Studying parenting in adolescence from a dynamic perspective: the case of autonomy-supportive and controlling parenting

Abstract

ABSTRACT During the past two decades, developmental research has intensively addressed the role of autonomy-supportive and controlling parenting in adolescents’ psychosocial adjustment, thereby increasingly adopting a dynamic approach. This paper provides an overview of this emerging approach, discussing three ways in which autonomy-relevant parenting is dynamically involved in adolescents’ and parents’ functioning. First, research has uncovered several important mediating processes behind the effects of autonomy-relevant parenting, including adolescents’ need-based experiences. Second, studies with intensive repeated assessments have demonstrated substantial short-term ups and downs in parents’ engagement in autonomy-relevant practices, with these fluctuations relating to both adolescents’ developmental outcomes and parents’ experiences. Third, recent studies focus on adolescents’ agency in autonomy-relevant parenting, attending to adolescents’ appraisals and cognitive-behavioural responses to parental behaviours. We discuss the theoretical implications of these three strands of research and their applied value.