Arab Educational Information Network

A minimal amount of research has been conducted on marital commitment and parenting styles. There has barely been any acknowledgment on the importance of one’s relationship on raising a child. Thus, the following study aims to examine the relationship between each of the indicators of commitment in Rusbult’s investment model of commitment (investment size, satisfaction, and quality of alternatives) and the parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive). Participants are married individuals of elementary and middle school aged children in Lebanon who have completed a socio-demographic questionnaire, the PSDQ (parenting styles and dimensions questionnaire), and the IMS (investment model scale). Data was analyzed through the use of SPSS and AMOS. Results showed that individuals who are not satisfied in their marital relationship are more likely to exhibit permissive or authoritarian parenting styles. Also, fathers who are less invested in their marital relationship are generally more prone to be authoritarian or permissive. Fathers who also have alternatives outside of their marital relationships are likely to exhibit permissive or authoritative parenting styles. As for mothers with alternatives outside the marital relationship, they were more likely to make use of authoritarian parenting styles. With regards to the correlations that emerged with regards to the partners’ ratings of both parenting and their own commitment, further research is recommended to more amply explore the relationship between those two aspects. (Author’s abstract)