Examining the Role of Parental Psychological Control Using a Construct Validation Approach

• In Event: 47.096 - MTCC Roundtable Session 20
  In Roundtable Session: 47.096-6 - Academic Impacts of Parental Involvement, Motivation, and Arts Education

Abstract

We examined the construct validity of a promising new measure of adolescent individuation: the 10-item Dysfunctional Individuation Scale. In addition, we investigated the role of dysfunctional individuation as a mediator between parental psychological control and adolescents’ self-image. Participants included 409 high school students from a high school located in Midwestern United States. We conducted correlational analyses, confirmatory factor analyses, and structural equation modeling to test our hypotheses. Results support the validity of scores produced by the DIS for use with high school students. Furthermore, results revealed that psychological parental control used by mother was significantly associated with adolescents’ dysfunctional individuation, which was significantly related to poor mastery and coping as well as with superior adjustment.

Authors

• Sumeyra Sahbaz, Oklahoma State University

• Daniel Lapsley, University of Notre Dame