Trajectories of Perceived Parental Psychological Control and the Longitudinal Associations with Chinese Adolescents' School Adjustment across High School Years.

Numerous studies have focused on the mental and behavioral problems or negative emotions of adolescents when examining the impact of parental control. However, limited research has explored the relationship between parental control and adolescents' future planning, neglecting the distinctions between parental psychological and behavioral control, as well as the significant roles of personal growth initiative and meaning in life. The present study aims to investigate the differential effects of parental psychological control and behavioral control on the future planning of rural adolescents in China. A sample of 909 individuals (13.60±0.93 years old, 470 boys and 439 girls) completed a self-report questionnaire anonymously. The study utilized the Adolescent Future Orientation Questionnaire, Parental Control Questionnaire, Adolescents' Personal Growth Initiative Scale, and Meaning in Life Questionnaire. The findings revealed that parental control significantly influenced the future planning of Chinese rural adolescents, with psychological control and behavioral control exerting distinct impacts in this process. Specifically, parental psychological control was found to have a direct negative effect on adolescents' future planning, while also exhibiting a positive influence due to the masking effect of meaning in life; it did not negatively affect adolescents' future planning through their personal growth initiative. On the other hand, parental behavioral control was observed to directly and positively impact adolescents' future planning, as well as positively influence it through the mediating role of personal growth initiative and the chain mediating role of personal growth initiative and meaning in life. These results suggest that the influence of parental control on adolescents' future planning is not a simple, singular mechanism, but rather a multi-layered and complex process, yielding mixed outcomes as a result of psychological control, behavioral control, and other factors. This complexity should be taken into consideration in educational practices and future research endeavors.

The aim of the study was to explore the unique and common contributions of parental psychological control and family functioning to global life satisfaction among Italian adolescents while considering the type of parental psychological control: dependencyoriented and achievement-oriented. Two hundred fifty-five adolescents (104 boys and 151 girls) from 15 to 17 years of age (mean age = 15.98, SD = .76) completed self-report measures on perceived parental psychological control, dependency- and achievement-oriented, family functioning and global life satisfaction. Correlation analyses indicated that parental psychological control oriented to both dependency and achievement was negatively related to global life satisfaction, whereas global life satisfaction was significantly and positively related to diverse dimensions of family functioning, such as affective responsiveness and involvement, communication, and general healthy functioning. Regarding the predictive role of parental psychological control on global life satisfaction, both dependency- and achievement-oriented control predicted a low level of life satisfaction, whereas among family-functioning variables, only general healthy functioning and affective involvement predicted a high level of life satisfaction. Finally, data showed a significant effect of the interaction between achievement-oriented psychological control and two dimensions of healthy family functioning in predicting life satisfaction among adolescents, with family general functioning and affective involvement moderating the negative effects of parental psychological control on life satisfaction: at higher levels of parental achievement-oriented psychological control, life satisfaction tended to be higher when family general functioning and affective involvement were high

This study examined the effects of parental acceptance, psychological control, and behavioral control on children’s school adjustment and academic achievement, as well as the possible mediation effect of children’s self-regulation in those processes. To do so, we examined 388 upper-level elementary school students (mean age = 11.38 years) in South Korea. In addition, the study examined whether the influences of parental psychological and behavioral control on children’s school outcomes were consistent between Western and East Asian cultures. Children reported on perceived parental acceptance, psychological control, behavioral control, self-regulation, and their own school adjustment and academic achievement. The results showed that parental acceptance, psychological control, and behavioral control were not directly related to children’s school outcomes. Parental acceptance and behavioral control indirectly influenced the children’s school outcomes but were mediated by the children’s self-regulation. However, the mediation effect of self-regulation between psychological control and children’s school outcomes was not statistically significant. These results suggested that children’s self-regulation plays a more significant role vis-a-vis children’s school outcomes than the direct effects of parenting and that parental psychological control did not have a negative effect on South Korean children’s school outcomes.

It is widely documented that students with lower family socioeconomic status (SES) tend to have higher test anxiety than their peers from higher SES families. However, few studies have empirically examined the underlying mechanism whereby family SES shapes students' test anxiety. To bridge this gap, the present study proposed and tested a serial mediation model in which family SES is associated with students' test anxiety through the indirect effect of parental psychological control, access to learning resources, and academic self-efficacy. The sample comprised 354 Chinese high school students (134 boys; mean age=16.15years old). The results were as follows: (1) higher family SES was associated with increased access to learning resources, higher academic self-efficacy, lower parental psychological control, and lower test anxiety. In contrast, test anxiety was associated with decreased access to learning resources, lower academic self-efficacy, and higher parental psychological control; and (2) the mediation model indicated parental psychological control, learning resources, and academic self-efficacy functioned as serial mediators in the relationship between family SES and students' test anxiety (i.e., family SES → psychological control and learning resources → academic self-efficacy → test anxiety). The findings are discussed in the framework of the family stress/investment models and social cognitive theory. Concrete suggestions for how low SES parents can help decrease their children's test anxiety are provided.

Based on the responses of 2369 Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong (mean age = 14.2; 48.5% girls), the interaction effects of parental behavioral control and psychological control on adolescent wellbeing (indexed by life satisfaction and hopelessness) were examined. Results indicated that the interaction of paternal behavioral control and paternal psychological control was associated with adolescent life satisfaction. Paternal behavioral control had a stronger impact on adolescent life satisfaction when paternal psychological control was at a higher level than at a lower level. While the relationship between maternal behavioral control and life satisfaction was stronger for boys than for girls, maternal psychological control was negatively related to life satisfaction for girls but not for boys. Regarding adolescent hopelessness, both paternal and maternal psychological control moderated the relationship between paternal behavioral control and adolescent hopelessness. The relationships between paternal behavioral control and adolescent hopelessness were negative when either paternal or maternal psychological control was at lower levels, but the relationships became non-significant when parental psychological control was at higher levels. The study implies that there are interaction effects of parental behavioral control and psychological control on well-being among Chinese adolescents, which provides important insights on the development of the family socialization model.

Previous studies have revealed that parental psychological control has a significant and lasting effect on increasing anxiety. However, few studies have examined the underlying mechanisms of this relationship from the perspective of positive psychology. The present study aims to explore the mediating role of positive youth development (PYD) and the moderating role of mindfulness in the relationship between parental psychological control and anxiety among Chinese adolescents. Totally 1,752 junior high school students completed questionnaires measuring their levels of perceived father’s/mother’s psychological control (FPC/MPC), anxiety, PYD, and mindfulness. Correlations among the variables were computed using Pearson’s r. Mediation and moderated mediation models were tested by using the PROCESS macro with the regression bootstrapping method. The results showed that: (1) FPC/MPC were positively associated with anxiety; (2) PYD partially mediated the FPC/MPC-anxiety association; and (3) both the FPC/MPC-PYD and FPC/MPC-anxiety relationships were moderated by mindfulness. From the above results, it could be inferred as below. Parents exercising less psychological control over their children in daily life may help reduce the risk of anxiety in adolescents. Cultivating positive youth development is crucial for adolescents’ mental health, as it may play a significant role in the relationship between parental psychological control and anxiety. Mindfulness may buffer the effects of parental psychological control in relation to positive youth development and anxiety.

Abundant evidence highlights the psychological and interpersonal benefits of self-compassion during adolescence, yet the developmental trajectory and influencing factors during this period remain relatively unexplored. This study investigated the developmental trajectory of self-compassion and illustrated the longitudinal relationship between parenting styles and self-compassion using latent growth curve models (LGCM), cross-lagged panel models (CLPM) and random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPM) in a sample of Chinese youth (N = 871; Mage = 15.21, SD = 0.73; 45.4% girls) across two years. Results demonstrated an increase developmental trend of self-compassion over two years. The parallel process LGCMs suggested that changes in parental autonomy support was positively related to the changes in self-compassion, whereas the relationship between parental psychological control and self-compassion was significant only at initial levels. CLPM consistently supported a bidirectional relationship between parental autonomy support and self-compassion in Chinese youth at between-person level. Although within-person changes in the study variables were not significant in a bidirectional manner based on the results of RI-CLPMs, changes in parental autonomy support/parental psychological control and self-compassion were concurrently associated. These results suggested that besides stable connections between parenting styles and adolescents' self-compassion, changes in parenting styles and self-compassion are developmentally linked as well. Overall, this study underscores the potentially beneficial impact of parental autonomy support on adolescent self-compassion and reveals nuanced effects of parental psychological control within the Chinese cultural context.

Previous research suggested that parental behavioral control and psychological control have differential associations with adolescents’ peer victimization. However, given that these two types of parental control are somewhat related but distinct from each other, it is critical to distinguish the unique relationship between each form of parental control and peer victimization. Furthermore, the mediating mechanism between parental control and peer victimization has not been thoroughly examined. The present study was designed to examine the unique associations of parental behavioral control and psychological control with Chinese adolescents’ peer victimization, as well as the mediating role of self-control. A total of 694 7th–9th grade middle school students in China (M age = 13.67, SD = 1.20) participated the survey by completing questionnaires about demographics, parental control, self-control, and peer victimization. Results indicated that: psychological control had positive associations with both overt and relational victimization, and these associations were partially mediated by adolescents’ self control. In contrast, behavioral control was positively associated with self-control, which in turn negatively associated with peer victimization. On the other hand, behavioral control was positively associated with peer victimization. Hence, an inconsistent mediation was found due to the opposite signs and the same magnitudes of the direct and indirect relationships between behavioral control and peer victimization. These findings suggest that parental behavioral control and psychological control contribute to adolescents’ peer victimization through different mediating mechanisms.

The study investigated the relationship between psychological parental control and muscle dysmorphia in adolescence, as form of exercise dependence, focusing also on the role of pathological worry. Participants were 312 adolescents (140 boys and 172 girls) aged 16 to 18 years (M = 17.05; SD = 0.85) and completed the Muscle Dysmorphia Disorder Inventory, the Dependency-oriented and Achievement-oriented Parental Psychological Control, and the Penn State Worry Questionnaire. The results highlighted that boys showed higher level than girls in dependency-oriented and achievement-oriented parental psychological control and muscle dysmorphia. Furthermore, girls showed higher levels of pathological worry than boys. Pathological worry partially mediated the relationship between dependency-oriented parental psychological control and muscle dysmorphia as well as between achievement-oriented parental psychological and muscle dysmorphia. Psychological parental control predicted muscle dysmorphia, and pathological worry seemed to act as a partial mediator in this relationship. Psychology parental control and pathological worry are linked to muscle dysmorphia, but psychological parental control seems to frustrate the need for autonomy of adolescents and, therefore, muscle dysmorphia may become the maladaptive answer to react to the excessive control of their parents. It seems that body of adolescents may become the scenario towards which they play a sort of power of control to counteract anxiety deriving from the excessive psychological control played by parents.

There have been studies indicating that children's unsociability was associated with poorer socio-emotional functioning in China. Although some researchers have found that parenting behavior would influence the relationship between children's unsociability and adjustment, the role of parental psychological control has not been explored. This study aimed to investigate the moderating effect of parental psychological control on the relationship between unsociability and socio-emotional functioning in Chinese children. A total of 1,275 students from Grades 3 to 7 (637 boys, Mage = 10.78 years, SD = 1.55 years) were selected from four public schools in Shanghai to participate in this study. Data of unsociability, peer victimization and social preference were collected from peer-nominations, and data of parental psychological control, depressive symptoms and social anxiety were collected from self-reports. There were positive associations between unsociability and peer victimization, depressive symptoms, and social anxiety, as well as a negative association between unsociability and social preference. Parental psychological control moderated these associations, specifically, the associations between unsociability and peer victimization, social preference, and depressive symptoms were stronger, and the association between unsociability and social anxiety was only significant among children with higher level of parental psychological control. The findings in the current study highlight the importance of parental psychological control in the socio-emotional functioning of unsociable children in the Chinese context, enlightening educators that improving parenting behavior is essential for children's development.

본 연구는 부모의 심리적 통제가 청소년의 학교적응에 미치는 영향과 이들의 관계에서 희망의 매개효과를 알아보기 위하여 수행되었다. 서울과 강원지역의 중･고등학생 403명을 대상으로 t검증, 상관분석, 구조방정식 모형, 다집단 분석을 실시하였다. 주요 연구결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 부모의 심리적 통제와 청소년의 희망 수준은 청소년의 성별에 따라 유의한 차이가 없었다. 하지만, 학교적응중 학교교사 요인에서 남학생 집단의 평균이 여학생 집단의 평균보다 높았다. 둘째, 부모의 심리적 통제는 청소년의 학교적응에 직접적으로 영향을 미치기도 하였고 희망을 매개로 하여 학교적응에 간접적으로도 영향을 미쳤다. 즉, 청소년들은 부모의 심리적 통제를 높게 지각할수록 희망 수준이 낮았고, 희망 수준이 낮을수록 학교적응력도 낮았다. 이러한 부모의 심리적 통제와 청소년의 희망 및 학교적응의 관계는 청소년의 성별에 따른 차이가 없는 것으로 나타났다. 그러므로 청소년이 적응적인 학교생활을 할 수 있도록 부모의 심리적 통제를 감소시키고 청소년의 희망을 증진시키는 다양한 개입이 이루어져야 할 것이다.The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between parental psychological control and adolescent school adjustment mediated by hope of adolescents. Four hundred three middle and high school students participated in this study. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, Pearson’s correlations, structural equation modeling(SEM), and multi group analysis. The average level of school adjustment was significantly higher in male adolescent group compared to female adolescent group. Adolescents’ hope partially mediated the relationship between parental psychological control and adolescents’ school adjustment. The proposed model was not significantly different as a function of gender. These results suggest that adolescents’ school adjustment could be improved by reducing levels of parental psychological control and enhancing adolescents’ hope.

Objective: To explore the relationship between parental psychological control and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and examine whether negative emotions (i.e., anxiety, depression, and stress) mediated this relationship among a Chinese adolescent sample in rural areas. Methods: A number of 381 Chinese adolescents from a junior high school participated in this study. They aged from 12 to 17 years (M=13.86, SD=1.08). Participants completed questionnaires assessing NSSI, negative emotions and parental psychological control. Results: We found that negative emotions and parental psychological control were significantly associated with NSSI. What's more, our results showed that negative emotions fully mediated the relationship between parental psychological control and NSSI after controlling for gender and grade. Conclusion: Parental psychological control as one of the invalidating parenting styles may heighten one's negative emotions, which may then lead to the engagement in NSSI. Implications for the treatment of adolescents with NSSI and suggestions for their parents in the context of the Chinese culture context for rural areas were proposed in the study.

Although ample evidence demonstrates parental influences on delinquent behavior in adolescent years, few studies have examined how change in adolescent delinquency and change in parental behavior are related to each other, particularly in late adolescence. This study utilized survey data collected over three high school years (N = 3074 Grade 10 students; mean age = 15.57, SD = 0.74 at Time 1) to examine how change trajectory of adolescent-reported delinquency is related to change trajectory of adolescent perceived parental behavioral and psychological control using parallel process growth curve modeling. Results revealed that adolescent delinquency level was negatively associated with both parents’ behavioral control and positively associated with parents’ psychological control at Time 1 (Grade 10). However, adolescent delinquency increased in parallel with decreased parental behavioral control, but not a change in psychological control. Initial paternal behavioral control positively predicted a linear increase slope of adolescent delinquency while initial adolescent delinquency level also positively predicted a linear decrease slope of paternal behavioral control. These results highlight the parallel development of parents’ behavioral control and children’s delinquent behavior and delineate the reciprocal influence between paternal behavioral control and adolescent children’s delinquency.

Parenting, including parental psychological control, has a considerable influence on Latine adolescent behavior (Barber, 2002). Cultural values are also protective factors among Latine adolescents (Ojeda & Piña-Watson, 2014). To expand this research, the present study validated a parental psychological control measure among Mexican adolescents. It also examined how perceived maternal and paternal psychological control was associated with Mexican adolescent academic and social self-esteem and whether machismo and caballerismo played a role in these associations. Adolescents (N = 681; 49.2% female; Mage = 14.31 years, SD = 1.55 years) completed the survey at two high schools in Puebla, Mexico. A principal components analysis indicated moderately strong construct validity of psychological control measures in this sample. A series of hierarchical logistic regressions indicated maternal psychological control was negatively associated with both academic and social self-esteem. Further steps revealed that psychological control's effects on self-esteem are complexly moderated by values of machismo and caballerismo. For instance, adolescents with controlling fathers who endorsed higher levels of machismo suffered lower academic and social self-esteem than those who endorsed lower levels of machismo. Moreover, caballerismo acted as a protective factor against the negative effects of maternal psychological control (but not paternal) on social self-esteem. The present study is one of the first to examine the role of cultural values in the relationships between parental psychological control and domain-specific self-esteem in Mexican adolescents. In addition, it empirically validated a psychological control scale among Mexican adolescents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

The present study primarily aims to examine differences in the use of tobacco and alcohol by junior high school students under different parental control levels (including parental psychological control and parental behavioral control). It thus explores the regulatory effect of parental control on the relationship between adolescent sensation seeking and tobacco and alcohol use. A total of 1,050 junior high school students in Shandong province were surveyed using sensation-seeking scale, parental control scale, and adolescent health-related risk behavior questionnaire. As the results showed, (1) sensation seeking and gender had effects on the use of tobacco and alcohol among junior high school students; (2) parental psychological control can enhance and moderate the relationship between sensation seeking and the use of tobacco and alcohol; (3) parental behavioral control cannot regulate the relationship between sensation seeking and the use of tobacco and alcohol among junior high school students; and (4) no significant urban-rural differences were found regarding the regulatory effects of parental psychological control on sensation seeking and alcohol and tobacco use in junior high school students.