Predicting Adolescents’ Academic Performance Based on Parenting Styles with the Mediating Role of Failure, Unrelenting Standards, Defectiveness/Shame, and Mistrust Schemas in Parents

Abstract

Introduction and Aim: Adolescents’ academic performance is influenced by various cognitive, emotional, and family-related factors, and parenting styles are considered among the most important determinants of educational success or failure. The present study aimed to predict adolescents’ academic performance based on parenting styles with the mediating role of failure, unrelenting standards, defectiveness/shame, and mistrust schemas in parents.

Methodology: This study employed a descriptive-correlational design using path analysis. The statistical population included all parents of secondary high school students in Shiraz during the 2024–2025 academic year, from whom 150 participants were selected through convenience sampling. Research instruments included Buri’s Parental Authority Questionnaire, Young’s Early Maladaptive Schema Questionnaire, and students’ grade point averages as indicators of academic performance. Data were analyzed using SPSS-26 and AMOS software through Pearson correlation coefficients and path analysis.

Findings: The results indicated that authoritative parenting had a positive and significant relationship with academic performance (β=0.31, p<0.01), whereas permissive parenting (β=-0.27, p<0.01) and authoritarian parenting (β=-0.34, p<0.01) showed negative and significant relationships with academic performance. Moreover, failure, unrelenting standards, defectiveness/shame, and mistrust schemas were negatively associated with academic performance. Bootstrap analysis confirmed the significant mediating role of maladaptive schemas in the relationship between parenting styles and academic performance. Model fit indices also demonstrated an acceptable fit for the proposed model.

Conclusion: The findings demonstrated that parenting styles influence adolescents’ academic performance both directly and indirectly through parents’ maladaptive schemas. Therefore, modifying dysfunctional parenting practices and reducing maladaptive schemas in parents may contribute to improving students’ academic achievement and psychological well-being.