NCJ Number
219209
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 36 Issue: 5 Dated: July 2007 Pages: 673-684
Date Published
July 2007
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This study explored the relationship between adolescents’ perceptions of their parents’ psychological control and adolescents’ self-reported internalizing and aggressive behaviors.
Abstract
Results indicated that adolescent perceptions of parents’ psychological control at the first data collection time did not predict changes in adolescents’ internalizing and aggressive behaviors. However, internalizing and aggressive behaviors reported at the first data collection time did significantly predict increases in adolescents’ perceptions of their mothers’ and fathers’ psychologically controlling behaviors at the second data collection time. Moreover, higher relational aggression by adolescents reported at time 1 predicted increases in adolescents’ perceptions of mothers as psychologically controlling at time 2. The findings provide support for child effects on the perception of their parents’ psychological control. Future research investigating how parents’ psychological control is related to their adolescents’ behavior should take into consideration both parent and child effects and should draw on longitudinal data. Data were collected from a randomly selected community sample of 530 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 19 years at the first data collection period. Participants were randomly sampled from household telephone numbers listed in the white pages of a medium sized Canadian city. Participants completed two questionnaire interviews administered in person in their home on two occasions approximately 2 years apart. The questionnaire focused on adolescents’ perceptions of their parents’ psychological control, adolescent internalizing behavior, and engagement in physical or relational aggression. Data were analyzed using hierarchical regression analyses. Tables, references