Poster #148 - Non-linear and Interactive Effects of Parental Monitoring and Autonomy Granting on Adolescent Adjustment

• In Event: 2-163 - Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

An important developmental task during adolescence is to gain autonomy (freedom to make decisions) as parents gradually relinquish control. However, a delicate balance must be sought because too much autonomy is consistently associated with higher levels of risk-taking, including delinquency, sexual risk-taking, and substance use (Allen et al., 2002; Moilanen, 2015; Russell & Gordon, 2017), whereas too little autonomy impinges on adolescents’ well-being (Eccles, Buchanan, Flanagan, Fuligni, Midgley, & Yee, 1991). Indeed, stage-environment fit theory suggests that the appropriate level of autonomy depends on the age and maturity of the adolescent (Eccles et al., 1991; Fuligni & Eccles, 1993). The current study provides a direct examination of this issue by testing whether a moderate amount of parental autonomy granting during mid-adolescence (age 15) predicts reduced risk-taking and depression and increased academic achievement and psychosocial maturity. A related concept, parental monitoring, involves parental knowledge of the adolescents’ activities based on communication and adolescent disclosure (Stattin & Kerr, 2000; Kerr & Stattin, 2000). Research indicates that higher levels of parental monitoring are related to positive adolescent adjustment whereas low monitoring is associated with increased risk-taking. Despite the conceptual linkage between monitoring and autonomy, they have rarely been included in the same study. Thus we know little about how parental monitoring and autonomy may operate together to influence adolescent adjustment. The hypotheses for the current study were: (1) monitoring will be negatively associated with risk-taking and depression and positively associated with indicators of positive adjustment; (2) a moderate amount of autonomy (assessed with a quadratic term) compared with higher or lower autonomy will be related to less risk behavior, less depression, a higher GPA, and more psychosocial maturity, particularly in the context of higher monitoring.

Method: Data came from Wave 4 (age 15; n = 991) of the Study of Early Childcare and Youth Development (SECCYD). Risk behavior was modeled as a latent variable with minor and major delinquency, minor and major aggression, and substance use as indicators. Factor scores were used to compute the quadratic term for adolescent-reported autonomy and the interaction between quadratic autonomy and adolescent-reported monitoring (Figure 1).

Results: In support of the first hypothesis, linear autonomy and monitoring were both negatively related to depression and there was a positive linear relationship between monitoring and psychosocial maturity (defined as self-reliance, identity, and work orientation) and GPA. In partial support of the second hypothesis, there was a quadratic effect of autonomy on risk-taking such that risk-taking increased faster at higher levels of autonomy (Figure 2a) and a quadratic effect of autonomy on GPA such that GPA decreased faster at higher levels of autonomy (Figure 2b). The interactions between quadratic autonomy and monitoring were not significant, but there was an interaction between linear autonomy and monitoring predicting risk-taking such that the combination of low monitoring and high autonomy was associated with higher levels of risk-taking.

Discussion will focus on the interplay between monitoring and autonomy as they both signal parental involvement and adolescent independence, and are related to adolescent adjustment broadly.

Authors

• Jennifer Wolff, University of North Florida
  Presenting Author

• Alexander Wasserman, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lisa Crockett, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  Non-Presenting Author

• Caroline Tolentino, University of North Florida
  Non-Presenting Author