The current study examined the relationships among parenting styles experienced in childhood, anxiety, motivation, and academic success in college students. Results suggested that fathers' authoritative parenting was related to decreases, whereas mothers' authoritarian parenting was related to increases, in college students' anxiety. Further, mothers' and fathers' authoritative parenting, mothers' authoritarian parenting, and college students' anxiety and motivation were related to college students' grade point averages. In addition, college students' motivation served a mediational role in the relationship between their anxiety and grade point averages. Results suggested that college students may be more likely to experience improvements in their academic performance with interventions that address college students' perceptions of the parenting that they received during their childhood, their anxiety, and their motivation to do well academically. The role of such interventions deserves to be studied further.
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