Poster #147 - Different Types of Psychological Control and Rural and Urban Chinese Adolescents' Psychological Well-Being

• In Event: 2-002 - Special Poster Session 05 with Continental Breakfast Reception
  In Poster Session: PS 05 - International Section

Integrative Statement

Psychological control refers to a set of parenting behaviors involving manipulation of children’s emotional and cognitive experiences that are believed to intrude upon the child’s autonomy and psychological development (Barber, Olsen, & Shagle, 1994). Many different types of behaviors are encompassed within the construct of psychological control, such as denigrating personal attacks and withdrawal of love (e.g., harsh psychological control, Barber, 1996), shaming and the use of negative social comparisons, and manipulation of the parent-child bond and socialization of interpersonal obligation through guilt induction (Rudy, Carlo, Lambert, & Awong, 2014). Past research has mainly measured and studied psychological control as a unidimensional construct, linking it to dampened psychological well-being across cultures (e.g., Barber, Stolz, & Olsen, 2005; Wang, Pomerantz, & Chen, 2007). However, emerging research has demonstrated that different types of psychological control not only are evaluated distinctively by children (Helwig, To, Wang, Liu, & Yang, 2014), but also can be conceptually and functionally differentiated (Yu, Cheah, Hart, Sun, & Olsen, 2015). Questions also have arisen over whether different dimensions of this construct have similar meanings and relevance beyond Western or middle-class cultural settings, including China (e.g., Pomerantz & Wang, 2009; Fung & Lau, 2012). Some types of psychological control (e.g., harsh psychological control, or love withdrawal) may be universally harmful, whereas other types that are consistent with indigenous Chinese socialization goals and values (e.g., shaming, guilt induction) may be less harmful. The present study examined how different forms of parental psychological control predict subsequent Chinese adolescents’ psychological well-being as they negotiate Junior High School.
Adolescents from urban (Nanjing, Jiangsu Province; n=349), and rural (Taian, Shandong Province; n=293) areas of mainland China reported their perceptions of parental psychological control, depressive symptoms (Children’s Depression Inventory II; Kovacs, 2011), and life satisfaction (derived from Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffen, 1985) at 6-month intervals, from October, 2016 to April, 2018, beginning at entry to Junior High School. Psychological control practices included: perceived parental love-withdrawal; social comparison shaming (or negative upward comparisons with other children); shared shame invoking the impact of the child’s behavior on the family’s reputation; harsh psychological control; and relationship-oriented guilt induction. Associations between parenting variables and child psychological well-being across time was modeled using longitudinal linear mixed modeling (LMM; Singer & Willett, 2003). Three of the four waves have currently been analyzed (see Tables 1 and 2). Consistent with past findings (e.g., Barber et al., 2005; Wang et al., 2007), psychologically controlling parenting, irrespective of types, was concurrently associated with dampened child psychological well-being. The two hostile forms of psychological control (i.e., love withdrawal and harsh psychological control), in particular, demonstrated the strongest and most consistent associations with children’s psychological well-being over time and across settings. Within-culture variations indicated that guilt induction had greater impact on urban adolescents’ psychological well-being, whereas social comparison shaming had greater impact on rural adolescents’ psychological well-being. Together, the findings advance our theoretical understanding of the multidimensionality of parental psychological control and the differential effects of distinct subtypes within contemporary urban and rural China.

Authors

• Qi Fang, University of Toronto
  Presenting Author

• Charles C. Helwig, University of Toronto
  Non-Presenting Author

• Chunqiong Liu, Nanjing Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Yanbo Tang, University of Toronto
  Non-Presenting Author

• Qian Wang, Chinese University of Hong Kong
  Non-Presenting Author

• Xiao Min Chang, University of Toronto
  Non-Presenting Author