decisions.

Moreover, these parents do not set rules and avoid behavior control involvement (^{Baumrind, Larzelere, & Owens, 2010}). During adolescence, the neglectful parenting style may have no impact on the girls, who are already reasonably independent but may negatively affect the boys, who are often exposed to the most high-risk environments. Adverse effects of the neglectful parenting style may result from a combination of problematic practices: limited involvement in the adolescent's life, insufficient monitoring, and harsh, inconsistent discipline (^{Radziszewska, Richardson, Dent, & Flay, 1996}). A good understanding is needed to develop relationships between parents and adolescents in different cultures. To identify aspects of parental socialization that are determinants of children's psychosocial development. Parenting styles can also bring other values, such as warmth, proper child control, and better communication (^{Darling & Steinberg, 1993}; ^{Smetana, 1995}).

Adolescence is a period of life when a person begins to become more inwardly directed, rather than being psychologically dependent on family. Ideally, parents want to help their adolescents develop their identity and try new behaviors and ideas. In this view, identity formation and independence are not individual processes but standard and interdependent processes in which adolescents and his/her parents participate (^{Erikson, 1968}). As parent-child communications might be challenging, training parents and related organizations with new skills helps develop adolescents, results in the increase of self-esteem of both parents and children, and modifies the parent-child relationship (^{Kazemi, Soheila, Ashouri, & Marofi, 2012}). Interaction between parent and adolescent attachment styles influences relationship quality above and beyond individual influences (^{Chow, Hart, Ellis, & Tan, 2017}). Adaptability is an essential condition of adolescents' social life, which can be influenced by the parent-child relationship. Due to the multidimensional changes in physical and psychological features and demands on social values, adolescence is challenging. Instead of ignoring their problems at this stage in their lives, adolescents learn to cope with them and try to find appropriate solutions (^{Jennifer & Keating, 2005}; ^{Kazemi, Soheila, Ashouri, & Marofi, 2012}).

Method

Results

The analysis and results are organized, respecting the objectives of the purpose of the study. Moreover, the results correspond to the study questions.

Data presented in Table 1, we see that out of a total of nineteen statements related to authoritative parenting style, fourteen statements related to mothers have resulted in statistically significant values, of which significant value p = .000 have made statements. “Takes care of my dressing, points out my mistakes in the manner that I understand, controls my game when in excess, confers responsibilities in accordance with my growth, Enquires the reasons for reaching home late, tries to frame my likes and dislikes, enquires who my friends are, Advices me, discourages unhealthy foods, inquires how I spend money and It enquires how I spend my free time”. While significant value p = .001 have emerged in these statements “Tells how I should behave with their friends and It demands me to be systematic in my studies”. Regarding the statements about fathers, which have to do with the authoritative parenting style, no statement has statistically significant values.

The results from Table 2 show that in terms of permissive parenting style, out of a total of nineteen statements, twelve of them related to mothers have realized statistically significant values. Statements that have shown a significant amount p = .000 are “Considers my likes in food, spends free time with me, shows love to me, helps me in studying, has faith in me, fulfills my desires with available means, gives priorities to my preferences in studies, celebrates in my successes with me, gets anxious when I am late to reach home and Buys dresses for me according to the latest trend”. While significant value p = .001 has emerged in these statements “Shows love when I do any mistake”, while significant value p = .003 has come out in the statement “Gives me timely advices”. As for the fathers, only the statement “Gives money for my needs” has a significant value of p = .000.

From Table 3, for the authoritative parenting style of mothers, we see that from the perceptions of gender, we have significant values to four statements with significant amount p = .000 “Confers responsibilities in accordance with my growth, Enquires the reasons for reaching home late, Advices me, and Enquires how I spend my free time”. As for the perceptions of the male gender, the significant value p = .000 we have only at “Organizes time for my play”.

For female and male perceptions about authoritative parenting style for fathers, from the data in Table 4, we have significant values in four statements, from female perceptions with significant value p = .000 in the two statements “Enquires the reasons for reaching home late and at Advices me”. From the perceptions of the masculine gender in two statements with significant value p = .001, “Points out my mistakes in the manner that I understand, and Organizes time for my play”.

From the results of Table 5, we see that from the perceptions of the female gender about the permissive style of parenting for mothers, eleven statements have emerged with significant values. Significant value p = .000 have appeared in these statements “Spends free time with me, appreciates when I try to become independent, has given me the freedom to select the subject for study, gives priorities to my preferences in my studies, emphasizes my successes, celebrates in my successes with me, gets anxious when I am late to reach home and Buys dresses for me according to the latest trend”. Three statements have shown significant value p = .001 “Gives money for my needs. Has faith in me and gives me timely advices. In the perceptions of the masculine gender, for mothers' permissive style, significant value p = .000, was made only by the statement "Shows love when I do any mistake”.

Table 6 shows that female perceptions of permissive parenting style for fathers have emerged six statements with significant values. Significant value p = .000 we have at “Gets anxious when I am late to reach home, shows love to me, emphasizes my successes, and Accepts when I say no to what I dislike”. With a significant value p = .001, we have “Gives me timely advices”, while a significant value p = .002 we have in the statement “Has given me the freedom to select the subject for study”. Regarding the male gender's perception, for the permissive parenting style for fathers, the significant value p = .004 has emerged in this statement “Gives priorities to my preferences in my studies”.

Discussion

This study was conducted to research Kosovo's most common parenting styles: perceptions of secondary school students. The study required to achieve the following objectives, namely: to determine the most common parenting styles in Kosovo, to investigate adolescent's perceptions of their mother's and father's parenting styles, and to determine adolescents gender comparisons about parenting style for their mothers and fathers. Out of a total of nineteen statements on the authoritative parenting style, fourteen such for mothers have come out within statistically significant values, significant value p = .000 we have at “Takes care of my dressing, Points out my mistakes in the manner that I understand, Controls my game when in excess, Confers responsibilities in accordance with my growth, Enquires the reasons for reaching home late, Tries to frame my likes and dislikes, Enquires who my friends are, Advices me, Discourages unhealthy foods, Inquires how I spend money and Enquires how I spend my free time”. As for fathers, no significant values have emerged. Regarding the permissive parenting style, out of a total of nineteen statements, twelve of them related to mothers have come out with significant values; the statements that have realized significant value p = .000 are “Considers my likes in food, Spends free time with me, Shows love to me, Helps me in studying, Has faith in me, Fulfills my desires with available means, Gives priorities to my preferences in my studies, Celebrates in my successes with me, Gets anxious when I am late to reach home, and Buys dresses for me according to the latest trend”. The five statements came out with significant values for the perceptions of the female gender. In contrast, for the perceptions of the masculine gender, only one such significant amount came out, for mothers' authoritative style. The significant value p = .000 is at “Confers responsibilities in accordance with my growth, Enquires the reasons for reaching home late, Advices me, and Enquires how I spend my free time”.

Regarding the male gender perception, the statement that has significant value is “Organizes time for my play”, with a significant value p = .000. For female and male perceptions about authoritative parenting style for fathers, from the data in we have significant values in these four statements, from female perceptions with significant value p = .000 are these the two statements “Enquires the reasons for reaching home late and at Advices me”. Even in the perceptions of the masculine gender with significant value p = .001 in “Points out my mistakes in the manner that I understand, and Organizes time for my play”. From perceptions of the female gender regarding mothers' permissive parenting style, significant values were shown by eleven statements. significant value p = .000 was demonstrated by the following statements “Spends free time with me, appreciates when I try to become independent, has given me the freedom to select the subject for study, gives priorities to my preferences in my studies, emphasizes my successes, celebrates in my successes with me, gets anxious when I am late to reach home and Buys dresses for me according to the latest trend”.

Regarding the perceptions of the masculine gender, for mothers' permissive parenting style, the significant value was made only by the statement “Shows love when I do any mistake” with a significant value p = .000. Female perceptions of permissive parenting style for fathers have emerged in six statements with significant values. Significant value p = .000 have occurred in “Gets anxious when I am late to reach home, shows love to me, emphasizes my successes, and Accepts when I say no to what I dislike”. As for the perception of the masculine gender, for the permissive parenting style for fathers, significant value has emerged in this statement “Gives priorities to my preferences in my studies” with a significant value p = .004.

Based on such findings, in comparison with our study results, other studies with similar topic shows that: According to ^{Gafoor and Kurukkan (2014}), from the perceptions of secondary school Indian students, the controlling (authoritative) style of parenting is more prevalent than the permissive manner, as seen from style values controller, mean M = 154.18 and standard deviation SD = 18.06 while in permissive style, mean M = 147.16 and standard deviation SD = 17.93. Another study shows that secondary school students in Lahore's city have shown that 38.5% of their parents are authoritative, 36.3% negligent, 12.7% permissive, while 12.5% authoritarian. According to these students, 39.4% of mothers and 41.1% of fathers are authoritative (^{Imran & Aziz, 2018}). ^{Olivari, Wahn, Maridaki-Kassotaki, Antonopoulou, and Confalonieri (2015}) analyzed Greek, Italian, and Swedish secondary school students' perceptions of their parents. According to such students, mothers, compared to fathers, are perceived as more authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive.

Masculine gender perceived their parents as more authoritarian and tolerant than girls. Swedish parents are perceived as significantly less authoritarian than Italian and Greek parents and more permissive than Italian parents. In contrast, Greek parents are perceived as less authoritarian and more permissive than Italian parents. Another study conducted in Irvine's city showed that adolescents with authoritarian parents reported more empathy, greater responsibility, higher grades, better school orientation, and stronger bonds with their teachers than adolescents with permissive parents (^{Steinberg, Blatt‐Eisengart, & Cauffman, 2006}). According to ^{Darling, Cumsille and Martínez (2007}), adolescents from authoritative families have higher self-esteem in three dimensions: academic, social, and family, than adolescents from authoritarian and neglecting families.

The study of ^{Cenkseven-Önder, Kirdök, and Işık, 2010}, with Turkish students, concluded that students who have authoritarian and authoritative parents are more determined than those who have permissive and negligent parents. In another study conducted in America, a correlation was found between authoritarian mothers and self-esteem, life satisfaction, and decreased adolescent depression. The advantages of authoritarian mothers have been proven, compared to permissive mothers. A correlation has also been found between fathers' parenting styles and depression in adolescents (^{Milevsky, Schlechter, Netter, & Keehn, 2007}) . Another study shows that Korean adolescents perceived their parents to be more strict with mean M = 14.42 and standard deviation SD = 2.66, than French adolescents, representing M = 13.81 and standard deviation SD = 2.46 (^{Sovet & Metz, 2014}). According to ^{Miller, DiIorio, and Dudley (2002}), forty - one percent of parenting styles were classified as authoritative, thirty percent as authoritarian, and twenty-nine percent permissive. Most African - American adolescent participants perceived that their mothers provided a balance of control over their lives and involvement in their lives. Croatian adolescents of authoritative and permissive mothers reported higher self-esteem and life satisfaction than those with authoritarian mothers. Also, adolescents who considered their mothers authoritative were happier than those with authoritarian mothers. Adolescents who perceived their fathers as authoritative or permissive showed higher results on all assessed well-being indicators than adolescents whose fathers were authoritarian (^{Raboteg-Saric & Sakic, 2013}).

Conclusions, limitations, and recommendations

Since there are not many such studies in Kosovo, parents can be informed from this study about parenting styles, the advantages and disadvantages of parenting styles, and which parenting style is most appropriate for the education and development of their children and adolescents.

Secondary school students showed significant values through data that their mothers are authoritative in fourteen statements and permissive in twelve such statements. As for the fathers, the students indicated that they are not authoritative, while they are permissive only in “Gives money for my needs”. Five statements came out with significant values for the perceptions of the female gender. In contrast, for the perceptions of the male gender, the significant amount is at “Organizes time for my play”, for the authoritative style of mothers. As for fathers' authoritative style from both genders, we have two of these with significant values. There are eleven statements with significant amounts from the female gender's perceptions of mothers' permissive parenting style.

In contrast, from the male perceptions of mothers' permissive style, we have only: “Shows love when I do any mistake”. For fathers' permissive parenting style, six statements with significant values have emerged from females' perceptions. In contrast, from the perceptions of males for fathers' permissive manner, significant values have resulted only at “Gives priorities to my preferences in my studies”.

We can conclude that the authoritative parenting style in Kosovo is more prevalent than the permissive parenting style. In other words, according to permissive and authoritative parenting styles, from the perceptions of the female gender, mothers are more authoritative and permissive than fathers. In contrast, according to male perceptions according to the authoritative style, mothers and fathers are equally authoritative. According to the permissive style, fathers are more permissive than mothers. From the data found in this study, in Kosovo, mothers are more involved in parenting than fathers. We think it is essential that this phenomenon is regulated soon so that fathers are also part of educating and caring for their children in the same way as mothers.

Furthermore, there are gender comparisons and differences between children by parents in many families in Kosovo, where the male gender is separated, tolerated, and has more advantages than the female gender. Parents should be cautious in this regard by not making such comparisons and differences, exercising parenting style on both genders equally so that there are no parent-child conflicts and conflicts between children. Based on many studies, we can conclude that authoritative parenting style makes adolescents more determined, more educated, more responsible, more motivated, and more socially and emotionally developed, compared to adolescents who have grown up with a permissive parenting style; therefore, parents should apply more authoritative style than the permissive style. Adolescence is a delicate and critical stage of life because adolescents make their decisions for the future; therefore, an understanding is needed between adolescents and parents during this period.

Some of the limitations were the length of the questionnaire, which took students almost 30 minutes to be fulfilled, and many students tried to answer the same questions from their desk friends.

It is recommended to conduct training by a psychologist and pedagogue to inform parents about the importance of parenting by both parents and proper parenting style to be better educated. It is also recommended that such studies be conducted in the coming years, as there are very few such studies in Kosovo.