Indonesian Adolescents Experience of Parenting Processes that Positively Impacted Youth Identity

Javanese culture has particular characteristics in terms of parenting, where parents have a higher position than that of their children as a whole. On the other hand, Javanese adolescents are like teenagers in general, where they need freedom of thought and expression during the process of developing adolescent identity. Both of these conditions pose problems for educators and parents about how to do appropriate care for Javanese adolescents from the teenager’s perspective in order to get a meeting point. Research on the practice of parenting in Javanese culture about the perspective of adolescents is still very rare. In the present study, we aimed to explore the parenting style experienced by Indonesian adolescents in Javanese culture deemed to have a positive effect on the development of adolescent identity from youth perspective based on their experience. We used the philosophy of phenomenology to understand this phenomenon. Data collection was conducted using semi-structured individual interviews of 5 Indonesian teenagers aged between 16-17 years, living with parents in the Javanese cultural environment, known to the public as having a good self-identity. We use qualitative analysis to understand subjective experiences, which then form insights about parenting that have a positive impact on the process of building Javanese teen identity. From the research, we found that there are 3 main themes of parenting which according to adolescents have a positive impact during the process of building their identity, namely (1) The Goals: The existence of clear family education goals; (2) The Values: There are strong values that are instilled since childhood; and (3) The Strategy: ways to instill values through fostering culture in the family. In short, our research shows that the development of Indonesian teenagers’ identities in Javanese culture is influenced by the values instilled by their parents, which they have got since childhood, and their development continues to be controlled consistently by their parents