Parental Psychological Control and Adolescent Academic Achievement: The Mediating Role of Achievement Goal Orientation.

This study examined the multiple mediating roles of achievement goal orientation between three parental psychological control (PPC) strategies and adolescents' academic achievement. The study sample consisted of 2613 Chinese middle school adolescents (52.6% boys) who were followed for one and a half years; they completed questionnaires on PPC (including love withdrawal, guilt induction, and authority assertion), achievement goal orientation (involving the mastery approach, the performance approach, and performance-avoidance goals), and academic achievement. We found that (1) the direct effects of the three strategies on academic performance differed, with love withdrawal directly and negatively predicting adolescents' academic achievement and guilt induction and authority assertion not being significant direct predictors. (2) The mediating role of achievement goal orientations differed across the psychological control strategies. Specifically, love withdrawal led to adolescents' academic achievement through their performance-approach goal orientation, performance-avoidance goal orientation, and mastery goal orientation. Moreover, guilt induction and authority assertion had impacts only on adolescents' performance-approach and performance-avoidance goal orientations. This study highlights the negative impact of love withdrawal on adolescents' internal motivation and academic achievement by warning parents not to use this strategy to influence their children's thoughts and feelings.

Mental Imagery in the Relationship between Alexithymia and Parental Psychological Control.

This study aims to explore the mediating role of mental imagery in the relationship between alexithymia and parental psychological control among Chinese university students. Conducted between March and April 2023, this descriptive study involved 282 volunteer participants from a university in southern China. Data collection included the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS), the Parental Psychological Control Scale (PPC), and the Vividness of Visual Mental Imagery questionnaire (VVIQ). The results revealed that: (1) based on established cut-off, 81 students were identified as highly alexithymic; (2) the alexithymia group scored higher on both the TAS and PPC and lower on the VVIQ compared to the non-alexithymia and possible-alexithymia groups; and (3) mediating analysis demonstrated a strong and positive correlation between parental psychological control and alexithymia for all participants, with visual mental imagery mediating this relationship. This study underscores the interconnectedness of parental psychological control, visual mental imagery, and alexithymia among college students. The theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are also discussed.

The moderating effects of parental psychological control on the relationship between unsociability and socio-emotional functioning among Chinese children.

Introduction: 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. Methods: 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. Results: 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. Discussion: 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.

Still worried? Parental control and academic competence as antecedents of middle school students' post-transition worries.

This study examined whether parental psychological control reported by children before the transition to middle school, in the second semester of the fourth grade, is associated with children's worries after the transition to middle school, in the first semester of the fifth grade. We also evaluated the mediating role of children's post-transition perceived academic competence and the moderating role of physical transition (changing schools) on these relations. 370 Romanian early adolescents participated at both time points, with 30% of them having changed schools. Path analysis showed that the relation between children's perceptions of dependency-oriented psychological control and post-transition worries was mediated by academic competence and moderated by physical transition. Educational and counseling implications are discussed.

Corrigendum: Confirmatory factor analysis and gender invariance of the Persian version of psychological control scale: association with internalizing and externalizing behavior problems.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1128264.].

Parent-Child Discrepancies in Perceived Parental Control and Their Associations with Children's Prosocial Behaviors in Early Adolescence within Chinese Families.

How parent-child discrepancies in perceived parental control associate with children's prosocial behaviors remains unknown. This study examined this issue in 578 Chinese children (297 girls, Mage = 10.85, SDage = 0.72) and their mothers and fathers. Parents and children reported parental psychological and behavioral control, and children reported their prosocial behaviors. The latent difference scores modeling showed that compared to parents' perceptions, children's higher perceptions of guilt induction were related to more public prosocial behaviors; higher perceptions of love withdrawal were linked to fewer altruistic, compliant, emotional, and dire prosocial behaviors; and higher reporting of solicitation was associated with more general prosocial behaviors. The findings revealed the association between parent-child discrepancies and early adolescents' prosocial behaviors, supporting both the discrepancy-maladaptive hypotheses and the discrepancy-adaptive hypotheses within Chinese families.

Bidirectional Longitudinal Associations between Parental Psychological Control and Peer Victimization among Chinese Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction.

Despite evidence indicating a connection between inappropriate parenting styles and peer victimization, the dynamic processes and mechanisms underlying this link and whether it is consistent across genders and different developmental stages have yet to be explored. To address these gaps, the current 2-year longitudinal study explored the potential bidirectional associations between parental psychological control and peer victimization, as well as the mediating role of adolescent basic psychological need satisfaction. A total of 4,990 adolescents (49.4% boys, Mage T1 = 12.21 years, SDage T1 = 2.60) across different developmental stages (early adolescents, N = 1,819, 49.2% boys, Mage T1 = 9.34 years, SDage T1 = 0.62; middle adolescents, N = 1,525, 50.75% boys, Mage T1 = 12.47 years, SDage T1 = 0.69; late adolescents, N = 1,646, 46.5% boys, Mage T1 = 15.26 years, SDage T1 = 0.50) participated in this three-wave longitudinal survey. The results revealed that parental psychological control was bidirectionally associated with peer victimization. Additionally, basic psychological need satisfaction played the meditating role in this vicious cycle. Further analysis demonstrated interesting developmental differences. Parental psychological control was directly associated with subsequent peer victimization at all three developmental stages, and peer victimization was only directly associated with subsequent parental psychological control in the next year among early adolescents and middle adolescents. The mutual mediating role of basic psychological need satisfaction between parental psychological control and peer victimization was observed exclusively in early adolescents. Both male and female adolescents could be equally affected by these dynamics. This research underscores the reciprocal dynamics inherent in parent-child interactions, intervening in either of these processes (i.e., family, peers, and adolescent basic psychological need satisfaction) may break this destructive cycle.

Parental Psychological Control, the Parent-Adolescent Relationship, and Non-suicidal Self-Injury Among Chinese Adolescents: The Moderating Effect of the Oxytocin Receptor Gene rs53576 Polymorphism.

Parental psychological control (PPC) is associated with adolescent non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI); however, its underlying mechanisms have not been extensively investigated. Considering that genetic and environmental factors interactively influence adolescent development, this study examined whether the parent-adolescent relationship mediated the link between PPC and adolescent NSSI, and whether this mediating process was moderated by the oxytocin receptor gene rs53576 polymorphism (OXTR rs53576). Participants comprised 673 adolescents (Meanage = 12.81 years, SD = 0.48 years) who completed questionnaires regarding PPC, the parent-adolescent relationship, and NSSI. DNA was extracted from each participant's saliva samples. The results indicated that the positive association between PPC and adolescent NSSI was mediated by the parent-adolescent relationship. Moreover, this indirect link was stronger for adolescents with AA homozygotes of OXTR rs53576 than for those with the GG or AG genotype. These findings extend our understanding of the association between PPC and adolescent NSSI and suggest that a simultaneous focus on PPC, the parent-adolescent relationship, and OXTR rs53576 may favor NSSI interventions.

Development of beliefs in a just world among Chinese early adolescents and the predictive role of family factors: A three-wave longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVE: This study explored how belief in a just world (BJW) develops among Chinese adolescents and the predictive role of family factors. BACKGROUND: The development of BJW in adolescence is an important but understudied topic, especially in non-Western contexts. METHOD: Using a three-wave longitudinal design, 1525 participants (48% girls; Mage = 12.47) were recruited to report their BJW, childhood SES, only-child or not, and parental psychological control in Wave 1 (Wave 2: N = 1262; Wave 3: N = 1124). RESULTS: The mean slope for personal BJW is positive and significant, but not significant for general BJW. Childhood SES predicted initial level of personal and general BJW and the rate of growth of personal BJW. Only-child predicted initial level and the growth rate of personal BJW. Parental psychological control negatively predicted personal and general BJW at three time points. CONCLUSION: Personal BJW increased during the observation period, whereas general BJW was stable. Individuals with lower levels of childhood SES had lower initial personal and general BJW but a higher growth rate in personal BJW than those with higher SES. Individuals having siblings had lower levels of initial personal BJW but a higher growth rate in personal BJW than those from only-child family. Parental psychological control may exert consistent and contemporaneous negative effect on BJW across time.

Perceived Psychological Control Relates to Coping-related Drinking Motives via Social Anxiety Among Adolescents: A Cross-sectional Mediation Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Accumulating evidence suggests that particular parenting behaviors (e.g., elevated psychological control) may increase risk for both problematic social anxiety and alcohol use among youth; however, no work has yet examined these factors together in a single model. Building developmentally-sensitive models of problematic alcohol use trajectories is key to developing effective prevention and intervention strategies. METHOD: The present study includes 94 adolescents (ages 14-17 years; 53.3% girls; 89.2% White) entering a treatment facility for a variety of internalizing and externalizing forms of psychological distress. Levels of perceived parental psychological control, social anxiety, and coping-related drinking motives were assessed. RESULTS: Higher levels of perceived psychological control was associated with a greater endorsement of coping-related drinking motives; however, a significant proportion of that association was accounted for by elevated social anxiety symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: These data extend the existing literature and lay groundwork for more sophisticated experimental and longitudinal designs to corroborate the findings. Moreover, personality-targeted drinking interventions for adolescents may benefit from identifying elevated perceived psychological control as a developmentally relevant risk-factor for social anxiety and problematic drinking motives and administering relevant interventions (e.g., personality-targeted coping skills training, parent-involved care) before drinking patterns are established.

Predicting Chinese Adolescents' Depressive Symptoms from Their Cultural Orientations and Perceived Parental Psychological Control.

Research on adolescents across cultures has suggested a positive link between parental psychological control and adolescent depression. While a few studies have examined psychological outcomes of adolescents in collectivist groups compared to individualist groups, much less is known about the role of cultural orientations in the parental control-depression link at the individual level. The current study examined: (1) both mother and father psychological control as predictors of depressive symptoms in Chinese adolescents, (2) adolescents' cultural orientations of individualism and collectivism as predictors of their depressive symptoms, and (3) the moderating effects of adolescents' cultural orientations on the association between parental control and depressive symptoms. The sample included 3255 adolescents located in southern China. Adolescents reported on their orientations of individualism and collectivism, perceived mothers' and fathers' psychological control, and their depressive symptoms. Analyses revealed that both mother and father psychological control as well as adolescents' individualism were positive predictors of adolescent depressive symptoms, whereas collectivism was a negative predictor of depressive symptoms. Furthermore, the results indicated that cultural orientations had weak moderating effects on the link between parental control and adolescent depressive symptoms. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Longitudinal associations of parental psychological control and friend support with autonomy during early adolescence.

Although theories suggest transactional associations between adolescents' autonomy and relationships with parents and friends, few studies have examined these within-person effects. This longitudinal study examined the within-person co-development of adolescents' autonomy and relationships with parents and friends. Adolescents (N = 244 Mage = 11.54, SD = 0.43 at T1; 50% boys) participated in a four-wave study across 2 years in the Netherlands. In random-intercept cross-lagged panel models, within-person results showed that higher levels of autonomy predicted less parental psychological control but not vice versa. However, no lagged-effects between friend support and autonomy were found. This study suggests that adolescents' autonomy steers changes in parental psychological control.

Parental Burnout and Adolescents' Development: Family Environment, Academic Performance, and Social Adaptation.

The present study aimed to examine the effect and underlying mechanism of parental burnout on adolescents' development as well as the mediating role of parental psychological control. Adolescents' academic performance, and social distress were selected as developmental indicators. Data were collected on three different occasions using a time-lagged design. Questionnaires were distributed to 565 Chinese families. In the first phase of data collection, fathers and mothers were asked to provide data regarding their parental burnout separately. In the second phase, adolescents were asked to provide details regarding their perceived father and mother's psychological control. In the third phase, adolescents were asked to provide information on their social distress. At the end of their term, academic performance scores on the final exams were collected. In total, data of 290 students (135 boys; Mage = 13.85 years) and their parents (for fathers age M = 41.91, and for mothers M = 40.76) were matched. The results of the multi-group structural equation model showed that parental burnout was negatively related to adolescents' development indirectly through parental psychological control. Parental psychological control partial mediated the relation between parental burnout and academic performance, and fully mediated the relation between parental burnout with social adaptation. In addition, mothers' parental burnout showed a stronger effect than fathers'. Mothers' parental burnout generally showed significant effects on adolescents' development, while the same indirect effects were not significant in the sample of fathers. These results showed the importance of mothers' influence on adolescents in parenting activities, and therefore, attention should be paid to mothers in the intervention and prevention of parental burnout.

School bullying and its risk and protective factors in Chinese early adolescents: A latent transition analysis.

Bullying perpetration and victimization are common and problematic occurrences during adolescence. Typically, bullying incidents involve different bullying roles. However, little is known about the developmental stability and changes in these roles. In the present study, we aimed to assess the stability and changes in bullying roles and examine risk and protective factors associated with bullying involvement. A total of 1711 Chinese early adolescents (47.4% girls, Mage = 11.99) participated in the study at two time points approximately 6 months apart. Three subgroups of bullying were identified: bully-victims, victims, and the uninvolved. In terms of stability and changes, the uninvolved were the most stable over time, while victims and bully-victims tended to become the uninvolved. Bully-victims also tended to become victims. Early adolescents with higher levels of parental psychological control and depression symptoms were more likely to be victims or bully-victims. Higher levels of depression symptoms increased the risk of transitioning from being the uninvolved or bully-victims to becoming victims. Higher levels of friendship quality were associated with higher odds of being the uninvolved or transitioning from being victims or bully-victims to becoming the uninvolved. Our findings indicate that bullying roles were relatively stable, with some changes over time. The results also highlight the important function that parental psychological control, friendship quality, and depression symptoms can play in preventing and intervening in bullying.

Confirmatory factor analysis and gender invariance of the Persian version of psychological control scale: association with internalizing and externalizing behavior problems.

Introduction: The current cross-sectional study aimed to examine the reliability, construct validity, gender invariance and concurrent validity of the psychological control scale-youth self-report (PCS-YSR) among Iranian adolescents. Methods: A total of 1,453 high school students (49.2% boys; Mage = 15.48, SD = 0.97), who aged between 14 and 18 years old completed the PCS-YSR and the youth self-report (YSR) scale of behavior problems. Results: Reliability was established using Cronbach's alpha and ordinal alpha for maternal and paternal psychological control. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) results supported the original unidimensional model of the PCS-YSR scale for both mother and father forms. Results also revealed that mother and father forms of PCS-YSR were invariant across adolescents' gender. When comparing the mean differences, mothers were more psychologically controlling toward their sons, compared to their daughters. The mother and father forms of PCS-YSR were found to have acceptable concurrent validity through their relationship to internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems. Discussion: Overall, our findings supported the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Psychological Control Scale-Youth Self-Report among Iranian adolescents. This scale can be used as an efficient tool for parental psychological control among adolescents in Iran. The negative effect of the intrusive parenting behavior on child' negative outcomes in Iran, irrespective of culture, was shown.

Parental Psychological Control and Addiction Behaviors in Smartphone and Internet: The Mediating Role of Shyness among Adolescents.

Parental psychological control has been found to be a vital familial factor that is closely related to adolescents' addiction behaviors with regard to smartphones and the internet. However, the underlying mechanisms of these associations are less clear. The aim of the present study was to examine whether shyness mediated the relationships between parental psychological control and these two addiction behaviors. A positivist paradigm was used in the present study. The questionnaires (parental psychological control, shyness, and smartphone and internet addiction questionnaires) were used to collect data from a sample of 1857 Chinese adolescents (961 female, 896 male) in junior and senior middle schools. Descriptive statistics as well as correlation and mediation tests were employed to analyze the data. We observed that adolescents with siblings showed a higher level of internet addiction than those with no siblings. Moreover, three dimensions of parental psychological control were positively associated with addiction behaviors. The following analyses displayed that the correlation between authority assertion and smartphone addiction was greater than that between authority assertion and internet addiction. Subsequently, shyness was significantly positively related to parental psychological control and addiction behaviors. Importantly, we found that the relations between the three dimensions of parental psychological control and the addiction behaviors concerning smartphones and the internet were partially mediated by shyness. This study contributes to our understanding of how parental psychological control predicts high levels of adolescents' addiction behaviors surrounding smartphones and the internet.

Parental psychological control and adolescent social problems: The mediating effect of emotion regulation.

This study aimed to investigate relationships among parental psychological control, adolescent emotion regulation, and social problems in China. In total, 1,145 adolescents aged 12-15 years participated in the study, which used the Parental Psychological Control Scale, Adolescent Problem Behavior Scale, and Emotion Regulation Scale. The results indicated the following: (1) Compared with only-child teens, adolescents in multi-child families had significant social problems; (2) parental psychological control significantly predicted adolescents' social problems; (3) there was a partially mediating effect of adolescents' emotion regulation between parental psychological control and adolescents' social problems.

Initial validation of the Chinese version VIA Youth-96 and age-related changes in character strengths among adolescents.

This study aimed to preliminary examine the psychometric properties of the Chinese version 96-item VIA Inventory for Youth (VIA Youth-96) by analyzing the internal consistency, factorial validity, and criterion validity, and to examine the age-related changes in character strengths (CSs) among adolescents. The sample consisted of 959 adolescents aged 10-17 (49.5% boys). Participants completed the Chinese version VIA Youth-96, along with the Perceived Parental Autonomy Support Scale, and questionnaires assessing life satisfaction and self-efficacy online. The Chinese version VIA Youth-96 showed a good fit for the original four-factor structure, and CS scores were significantly correlated with life satisfaction and self-efficacy indicating a good criterion validity of the scale. The internal consistency was 0.54-0.86 for subscales. Moreover, this study revealed significant age-related changes in CSs among adolescents, eight CSs significantly linearly declined by age. These results suggested that the Chinese version VIA Youth-96 is a valid tool for assessing CSs in adolescents and that CSs are declined linearly by age during adolescence.

Relationship between parental psychological control and suicide ideation in Chinese adolescents: Chained mediation through resilience and maladjustment problems.

Suicide ideation is an essential predictor of suicide deaths and is highly prevalent among Chinese adolescents. Several studies have highlighted the significant association between parental psychological control and suicide ideation. However, few studies have focused on the potential mechanisms underlying this relationship. This study investigated the chained mediating effects of resilience and maladjustment problems on the relationship between parental psychological control and suicide ideation among Chinese adolescents. A total of 2,042 students in junior high school completed measurements. The results revealed significant correlations among parental psychological control, resilience, maladjustment problems and suicide ideation. Even after controlling for the effects of gender and grade, parental psychological control positively predicted a significant effect of suicide ideation. Furthermore, suicide ideation was linked with parental psychological control through three pathways: the mediating role of resilience, the mediating role of maladjustment problems, and the chained mediating roles of resilience and maladjustment problems. These findings have broad implications for the field of suicide studies. High levels of parental psychological control, low levels of resilience, and high levels of maladjustment problems may increase the occurrence of suicide ideation.

Parental Psychological Control and Children's Prosocial Behavior: The Mediating Role of Social Anxiety and the Moderating Role of Socioeconomic Status.

Complementing internalizing and externalizing developmental outcomes of parental psychological control, in this study, we shift the focus to children's prosocial behaviors. Drawing on self-determination theory and problem-behavior theory, this study addresses the relationship between parental psychological control, social anxiety, socioeconomic status (SES), and children's prosocial behavior. The parental psychological control scale, social anxiety scale for children, and prosocial behavior were applied in the study. Participants were 1202 elementary school-age children in China. The present study showed that parental psychological control was negatively associated with prosocial behavior and social anxiety played a partial mediating role between parental psychological control and prosocial behavior. Meanwhile, SES moderated the relationship between parental psychological control and prosocial behavior. The effect of parental psychological control on prosocial behavior was more significant among students with low levels of SES than the higher ones. The findings showed that parenting plays an essential role in the development of children's prosociality.