Too Close for Comfort: Parental Psychological Control and Youth Information Management

• In Event: Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

Parental psychological control is associated with a variety of challenging outcomes for youth, including mental health concerns and reduced positivity in the parent-youth relationship (Barber, 1996; Rogers et al., 2020; Symeou & Georgiou, 2017). This parenting strategy is characterized by emotional manipulation, love withdrawal, and guilt producing sentiments.
Challenges associated with research on this construct are that 1) the majority of work has focused on mothers and not on fathers, 2) many analyses have not simultaneously assessed excessive behavioral control when analyzing the impact of psychological control, and 3) work specifically focusing on links with youth information management (e.g., disclosure about daily activities) has been limited. A critical limitation has been the scant focus on the emerging adult developmental period, which is characterized by a desire for graduated increased autonomy from parents which can be challenging to manage (Arnett, 2015). Thus, the purpose of the current study was to assess associations between parental psychological control (maternal and paternal) and helicopter parenting with three aspects of the parent-youth relationship: youth disclosure, youth secrecy, and lying to parents. Associations between controlling parenting and perceptions of family support and loneliness were also assessed.

Method
Participants were 288 college-attending emerging adults (M=20.69 years, 72.7% female; 51.2% White/European American) attending a public university in the Northeastern United States. The sample was primarily a commuter sample, with 60.6% indicating that they currently resided at home with their parents.

Participants completed surveys in college classrooms. Surveys included measures of maternal psychological control, paternal psychological control, helicopter parenting, lying to parents, disclosure to parents, secrecy from parents, perceptions of family social support, and loneliness. Full measurement details will be provided in the poster but measures were drawn from well-established scales and had good to excellent reliability (α >.80 for all scales).

Results
Preliminary analyses included OLS regressions predicting lying, disclosure, secrecy, social support, and loneliness. In each regression, predictor variables included maternal psychological control, parental psychological control, helicopter parenting, participant age, and gender. For the poster, potential interactions and mediating/moderating effects will be examined.
Regarding lying to parents, the regression was significant (F[5]=9.20, p<.001) with both maternal and paternal psychological control predicting lying to parents (ps<.001).
For disclosure to parents, the regression was significant (F[5]=5.40, p<.001) with both maternal psychological control (p< .001) and male gender (p < .05) predicting lower disclosure.
Regarding secrecy from parents, the regression was significant (F[5]=13.02, p < .001) with both maternal and paternal psychological control predicting greater secrecy (ps <.01).
For perceptions of family support, the regression was significant (F[5]=22.08, p<.001) with both maternal and paternal psychological control predicting lower perceptions of family support (ps <.001).
With regard to loneliness, the regression was significant (F[5]=4.33, p<.001) with only maternal psychological control predicting greater loneliness (ps<.001).

Discussion and Implications
These preliminary findings highlight the negative associations that parental psychological control has with important predictors of youth well-being and parent-youth relationship positivity. In the poster, we will discuss findings with regard to autonomy development and facilitating healthy psychosocial adjustment during the emerging adult years.

Authors

• Sara Goldstein, Montclair State University
  Presenting Author

• John Gunn, Montclair State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Shannon Lummer, Montclair State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Csilla Greiner, Montclair State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jeanie Park, Montclair State University
  Non-Presenting Author