Poster #221 - Being Overprotected by Versus Being Overprotective of Friends During Early Adolescence

• In Event: 3-003 - Poster Session 09
  In Poster Session: PS 09 Section - Social Relationships

Integrative Statement

Maternal overprotection refers to a constellation of parenting behaviors that intend to protect youth from harm, but because they are controlling and overbearing, often cause harm (e.g., contribute to adolescent internalizing problems). Of note, some mothers are more likely to engage in overprotection than others, such as those who are highly neurotic and those with highly anxious children/adolescents (e.g., Rapee, 2009). Little is known, however, about the nature of overprotective behaviors in other relationship contexts, such as friendships. In fact, friend overprotection (i.e., excessive protection from real or imagined harm or difficulties) has only been evaluated in one quantitative study, but findings suggested its developmental significance (Etkin & Bowker, 2018). For example, (being the recipient of) friend overprotection during early adolescence was associated with positive (e.g., high friendship quality) and negative (e.g., depression, victimization) outcomes. Unlike the maternal overprotection literature, however, researchers have not yet considered why some youth may receive overprotection from their friends, and why some may engage in overprotection. Moreover, the psychosocial consequences associated with being overprotected versus engaging in overprotection have not been previously considered. The present study addresses these research gaps with the use of two newly-developed measures: a self-report measure of (being the recipient of) friends’ overprotective behavior, and a peer nomination item identifying youth who are overprotective of their friends.
Participants were 269 young adolescents (140 boys; Mage=11.46; 40% ethnic minority) who completed self-report measures of positive friendship quality, overprotection in friendships (the Friend Overprotection Scale; FOS), and internalizing problems (depressive and anxious symptoms), and peer nominations of prosocial behavior, peer problems (i.e., rejection, victimization), and friend overprotection (“overprotective of his or her friends”) at two time points (T1: November/December; T2: March/April). The FOS (which was developed for college-age students) was revised to be appropriate for young adolescents, and subjected to an EFA. Results suggested a 1-factor solution, and 10-items were retained based on factor loadings (>.45) and content (see Table 1). Latent variables were formed for the FOS, internalizing, and peer problems items, and were found to be metric-invariant over time. Next, a theoretically-indicated (Selig & Little, 2012) cross-lagged panel model was tested in Mplus with all pathways freely estimated; the model demonstrated adequate fit to the data, χ2 (14) = 25.33, p=.03; RMSEA = 0.06; CFI/TLI = 0.99/0.97; SRMR = 0.03.
As seen in Figure 1, there were unique predictors of and outcomes associated with being overprotective versus receiving overprotection. For instance, being overprotective (according to peer nominations) was associated with increased internalizing problems, perhaps due to the stress associated with this role. Being overprotective at T2 was also predicted by T1 difficulties with the larger peer group, suggesting that some youth may become overprotective because they are afraid of losing positive relationships with their friends. Interestingly, prosocial behavior positively predicted being overprotective but negatively predicted receiving overprotection; this may indicate that youth who are seen as socially skilled are judged as in less need of overprotection. Potential clinical implications will be described and results from alternative models will be presented.

Authors

• Rebecca G. Etkin, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
  Presenting Author

• Julie C Bowker, University at Buffalo, SUNY
  Non-Presenting Author