Bedouin mothers' sense of authentic inner compass as a parenting resource: Relations with autonomy-supportive parenting and adolescents' well-being.

INTRODUCTION: Sense of authentic inner compass (AIC) is the feeling that one knows what is important to oneself because one has values, aspirations, and goals with which one deeply identifies. Past research demonstrated the benefits of AIC, but there is no published research on parental dispositions promoting youth AIC. To increase knowledge of this issue, we examined whether mothers' sense of AIC is associated with a corresponding sense of AIC in their children, and explored autonomy-supportive child-rearing practices that may serve as pathways linking mothers' AIC with adolescents' AIC and subsequent well-being. We examined a Bedouin Israeli sample because it represents a fairly patriarchal, autonomy-eschewing, context, where the benefits of mothers' authenticity and autonomy-support are not obvious. METHOD: One hundred and thirty-six mothers (Mean age = 44.33, SD = 5.22) and their children (Mean age = 13.79, SD = 0.45; 60% females) participated in a study conducted in June 2019. RESULTS: SEM analyses supported a model where mothers' sense of firm AIC was linked with adolescents' sense of firm AIC via adolescents' experience of their mothers as using the practices of inherent value demonstration and fostering inner valuing. Adolescent reported AIC in turn was associated with adolescents reported vitality and low levels of depressive symptoms. Mothers' AIC was associated with minimal use of conditional regard, which was negatively associated with depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that mothers' AIC may be an important parenting resource, enabling mothers to convincingly demonstrate their values, as well as foster children's attunement to their authentic preferences, even in patriarchal-hierarchical contexts.

Parental conditional regard: A meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Parental conditional regard involves parents giving or withdrawing affection and approval, depending on children's and adolescents' compliance with parental expectations, to shape behaviors and traits. Research grounded in self-determination theory suggests parental conditional regard harms psychological development. Using self-determination theory as a theoretical foundation for investigating outcomes associated with parental conditional regard, the present study consolidated meta-analytic associations between parental conditional regard and four theoretically important individual difference correlates: introjected self-regulation, contingent self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and relatedness. METHODS: Following PRISMA guidelines, a systematic literature search was conducted using the PsycINFO, ProQuest, and EBSCO databases for English-language, peer-reviewed published studies and unpublished studies. Eligible studies reported an association between parental conditional regard and the four theoretically derived correlates or another correlate of interest in pre-adolescent children, adolescents, or young adults. The results were based on a random-effects model for meta-analyses and the Q statistic for moderator analyses. RESULTS: Across 31 samples in total, greater parental conditional regard was significantly associated with more introjected regulation (r = .33), contingent self-esteem (r = .29), and level of depressive symptoms (r = .22); and less relatedness (r = -.24). Moderator results for parental conditional regard type found parental conditional regard's association with introjected regulation was significantly stronger for studies measuring giving regard (parental conditional positive regard) than withdrawing regard (parental conditional negative regard). The association of parental conditional regard with depressive symptoms was significantly stronger for studies measuring parental conditional negative regard than parental conditional positive regard. CONCLUSIONS: The meta-analytic results provide theoretical and empirical support for the connections between self-determination and the impact of parental conditional regard.

When Insecure Self-Worth Drains Students' Energy: Academic Contingent Self-Esteem and Parents' and Teachers' Perceived Conditional Regard as Predictors of School Burnout.

Whereas both the family and school environment have been suggested to affect school burnout risks, the role of conditionally regarding parenting or teaching, in which affection is granted conditional on student achievement, in the development of school burnout has not yet been examined. This longitudinal study investigated students' academic contingent self-esteem and parental and teacher conditional regard as antecedents of school burnout. The study sample consisted of Flemish early adolescents (n = 3409; Mage = 12.4 years (SD = 0.49) at the first measurement occasion; 50.3% males), which were surveyed twice (start of Grade 7 and Grade 8). Using Latent Change Modeling, academic contingent self-esteem was found to predict school burnout. Parental and teacher conditional regard both contributed to school burnout, partly through academic contingent self-esteem. Whereas negative conditional regard had the strongest implications for school burnout, positive conditional regard contributed most strongly to contingent self-esteem. Associations were systematically found both at the between-student level (i.e., high levels of antecedents were related to high levels of school burnout) and at the within-student level (i.e., increases in antecedents over time were related to concomitant increases in school burnout). These findings emphasize that communicating conditional approval to adolescents may increase school burnout risks, thus jeopardizing their healthy academic development.

The complex role of the community in the determination of well-being and hope among divorced Muslim women.

Based on social capital theory, in the current study, we examined the contribution of background variables (education and living with/without parents), a personal resource (religiosity), and two communal resources (a sense of community, and both positive and negative societal conditional regard) to the well-being and hope of divorced women from the Muslim community in Israel. The study included 125 women between the ages of 20 and 60 (M = 36, SD = 9.10). A path analysis model indicated a sense of community as a protective factor that directly contributed to well-being and hope and also mediated positively between education and religiosity and between well-being and hope. However, societal conditional negative regard (SCNR) made a negative contribution to well-being and hope, both directly and indirectly via the sense of community. In the discussion, we highlight the conflict experienced by Muslim divorced women: between remaining part of the Muslim community and undergoing SCNR.

Autonomy-related Parenting Profiles and their Effects on Adolescents' Academic and Psychological Development: A Longitudinal Person-oriented Analysis.

The important role of parenting is widely acknowledged, but as most studies have understood and examined it as a stable attribute (e.g., parenting style), the stability of and changes in parenting are less well understood. Using longitudinal person-oriented approaches (i.e., latent profile analyses and latent transition analyses), this study aimed to examine the stability of and changes in autonomy-related parenting profiles and their effects on adolescents' academic and psychological development. Four autonomy-related dimensions (i.e., autonomy support, warmth, psychological control, conditional regard) were chosen to identify parenting profiles on the basis of Self-Determination Theory. Using five-year longitudinal data from 789 German secondary school students (50.06% female, Mage at T1 = 10.82 years, age span = 10-17), four autonomy-related parenting profiles were found: Supportive (~17%), Controlling (~31%), Unsupportive-Uncontrolling (~17%), and Limited Supportive (~35%). The results suggest that the Supportive profile contributes to adolescents' positive academic and psychological development, whereas the Controlling profile, which thwarts autonomy development, exacerbates the development of psychopathology, and impairs academic achievement. More importantly, the Limited Supportive profile is as maladaptive as the Unsupportive-Uncontrolling profile. Regarding parenting profiles' stability and changes, the results showed that about half of each profile stayed in the same group. Overall, it could be observed that parents became more supportive and less controlling over time. However, the findings also indicate that parenting profiles are less stable than expected and can still change during early-to-mid adolescence.

Is intelligence related to perfectionism? Multidimensional perfectionism and parental antecedents among adolescents across varying levels of cognitive ability.

OBJECTIVE: Although intellectually gifted individuals are often portrayed as perfectionists, evidence for an association between cognitive ability and perfectionism is inconclusive. This study investigates the relations between cognitive ability and two distinct dimensions of perfectionism and addresses the role of parental antecedents of perfectionism in adolescents at different levels of cognitive ability. METHOD: In a community sample of 3,168 adolescents and their parents, cognitive ability was assessed and perfectionism levels and parenting practices were surveyed. RESULTS: Adolescents higher in cognitive ability reported higher levels of Personal Standards (i.e., setting ambitious objectives) but lower levels of Concern over Mistakes (i.e., worrying excessively about mistakes). Parental criticism, high parental expectations, and conditionally regarding parenting were associated positively with Concern over Mistakes, and high parental expectations were related positively to Personal Standards. These associations were generally independent of adolescents' cognitive ability. Parents of adolescents higher in cognitive ability relied less on parenting practices associated with the development of perfectionism. CONCLUSION: Cognitive ability is related to a higher pursuit of personal standards, yet does not constitute a risk factor for excessive concerns about mistakes. Parental antecedents were related similarly and in theoretically meaningful ways to adolescent perfectionism across different levels of cognitive ability.

Clarifying the connection between parental conditional regard and contingent self-esteem: An examination of cross-lagged relations in early adolescence.

OBJECTIVE: Relations between parental conditional regard (PCR) and children's motivational and emotional functioning have been demonstrated by past research. However, most available studies relied on cross-sectional correlational data, leaving open the causal direction of these relations. In the present article, we sought to contribute to this topic and examined the longitudinal connection between PCR and adolescents' contingent self-esteem (CSE) over time. METHOD: Hypotheses were tested in two longitudinal studies with differently gifted samples of German high school students (N = 188 and N = 202 students, respectively). Data were gathered at three time points in Study 1 and at two time points in Study 2. In both studies, adolescents answered questionnaires regarding positive and negative PCR in the academic domain as well as general CSE (and additionally academic CSE in Study 2). RESULTS: Cross-lagged analyses revealed several significant paths from CSE to PCR, and some paths from PCR to CSE, indicating the presumed reciprocal relationship between these constructs. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that children high in CSE may lead their parents to engage in PCR and that these effects may be more pronounced than vice versa. Possible reasons for these findings and their implications are discussed.

Determinants of Congregational Attendees' Psychological Outcomes.

Congregational membership is known to enhance physical and mental health, as well as providing psychological outcomes (subjective well-being and loneliness). However, it is not clear whether these outcomes can be attributed to social resources or personal resources. The study was conducted in Israel among 260 active synagogue members between 18 and 88 years of age (mean = 32.91). Structural equation modeling suggested that personal resources were the strongest predictors of subjective well-being and loneliness, whereas social resources had lower predictive power. The article offers unique insights into the role of social and personal factors in congregation members' subjective well-being and loneliness.

Autonomy-restrictive socialization of anger: Associations with school-aged children's physiology, trait anxiety, state distress, and relationship closeness.

Parental socialization that infringes on children's autonomy may have consequences for physiological regulation, trait anxiety, and state distress. One such practice is the use of positive conditional regard (CR)-the provision of extra attention/affection when children meet parents' expectations. Self-determination theory proposes that CR thwarts satisfaction of children's basic needs for relatedness and autonomy by placing these needs in conflict. We evaluate associations among children's (N = 106, 51% male, Mage  = 10.27 years, SD = 1.09) reports of their mothers' use of positive CR to suppress anger expression (PCR-anger), their physiological regulation (resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia, RSA), and their trait anxiety and state distress, in light of perceived relationship closeness. After controlling demographics, mothers' reports of positive and negative CR-anger, children's reports of mothers' negative CR-anger and depressive symptoms, greater child-reported positive CR-anger was significantly associated with greater child anxiety and with lower resting RSA. Resting RSA mediated associations of child-reported positive CR-anger with greater child anxiety and post-failure distress. These indirect effects were significant for children low or moderate in closeness to mother. We conclude that autonomy-restrictive socialization is a concurrent correlate of children's physiological regulation, anxiety, and state distress, with these associations dependent on relational distance.

Teachers' Conditional Regard and Students' Need Satisfaction and Agentic Engagement: A Multilevel Motivation Mediation Model.

Teachers' conditional positive regard and conditional negative regard are common motivational techniques in the classroom. This study investigated their respective effects on adolescent students' agentic engagement, while considering students' basic psychological needs for autonomy and relatedness as potential mediators. Data collected from 30 teachers and 651 7th to 10th graders (52% female) were used to test a multilevel mediation model. The results indicated that teachers' conditional negative regard undermined students' agentic engagement by frustrating both of their autonomy and relatedness needs. Teachers' conditional positive regard thwarted students' sense of autonomy, which consequently undermined their agentic engagement. The findings are discussed in terms of conditional positive and negative regard as undesirable classroom motivational practices and the mechanisms through which they operate. The discussion also notes the importance of investigating contextual factors at the classroom level.

Determinants of sense of community in congregations.

This study examined the contribution of personal aspects (i.e., self-esteem and motivation to lead), social aspects (i.e., number of congregational friends and positive and negative societal conditional regard), and psychological aspects (feelings of loneliness) to the sense of community among congregational members. The study was conducted in Israel among 260 active synagogue members between the ages of 18 and 88 years old (mean = 32.91). Structural equation modeling indicated that social aspects made the most significant contribution to sense of community. A significant direct positive contribution of a number of congregational friends and societal conditional positive regard to sense of community was found. However, societal conditional negative regard made the highest negative direct contribution to sense of community, and motivation to lead made no contribution to sense of community. Self-esteem made only an indirect positive contribution to sense of community via loneliness, and loneliness made a direct negative contribution to sense of community. Findings highlight the importance of the social aspect as a whole, and of societal conditional regard specifically, in understanding sense of community among congregational members.

The contribution of parental and societal conditional regard to adjustment of high school dropouts.

This study examined the contribution of parental conditional regard (PCR) and societal conditional regard (SCR) - divided into positive and negative regard - to high school dropouts' adjustment (i.e., well-being, loneliness, and future orientation) along the different stages of the dropout process. Specifically, the current study focused on dropouts from a traditional community, where dropping out was accompanied by various social repercussions. The study, conducted in Israel among Ultraorthodox Jewish males, included 261 participants, ages 14-21 (M = 17, SD = 1.17), who were at different stages in the dropout process. Structural equation modeling indicated a negative contribution of parental conditional negative regard to adjustment, while societal conditional positive regard made a positive contribution to adjustment. Moreover, dropouts indicated higher parental and societal conditional regard than students at other stages of the dropout process. Findings highlight the importance of SCR and PCR in understanding the adjustment of dropouts in traditional communities.

How does Conditional Regard Impact Well-being and Eagerness to Learn? An Experimental Study.

Conditional regard refers to regard dependent upon the receiver's fulfillment of certain expectations. Using an experimental design, we examined the effect of conditional negative and positive regard on well-being and eagerness to learn in university freshmen (N = 131). Participants experienced either failure or success followed by conditional vs. unconditional regard. As expected, success and failure had opposite effects on well-being and eagerness to learn. More importantly, there was an increase in positive affect following success in the context of conditional regard, but not in the context of unconditional regard. Additionally, the decrease in positive affect following failure was more pronounced when accompanied by conditional as compared to unconditional regard. Conditional regard thus magnified the impact of success versus failure on students' emotional experiences.

Using societal conditional regard to cope with drug use in the ultraorthodox community and the unintended consequences.

Introduction: A developing theoretical framework for the investigation of tight cultures' reaction toward members who violate communal norms is societal conditional regard (SCR). Methods: Using a qualitative interpretive approach, in the current study we investigated the way the Ultraorthodox Jewish community uses SCR to cope with substance use disorders (SUDs), which considered to be a norms violation in closed religious communities. We did so by drawing on in-depth interviews with 14 young men from the Ultraorthodox community in Israel who were diagnosed as having an SUD and were in recovery. Results: (a) The community's socialization process, educating its members to lead a life that is the only right one; (b) The community's use of God as the one whose love and regard are conditional; (c) The SCR emotional and behavioral practices used by the community toward individuals who violate norms, and (d) How, paradoxically, the use of SCR may eventuate in the initiation of drug use, and within the community itself. Discussion: Findings are discussed in the context of self-determination theory and SCR, and shed light on how tight cultures cope with the threat of deviation of communal norms. Implications for intervention and policy are outlined.

Enlisting in the army in the Jewish Ultraorthodox community and the consequences for wellbeing.

Israeli law requires citizens to enlist in the army at 18 years old. However, the Jewish Ultraorthodox community has a longstanding agreement with the state that members of this community will not have to enlist in the army, given its spiritual leaders' strong opposition. Still, there are young men who go against the communal norms and enlist. In the current study we investigated these young men and the contribution of their self-esteem (a personal resource), their sense of community (a communal resource), and the community members' attitudes toward them (societal conditional regard, both positive and negative, and stigma) to their wellbeing. The current study consisted of 153 participants between the ages of 20 and 55 (M = 29.64, SD = 6.89). A path analysis model indicated the protective role played by self-esteem and sense of community in participants' wellbeing, and the risk factor posed by societal conditional negative regard and stigma. Moreover, self-esteem was found to mediate between income and wellbeing, whereas sense of community was found to mediate between societal conditional negative regard and wellbeing, and between stigma and wellbeing. The discussion highlights the complexity of the protective role played by sense of community against the risk of experiencing societal conditional negative regard and stigma. It also addresses the importance of promoting intervention programs during the army service of these young men, with a focus on promoting their self-esteem and on the presence of a spiritual leadership that legitimizes working, serving in the army, and yet still being part of the community.

Responding to Children's Diverse Gender Expression: Validation of a Parent-Report Measure of Gender-Related Conditional Regard.

Epidemiological studies suggest that more youth are identifying as gender expansive (e.g., transgender, gender nonconforming) than ever before. However, due to stressors like discrimination, gender minorities remain at significantly higher risk for mental and physical health problems than their cisgender peers. While initial research has shown that parental support of youth's minority gender identities may be protective, further research is needed regarding specific parenting practices and their impact on children. We propose that parental conditional regard-the selective provision of warmth and esteem when children's behavior conforms to parental standards or values - may be a critical component of parenting behaviors that predicts maladaptation in gender expansive children. Across three studies involving parents of cisgender and gender expansive children ages 3-15 (Study 1: N = 601, community sample; Study 2: N = 793, parents of gender expansive and cisgender children; Study 3, same sample as in Study 1), we describe the development of a novel measure of parental conditional regard for gender expression and test its validity and reliability. Finally, we demonstrate that conditional regard for gender expression is distinct from existing conditional regard measures, and is uniquely associated with children's psychopathology.

Dataset of Vietnamese students' academic perfectionism and school alienation.

Across the steadily superseding world, the younger generation is coming under pressure for an increase in the standard and a highly growing demand on their life themselves. This could lead to a variety of problems, including academic perfectionism and school alienation. To gain more insights into these phenomena, we conducted two research projects on students from eight upper secondary schools in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam using online surveys, and obtained two datasets. Dataset A covers (i) the level of students' perfectionism; (ii) belief in school meritocracy; (iii) The competitiveness among students; and (iv) the intrinsic motivation to achieve. Dataset B contains students' self-reports about (i) their perceptions of parents' and teachers' academic conditional regard; (ii) academic contingent self-worth; and (iii) school alienation. The numbers of respondents of dataset A and dataset B are 2942 and 2970, respectively.

Predictors of High-School Dropout Among Ultraorthodox Jewish Youth.

Focusing on the unique social characteristics of closed communities, the current study examined the predictors of high-school dropout among Ultraorthodox Jewish youth, focusing on background variables [i.e., individual's age, family's religious group affiliation, and other high-school dropout(s) in family]; social resources (i.e., self-esteem and mastery); and parental conditional regard (PCR) and societal conditional regard (SCR), with reference to both positive regard and negative regard. The study was conducted in Israel with the participation of 261 Ultraorthodox Jewish males, ages 14-21 (M = 17, SD = 1.17), who were at different stages in the dropout process. Path analysis modeling indicated that being a member of a newly religious family, or of a family in which another member had already dropped out of school, was a predictor of dropout. Surprisingly, personal resources were not found to be a predictor of dropout, whereas parental conditional regard and societal conditional negative regard (SCNR) were found to be the most significant predictors. Findings highlight the unique predictors of high-school dropout among youth from the Ultraorthodox Jewish community, and the role of PCR and SCR in this process.

The antecedents of social value orientation among Turkish adolescents and emerging adults.

The current correlational study examined the individual (self-regulation) and social (self-construal, parental practices) antecedents of social value orientations (SVO) among middle adolescents and emerging adults. The sample consisted of randomly selected 218 middle adolescents (ages 14-15) and 219 emerging adults (ages 19-25) and their parents in a metropolitan area of Ankara, Turkey. The results revealed that emerging adults have more prosocial SVO than adolescents. Young people's SVO scores were positively correlated with parental autonomy support and interdependent self-construal. The moderation analysis indicated that the association between parent- reported high autonomy support and young people's prosocial choices was stronger for young people high in interdependent self-construal. The results also showed that parental autonomy support was related to increasing internal self-regulation of young people in prosocial issues (such as cooperation, helping and sharing) and increasing prosocial choices of young people in social dilemmas.

The Impact of Parental Styles on the Development of Psychological Complaints.

The main aim of the present study was to test Rogers' theory, stating that parental styles characterized by unconditional positive regard (UPR) promote healthier adults than parental styles characterized by conditional regard (CR). For both caregivers CR was found to be associated with significantly higher scores on psychological complaints than UPR (on nearly all SCL-90 scales and the SCL-total score), even when controlling for gender. Although lack of emotional warmth by the father and harsh discipline by the mother were significant predictors of SCL-90-Total (indicating state neuroticism) it should be noted that both variables only explained a small amount of the total variance. Empirical evidence was found for Rogers' theory. Others factors than merely emotional warmth and discipline play a role in the etiology of state neuroticism. For future research it is therefore recommended to include other factors, such as daily worries, temperament, and alexithymia.