Abstract
The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of parental role-acceptance and parental role behavior to family function and the mental health of adolescents. The subjects were 1037 sets of parents and children in grades 5 to 9. A self-administered survey was conducted with 424 effective data sets obtained. Using path analysis, our hypothetical model consisted of parents' role-acceptance at work and at home, parental role behavior, family function, and the mental health of adolescents was tested.
Results indicated that a higher level of parental home role-acceptance was associated with acceptance of their child, which in turn was associated with improved child-evaluated family function. Family function contributed to the adolescents' mental health. In addition, paternal home role-acceptance was associated with increased confidence in their nurturing, which in turn was associated with improved girls'-evaluated family function. Maternal home role-acceptance was associated with confidence in their nurturing, which in turn was associated with improved boys'-evaluated family function. In this way, the childevaluated family function was more significantly influenced by the opposite sex parents' role behavior.
We propose that nurses and other health-care professionals should support parental home role-acceptance and parental role behavior to improve adolescents-evaluated family function.
