Socioeconomic status, perceived parental control, and authoritarianism: development of authoritarianism in Iranian society

The purpose of the current study is to examine the relationship between socioeconomic status, parental control, and authoritarianism in Iran. A sample of 460 students was surveyed from Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz in Iran. Results demonstrated that subjective socioeconomic status, parental control, and parents' education have significant influence on authoritarianism. Further analysis showed that parental control partially mediates parents' education association with authoritarianism with a relatively high effect size. These findings highlight the importance of parental control and socioeconomic status in the development of authoritarianism in Iran. Furthermore, the higher authoritarianism of low socioeconomic status is mostly due to lower education levels rather than the income of the family. The findings were discussed with regards to literature as well as the socio-cultural sphere of Iran