Parental behavioural control and knowledge in early adolescence. A person-oriented approach

Abstract

The main aim of this study is to identify subgroups of adolescents according to levels of their parental knowledge and behavioural control and how belonging to a particular subgroup is associated with some aspects of the parent-adolescent relationship, as well as self-esteem and self-efficacy one year later. Data were collected using questionnaires within two waves. Stratified random sampling was used to include schools from all regions and city sizes. The study sample comprised of 845 early adolescents (43% males; baseline mean age 11.52). Cluster analyses idenified three subgroups based on adolescents’ information on parental behavioural control and knowledge: controling parents (high levels of both parental control and knowledge; 31.5% of the sample), not controlling parents (below average level of control but above average level of knowledge, 54.3%), and uninvolved parents (low levels of both control and knowledge, 12.8%). Those with controlling parents reported the most positive parent-adolescent relationship. Secondly, cluster membership was associated with positive self-esteem and self-efficacy in the follow-up when controlling for levels at the baseline in the sense that adolescents with uninvolved parents reported lower levels of self-esteem and self-efficacy than adolescents from the other clusters. The results show that parental control can play an important positive role in the development of the self of early adolescents when accompanied by perceived parental knowledge.