Effects of perceived parental style on adolescents’ motivations in a tourism context

Abstract

The significant issue of parental influence on a child’s development is under researched in tourism. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether perceived parenting styles have an influence on adolescents’ tourism motivations. A self-administered survey was conducted with 100 adolescents who visited the National Museum of Iran in 2016. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. Firstly, the adolescents perceived their parents influence on them as more authoritative than authoritarian or permissive. Secondly, the authoritarian parenting style was tied to less self-determined motivation including amotivation and external regulation; authoritative parenting was found to be related to intrinsic motivation. Finally, the permissive parenting style was a good predictor for introjected motivation.

Keywords:

• Parental style
• adolescent
• motivations
• self-determination theory