Controlling Parenting Style Research Articles

Parenting styles and adolescents’ school engagement: The mediating role of future orientation

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between parenting styles and adolescents’ school engagement, and the mediating role of future orientation, as well as the differences across four educational stages. A total of 1501 students from Northeast China participated in this survey, including primary school students (n = 518), middle school students (n = 338), high school students (n = 335) and college students (n = 260). The questionnaires assessed parenting styles (caring, autonomy support, and controlling), future orientation, and school engagement. Results showed that at all educational stages, caring and autonomy support parenting styles have a direct positive effect on adolescents’ school engagement, while controlling parenting style has a negative effect. In addition, the adolescents’ future orientation mediated the link between parenting styles and school engagement. This indirect effects model has developmental stage differences across three different parenting styles. The findings highlight the mechanisms of influence of parenting styles on adolescents’ school engagement and the important role of future orientation.

Barriers to mediation among U.S. parents of adolescents: A mixed-methods study of why parents choose not to monitor or restrict digital media use

This mixed-methods study considers why parents do not establish or maintain strategies to manage adolescents' media use. In focus groups and interviews, U.S. parents of adolescents (ages 10–17 years) described barriers including beliefs, attitudes, and values; concerns about family conflicts; and social-structural factors, such as burnout from other professional and parenting demands or how the actions of other parents constrained their own opportunities for mediation. We used this exploratory thematic analysis to develop a questionnaire tested with a national survey of U.S. parents. In factor analysis, barriers items clustered together as mediation roadblocks, issues that keep parents from initiating or continuing mediation even when they intend to; and mediation resistance, when parents question mediation practice that did not align with values like support for adolescent autonomy. Parents were much more likely to agree that values-based resistance to mediation was a barrier to monitoring or restricting adolescent media use. In addition, parents with older children and parents whose children reported that they had a controlling parenting style were more likely to agree with monitoring and restrictive mediation roadblocks. Our findings demonstrate that parental mediation research should consider how parents’ values align, or contrast with, recommended practices and how the barriers parents encounter can be addressed to enable effective mediation.

Parenting, dyadic coping, and child emotion regulation in lesbian, gay, and heterosexual parent families through assisted reproduction

ABSTRACT Aims The present study examined the associations between family structure, parenting, and dyadic coping and children’s emotion regulation in lesbian, gay, and heterosexual parent families through assisted reproduction. It also explored differences in parenting dimensions and dyadic coping, based on parents’ sexual orientation. Methods Participants were 60 lesbian mothers through donor insemination, 50 gay fathers through surrogacy, and 42 heterosexual parents through gamete donation, all with a child aged 6–12 years (M = 8.67; SD = 2.16; 48.68% females) and residing in Italy. In each family, both parents reported parenting stress, parent – child relational self-efficacy, parental control, dyadic coping, and their perception of the child’s emotion regulation. Results Mixed models indicated no significant differences between family types in parenting stress and use of a controlling parenting style. However, lesbian mothers reported higher parent – child relational self-efficacy than heterosexual parents, and higher dyadic coping strategies than gay fathers. Also, children of gay fathers showed greater emotion regulation than children of heterosexual parents. Across family types, higher levels of parenting stress and dyadic coping, and lower levels of parent – child relational self-efficacy were associated with lower child emotion regulation. Conclusion Given that in middle childhood, across family types, better emotional regulation was associated with lower parenting stress and dyadic coping, and greater effectiveness in the parent – child relationship clinical work should focus on the parent’s and couple’s ability to cooperatively manage stressors while maintaining a balanced focus on their children’s resources and autonomy.

Parental bonding style and illness severity in a longitudinal study of individuals with first episode psychosis.

A parenting style with high amounts of control combined with low caring or nurturing behaviour has been reported in association with mental disorders including schizophrenia. However, the association of parenting style with illness severity in individuals with schizophrenia has never been evaluated retrospectively or over a longitudinal time course. In a subset (n = 84) of the participants included in the AESOP (Aetiology and Ethnicity in Schizophrenia and Other Psychoses)-10 study, we evaluated participants' perceptions of their own parents' bonding style at the time of their first episode of psychosis using the parental bonding instrument (PBI). We then examined the association between different bonding styles, illness course and severity, and global functioning over a 10-year follow-up. Participants who perceived that their fathers had a more caring and less controlling parenting style showed better functioning at follow-up. However, in contrast to previous research, participants who reported having been subject to uncaring and controlling parenting styles were not found to have a notably worse course of illness or symptom severity over the follow-up period. These results indicate that more optimal parental bonding styles may be associated with better overall functioning in individuals with psychosis but not with other measures of illness outcome.

Controlling parenting and perfectionism is associated with an increased error-related negativity (ERN) in young adults.

A substantial amount of research focuses on the error-related negativity (ERN)—a negative deflection in the event-related potential waveform that occurs when individuals commit errors on lab-based tasks. The ERN has been link to concurrent and prospective risk for psychopathology and is thought to index sensitivity or reactivity to errors. The ERN can be potentiated in the lab with punishment and has been shown to be increased among offspring of harsh or controlling parents. A separate line of work has demonstrated that the ERN is increased among individuals high in perfectionism. In the current study, we integrate these separate lines of work by examining parenting styles, perfectionism and the ERN in a sample of young adults. Results suggest that the ERN is increased among offspring of controlling parents (both maternal and paternal). Additionally, the ERN is increased among individuals who report being high in perfectionism—specifically, the concerns over mistake and the personal standard perfectionism subscales of the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale. Moreover, results supported a mediation model wherein the indirect pathway from controlling parenting style to perfectionism (personal standard subscale) was mediated by the ERN—for paternal parenting.

Perceived Parenting Styles among Drug Addict and Non-Addict Medical Students

Current study was planned to find out the difference between the perceived parenting styles of drug addict and non-addict medical students. Total sample of the study was two hundred (N=200) medical students that comprised of one hundred addict (n=100) and one hundred (n=100) non-addict medical students with age range of 18 to 29 years. Data was collected from different medical colleges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through convenient and snow ball techniques. Data was collected through adolescent’s alcohol and drug usage scale (Moberg, 1991)and parenting styles questionnaire (Buri, 1991) . The results of the study indicated that authoritative parenting style was significantly reported by non-addict medical students, whereas addict medical students reported higher scores on authoritarian parenting style. It can be therefore concluded from the findings of the study that parenting styles play a significant role in the mental wellbeing and promotion of healthy habits among youth. The study supports the idea that controlling parenting style may contribute to promote mental health problems among youth such as drug addiction.

The relation between children’s task‐specific competence and mothers’ controlling practices

AbstractIn the guided learning domain of socialization, studies examining the antecedents of controlling parenting suggest that children’s lack of competence in a task could trigger controlling practices in that task. However, a stringent test of this relation remains to be conducted. This study examined this relation using a sample of 101 children (Mage = 10.21 years) and their mothers, a standardized measure of children’s competence in a task that was unfamiliar to the participants, and multi‐informant observational measures of maternal controlling practices during a mother–child interaction involving that task (rated by an independent coder and the children). Path analyses showed that children’s initial lack of competence in a task was related to higher levels of coded maternal controlling practices during a subsequent mother–child interaction involving that task, which in turn were positively linked to children’s perceptions of their mothers’ practices as controlling. A bootstrap analysis also confirmed that the indirect link from children’s competence to perceived maternal controlling practices through coded maternal controlling practices was significant. These effects were observed while controlling for mothers’ self‐reported controlling parenting style and perceptions of their children’s academic skills. Implications of these findings for the promotion of optimal parenting and future research directions are discussed.

The Impacts of Parenting Style and Perceived Childhood Attachment on Children’s Concept of God

Background:: Children are first educated in their families. Parents by adapting different parenting styles consciously and in most cases unconsciously teach their children important educational doctrines. Objectives:: This study aimed to determine the impacts of parenting style and perceived childhood attachment on children’s concept of God. In this descriptive correlational study, 375 students of Islamic Azad university of Birjand were selected via multi-stage sampling. Materials and Methods:: The subjects completed the questionnaires related to parenting style, perceived parental attachment, and concept of God. The obtained model was a good fit for the data, and the psychological pattern revealed that controlling parenting style (insecure mother-child attachment) promotes dependence on God and encourages the perception of God as a controller. Also, supportive parenting via forming parent-child attachments (insecure father-child attachment) could predict the child’s view of God as a controller. Results:: Good parenting style was not directly correlated with the perception of God; however, it could improve one’s positive perception of God through increasing or decreasing attachment to parents. In addition, poor and rejecting parenting style both directly and indirectly affects the concept of God by increasing children’s mistrust toward parents and decreasing dependence on God. Conclusions:: Uncaring, rejecting parenting style is more remarkable in decreasing positive attitudes toward God, compared to authoritative parenting style.

The Impacts of Parenting Style and Perceived Childhood Attachment on Children’s Concept of God

Background:: Children are first educated in their families. Parents by adapting different parenting styles consciously and in most cases unconsciously teach their children important educational doctrines. Objectives:: This study aimed to determine the impacts of parenting style and perceived childhood attachment on children’s concept of God. In this descriptive correlational study, 375 students of Islamic Azad university of Birjand were selected via multi-stage sampling. Materials and Methods:: The subjects completed the questionnaires related to parenting style, perceived parental attachment, and concept of God. The obtained model was a good fit for the data, and the psychological pattern revealed that controlling parenting style (insecure mother-child attachment) promotes dependence on God and encourages the perception of God as a controller. Also, supportive parenting via forming parent-child attachments (insecure father-child attachment) could predict the child’s view of God as a controller. Results:: Good parenting style was not directly correlated with the perception of God; however, it could improve one’s positive perception of God through increasing or decreasing attachment to parents. In addition, poor and rejecting parenting style both directly and indirectly affects the concept of God by increasing children’s mistrust toward parents and decreasing dependence on God. Conclusions:: Uncaring, rejecting parenting style is more remarkable in decreasing positive attitudes toward God, compared to authoritative parenting style.

Raising trophy kids: The role of mothers' contingent self-esteem in maternal promotion of extrinsic goals

This study examined the role of mothers' child-invested contingent self-esteem, that is, their tendency to hinge their self-worth on their child's achievements, in maternal promotion of extrinsic goals, as perceived by adolescents. It was also examined whether maternal promotion of extrinsic goals would, in turn, relate to adolescents' Social Dominance Orientation (SDO). Participants were 184 mothers and their adolescent children (66% female). Maternal child-invested contingent self-esteem predicted adolescent-perceived maternal promotion of extrinsic goals, even when taking into account the variance shared between the promotion of extrinsic goals and mothers' use of a controlling parenting style. Maternal child-invested contingent self-esteem also moderated associations between mothers' personal pursuit of extrinsic goals and their promotion of those goals, such that the association between mothers' own extrinsic goals and their promotion of those goals was significant only among mothers high on child-invested contingent self-esteem. Maternal promotion of extrinsic goals was, in turn, related to adolescent SDO, suggesting that the dynamics examined in this study ultimately relate to adolescents' social and ideological development.

An Examination of the Dynamics Involved in Parental Child-Invested Contingent Self-Esteem

SYNOPSISObjective. The present study examined dynamics involved in parents’ tendency to hinge their self-esteem on their children’s achievements (i.e., child-invested contingent self-esteem). In two studies, a model was tested in which perceived social pressure to be an achievement-promoting parent, and parents’ own controlled causality orientation, served as antecedents of parental child-invested contingent self-esteem which, in turn, was related to achievement-oriented psychologically controlling parenting. Design. Study 1 was a cross-sectional study in which 254 mothers, 248 fathers, and their 12-year-old children completed a self-report survey. Study 2 was a short-term longitudinal study of 186 parents of 10-year-old children. Results. Both studies provided support for the hypothesized model. Study 1 showed that the model held even when controlling for parents’ level of self-esteem. Study 2 showed that increases in parental child-invested contingent self-esteem were related to increases in achievement-oriented psychologically controlling parenting even when controlling for child performance. Conclusions. Parents’ tendency to invest their self-worth in their child’s performance is related to a psychologically controlling parenting style and is influenced by parents’ personality as well as their perception of the social environment.

Rebels with a cause? Adolescent defiance from the perspective of reactance theory and self-determination theory.

The present investigation focused on adolescents' defiance against parents by drawing upon psychological reactance theory (Brehm, 1966) and self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Psychological reactance would be elicited when freedom is taken away, thereby motivating individuals to engage in oppositional behavior. Throughout four studies (total N=1,472, age ranging between 12 and 21years), it was examined whether a controlling parenting style related to adolescents' experiences of autonomy need frustration (i.e., pressure) and reactance. Reactance, in turn, would relate to more externalizing and internalizing problems. Support was obtained for these associations in community and clinical samples, making use of different informants, and controlling for responsiveness and rule setting. A vignette-based study provided further support. The discussion highlights theoretical and clinical implications.

The role of parental style in the conduct disorders: A comparison between adolescent boys with and without conduct disorder

ObjectiveAn important contributing factor, but one that has not been investigated thoroughly in South Africa, is the role of parental styles which has been consistently found to be a precursor of conduct disorder.MethodTo establish whether specific parental factors that contribute to this disorder in a South African sample, the Parental Bonding Instrument and the Family Environment Scale were administered to 2 groups of adolescent boys: a group diagnosed with conduct disorder (n = 40) and a group without a diagnosis of conduct disorder (n = 40). To test for significant differences between the two groups, t-tests were performed.ResultsA typical parenting style characterised by low care by the mother and overprotection by the father, which forms an affectionless, controlling parenting style, was found in the children in the conduct disorder group. This type of parenting style results in high control, low expressiveness of emotions, minimal involvement with children, and inadequate supervision and monitoring of children.ConclusionThe study provided sufficient evidence to conclude that a specific style of parenting can contribute to the aetiology of conduct disorder.

가정의 경제적 불안, 아버지의 우울감, 부부관계 및 강압적 양육방식과 유아의 문제행동

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of family economic distress, paternal depression, marital relationship, and controlling parenting style on behavioral problems in young children and to present a program for their reduction. The participants of this study were 344 fathers, whose young children were attending kindergartens located in Cheongju city. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, frequency, factor analysis, reliability analysis, and Pearson`s productive correlation, t and F-tests via the SPSS 12.0 program, with the path model analyzed using the AMOS 7.0 program. There were six paths where family economic distress, mediated by paternal depression, marital relationship, controlling parenting style, had effects on the behavioral problems in young children. However, the path where family economic distress had an indirect effect on the behavioral problems in young children via paternal depression and marital relationship appeared to be the most influential. Also, paternal depression appeared to have the most impact on young children`s behavioral problems.

Chinese parenting in Hong Kong: links among goals, beliefs and styles

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among parental goals, parental beliefs and parenting styles. Questionnaires were completed during interviews with 189 Hong Kong‐Chinese mothers of children aged six to eight years. Results indicated that these mothers embraced Chinese parental beliefs (guan) and Chinese parental goals of filial piety and harmonious social relationships. In contrast to other studies on Chinese parenting, this study examined Chinese mothers’ adoption of psychological control in addition to authoritarian and authoritative parenting. Participants’ main styles were found to be authoritative and psychologically controlling rather than authoritarian as reported in previous research. Parental goals were found to mediate the effect of parental beliefs on adoption of parenting styles. Mothers who embraced guan and filial piety reported either an authoritarian or a psychologically controlling parenting style, while those who embraced guan and harmonious social relationships adopted an authoritative parenting style.

Longitudinal examination of maternal psychological control and adolescents' self‐competence as predictors of bulimic symptoms among boys and girls

Because bulimia nervosa is a problem among adolescents, it remains essential to examine its precursors. The specific etiologic chain investigated in this study is such that maternal psychological control first leads to adolescents' lowered self-competence, which in turn predicts bulimic symptoms. Self-report data were collected from 58 boys and 73 girls during sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Participants reported on maternal psychological control, self-competence, and bulimic symptoms. Using structural equation modeling, we tested our hypothesized longitudinal indirect effects model separately for boys and girls. Results indeed indicated that high maternal psychological control in sixth grade led to lowered adolescents' self-competence in seventh grade, which in turn predicted increased bulimic symptoms in eighth grade for both boys and girls. This study uncovers one particular process wherein a psychologically controlling parenting style affects adolescents' development of bulimic symptoms, a finding that may be useful to researchers and clinicians.

Familiendynamik und Familientherapie bei Zwangsstörungen

Obsessive-compulsive disorders and behaviours characterising an anancastic personality disorder have a direct interpersonal impact. Conflicts of subjects with OCD are often focussed on control and submission, order and cleanliness, a technical-signal processing cognitive style and insecure self-object-boundaries. In the patients families obsessive compulsive disorders and behviours, restrictions in the development of autonomy and a controlling parenting style are often to be found. Unsecure attachment is discussed as one possible contribution to the development of OCD. Relatives are often involved in obsessive-compulsive symptoms. The psychosocial burden on them is often considerable. The inclusion of the family into the treatment of children and adolescents improves treatment results.

Locus of control, perceived parenting style, and symptoms of anxiety and depression in children with Tourette’s syndrome

This study explored the contribution of two psychosocial factors, locus of control (LOC) and perceived parenting style, to symptoms of internalizing disorders in children with Tourette syndrome (TS). This contribution was further evaluated in relation to TS severity. Sixty-five children (53 boys, 12 girls) ages 9.0-16.9 years, of normal intelligence, completed questionnaires evaluating their depression and anxiety symptoms, LOC, and maternal parenting style. Their mothers rated TS severity, determined by tic severity, symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obsessive compulsive symptoms (OCS). Higher rates of symptoms of anxiety and depression were associated with a more external LOC and a more rejecting and controlling parenting style. Additionally, depression correlated significantly with tic severity, ADHD and OCS, whereas anxiety correlated only with ADHD symptoms and OCS, but not with tics. Regression analyses showed that LOC, OCS and ADHD symptoms each significantly contributed to predicting anxiety level, whereas LOC and ADHD symptoms significantly contributed to predicting depression symptoms. Rates of symptoms of anxiety and depression in children with TS are markedly influenced by psychosocial factors, extending beyond the influence of ADHD and OCD, both common comorbid disorders in TS. An internal LOC, which is associated with an accepting and autonomy-granting parenting style, appears to be a protective factor against anxiety and depression.

Parenting style and obsessive‐compulsive symptoms and personality traits in a student sample

AbstractThere is widespread acceptance of the idea that aspects of parenting such as overprotectiveness and perfectionism contribute to the pathogenesis of obsessive‐compulsive disorder (OCD). Less resolved is whether the important dimensions of parenting are overprotectiveness, lack of acceptance, authoritarian style, discouragement of risk‐taking, and/or induction of guilt. It is also unclear whether different parenting characteristics are associated with the development of symptoms of OCD, compared to the traits of obsessive‐compulsive personality disorder (OCPD). OCD symptoms and OC personality traits were measured in a non‐clinical, student sample and correlated with students' report of parents' acceptance, disciplinary firmness, and psychological control (a construct which included psychological manipulation and guilt‐induction). Following the literature on both clinical and subclinical OCD and OCPD, we predicted that all three scales would correlate with OCD symptoms and OCPD traits. Stepwise regression analysis revealed that psychological control was the unique predictor, controlling for depressive symptoms. Unexpectedly, a controlling parenting style was not selectively associated with classical OC symptoms or OC personality traits. Rather, psychological control was associated with a broad‐spectrum of anxiety and depressive symptoms which cut across diagnostic boundaries. Findings are generally compatible with a single underlying vulnerability to both OCD and OCPD, as well as generalized/social anxiety and depressive symptoms, which can be shaped by cultural and familial factors to a specific clinical presentation. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.