Poster #147 - Parental Psychological Control and Adolescents’ Perceptions of Parent-Adolescent Interactions: The Role of Relationship Quality

• In Event: 3-159 - Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

Psychological control is commonly associated with internalizing problems (see Grolnick & Pomerantz, 2009) and behavioral problems in adolescents (Rathert et al., 2011). However, less is known about the effect of observed parental psychological control during parent-adolescent interactions on adolescents’ perceptions of the quality of these interactions. Most studies on psychological control rely solely on adolescent report, which can be problematic as self-report measures may reflect adolescents’ interpretation of their parents’ behaviors rather than objective behaviors (Chan et al., 2010).
The present study used a multi-method design to examine (1) associations between observed parental psychological control and adolescents’ subsequent perceptions of parent-adolescent interactions (adolescent-reported satisfaction with the process and outcome of the discussion) and (2) the moderating role of adolescent-reported relationship quality variables (disclosure, emotional support, approval, and satisfaction) on these associations. We hypothesized that parental use of psychological control would be negatively associated with adolescents’ satisfaction with the process and outcome of the discussion. Additionally, we hypothesized that adolescents’ perceived parent-adolescent relationship quality would positively moderate associations between parental psychological control and adolescents’ perceptions of the discussion.
The present analyses are drawn from a larger study examining family communication between mothers and adolescents (N = 122, M adolescent age = 14.0 years, range = 12.0 to 17.0 years). Mothers and adolescents participated in a guilt discussion task, in which they discussed an issue about which the mother recently or commonly made the adolescent feel guilty. Immediately following the discussion, adolescents rated their satisfaction with (1) how the discussion went (discussion process) and (2) the outcome of the discussion. Parental psychological control behaviors were coded based on the Psychological Control Scale (Barber, 1996). Adolescents also completed questionnaire measures of perceived relationship quality.
Consistent with the first hypothesis, correlation analyses revealed that observed parental psychological control was negatively correlated with adolescent-reported satisfaction with discussion process (r = -.22, p = .02) and discussion outcome (r = -.23, p = .02). Of the four relationship quality variables, there was a significant interaction between observed psychological control and adolescent-reported support predicting adolescents’ satisfaction on discussion outcomes (ß = .31, p = .046), thus providing partial support for the second hypothesis. No other interactions between psychological control and relationship quality variables were significant. Examination of the plot revealed that for adolescents whose parents expressed more psychological control, adolescents who reported better relationship quality reported higher satisfaction when compared to those who reported lower relationship quality (Figure 1).
The findings suggest that adolescents whose parents expressed more psychological control during the discussion were more likely to view the discussion unfavorably (lower levels of satisfaction). However, adolescents who reported better relationship quality with their parents may be buffered from the negative effects of psychological control. It is possible that adolescents with good relationship quality with their mothers perceived parental attempts at control as being well-intentioned compared with those with poorer relationship quality. Future studies may focus on examining the mechanisms in which perceived relationship quality buffers the negative effects of parental psychological control on parent-adolescent communication outcomes.

Authors

• Carmen Kho, University of California, Merced
  Presenting Author

• Alexandra Main, University of California, Merced
  Non-Presenting Author

• Wendy Meredith Rote, University of South Florida St. Petersburg
  Non-Presenting Author