Gender, parenting, and adolescent functioning in Bangladesh

This study is an initial attempt to examine the association between perceived parental styles and practices and academic achievement in Bangladesh, a Muslim culture. Associations among perceptions of parents' styles and supervisory practices, and self-esteem, relationship harmony, and academic achievement, were examined in 14- and 15-year-old girls and boys (N = 212) in Dhaka. Parental supervisory practices were associated with a warm parental style for girls and parental dominating control for boys. Girls' (but not boys') perceptions of parents predicted academic achievement and were mediated by self-esteem. Our data provide a rare window into an Islamic society and demonstrate differences in social influences on boys and girls in this highly gender-differentiated culture.