The parents of successful secondary school students of Turkish and Moroccan background in the Netherlands: Parenting practices and the relationship with parents

The present study focuses on academically successful 17 year old adolescents of Turkish and Moroccan background in the Netherlands. The parenting practices of their parents are examined along with the students' relationships with their parents. One hundred and six successful and less successful adolescents of Turkish, Moroccan and Dutch background participated in the study. The successful ethnic-minority students were expected to have a better relationship with their parents and to have less authoritarian parents than did less successful students. Indeed, the successful Turkish - and Moroccan - background students appeared to have less authoritarian parents than did the less successful. Nevertheless, the successful Turkish - and Moroccan - background students had a less satisfactory relationship with their parents, probably because their success widened the social distance between them and their parents more than was the case for the other groups.