This paper examines the role of attachment beliefs and parenting behaviors on the association between maternal and child anxiety in a community sample of mothers and their children aged 6-17 (N = 89). Maternal anxiety was assessed through the SCL-90 & STAI-T. Child anxiety was assessed through the RCMAS-C, STAIC-T, RCMAS-P, & CBCL. Attachment beliefs were assessed through the Experiences in Close Relationships (maternal) and the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (child). Parenting behaviors were assessed through the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire and the Children's Report of Parent Behavior Inventory. Significant associations were found between maternal and child anxiety, attachment beliefs, and parenting. Multiple regression analysis indicated that Anxious Attachment Beliefs and Parental Involvement appeared to mediate the association between maternal and child anxiety. Findings are discussed in terms of elucidating the role of attachment beliefs and parenting behaviors on the association between maternal and child anxiety.

This study examined the mediating role of parental psychological control on the association between parental psychopathology and youth relational aggression in a community sample of 118 adolescents (aged 11-17) and their parents. Additionally, an analysis was conducted to examine the moderating role of positive parenting on the association between parental psychopathology and relational aggression. Further analyses controlled for overt aggression and examined effects of youth gender. Results suggest psychological control partially mediates the association between parental psychopathology and relational aggression. The overall mediation was not significant after controlling for overt aggression; however, the association between psychological control and relational aggression remained significant. The moderation was not significant. Parental psychopathology interacted with gender; specifically, psychopathology was significantly associated with relational aggression only for boys. Findings demonstrate the complexity of associations between different parenting variables and relational aggression, and the necessity of assessing the effects of overt aggression and gender.

There are studies that found parental psychological control was related to children’s antisocial behavior (e.g., Kuppens, Grietens, Onghena, & Michiels, 2009; Soenes, Vansteenkiste, Goossens, Duriez, & Niemiec, 2008) and other psychological outcomes such as self-esteem and depressive symptoms (e.g., Costa, Soenens, Gugliandolo, Cuzzocrea, & Larcan, 2015; Inguglia et al., 2016; Kline, Killoren, & Alfaro, 2016); however, it is hard to find studies examining how all those variables are dynamically related. The current study aims to examine if parental psychological control during adolescence is related to children’ antisocial behaviors (e.g., social/relational aggression) during college as well as if this association is mediated by children’s social self-esteem and/or depressive symptoms. In addition to examining the dynamic among these variables, the current study is expected to contribute by examining the role of paternal psychological control as well as maternal psychological control. The majority of studies of parental psychological control and children’s outcomes only focus on maternal psychological control findings (e.g., Valdes, Laursen, guimond, Harti, & Denner, 2016). Also, the current study would fill the gap in the existing studies in the matter of ages of children. A number of studies of parental psychological control have mainly been conducted with relatively younger aged children; very few studies examine the development of college students related to parental psychological control (e.g., Kline, Killoren, & Alfaro, 2016). Methods & Results Four hundred two undergraduate college students in the south of the U.S. participated in the current study by completing a survey (female = 51% and male = 49%). They are mainly White (80.3%) and 91 percent were between 19 and 25 years of age (M = 22.01 years; SD = .2.65). Parental Psychological Control during Adolescence was created by calculating the mean of a total of 21 items (α = .95 for maternal/α = .91 for paternal). The example questions are “In general, my mother/father was less friendly with me, if I did not see things her way.” College Students’ Social Self-Esteem was measured with 8 items (α = .82). The example questions are: “I am easy to like.” College Students’ Depressive Symptoms were measured by calculating the mean of a total 20 items (α = .93). The example questions are: In the past week….“I could not shake off the blues.” Relationally/Socially Aggressive Behaviors were measured by 10 items (α = .79), such as “When I am frustrated with my partner/colleague/friend, I give that person the silent treatment.” Structural Equation Model was used to examine the mediation of social esteem and depressive symptoms between parental psychological control and children’s social/relational aggressive behaviors (see the Table 1 for descriptive statistics of the variables). As seen in Figure 1, there were indirect significant positive associations between maternal psychological control and antisocial behaviors via depressive symptoms; however, paternal psychological control was directly positively associated with antisocial behaviors as well as indirectly associated with antisocial behaviors via social esteem. More findings, interpretations, and limitations of the current study will be discussed at the conference.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between parental psychological control and adolescent externalizing behavior with adolescent internalized shame acting as a mediating variable. Gender differences were also examined. Three hundred eleven two-parent families with an adolescent were included in this study, 154 were male adolescents (Mean age at wave 6 = 16.28 years, SD = .98) and 157 were female adolescents (Mean age at wave 6 = 16.21 years, SD = .99). Results indicate that parental psychological control for both mothers and fathers at wave 4 was positively related to adolescent externalizing behavior for both boys and girls at wave 6. Psychological control by both mother and father at wave 4 was found to be related to adolescent internalized shame at wave 5 for both male and female adolescents. Adolescent internalized shame at wave 5 was related to externalizing behavior at wave 6 for both male and female adolescents. Shame was found to partially mediate the relationship between parental psychological control at wave 4 and adolescent externalizing behavior at wave 6. Implications for further research and clinical practice are discussed.

The aim of the current study is to examine the potential parenting factors and mediating mechanisms that lead to ego-depletion within the framework of Self-Determination Theory. Previous research has suggested that whereas behaviourally controlling and autonomy-supportive parenting contributes to the development of autonomous motivation, psychologically controlling parenting leads to introjected motivation for self-regulation. Moreover, recent studies have shown that as compared to introjected regulation, autonomous regulation depletes less ego-resource. Thus, it was expected that parental psychological control positively, but behavioural control negatively, affects ego-depletion via controlled regulation style. In the first study, university students (N = 179) completed three groups of measures assessing parenting behaviours, motivation type of self-regulation, and state self-control capacity. The results of SEM analysis partially supported the proposed mediational model. Whereas both maternal and paternal psychological control indirectly predicted self-control capacity corresponding higher levels of ego depletion via controlled regulation, parental behavioural control did not have direct or indirect effect on self-control capacity. In the second study, the same hypotheses were tested experimentally on a group of participants (N = 91) from the first study by exposing them either an upsetting or a funny video condition that requires emotional control. Results revelaled that perceived high levels of maternal psychological control and low levels of paternal behavioural control make individuals more vulnerable to ego-depletion under emotional control. Furthermore, those with high introjected motivation for emotion-control were relatively resistant to ego-depletion. Findings were discussed considering the practice effect of self-control, implications of diverging parenting behaviours and cultural factors.

Mental health needs of Asian-American youth have been documented as substantial and increasing, but limited research has identified explanatory mechanisms or possible targets of intervention for reducing mental health symptoms. The present study contributed to the limited existing research on self-regulatory abilities as mechanisms that may explain the linkage between Chinese-American parenting styles and adolescent somatization. A community sample of Chinese-American parent-adolescent dyads (N= 104) residing in the greater Houston, TX area were recruited to complete a battery of questionnaires containing measures of adolescent somatization, self-regulatory abilities, and parental psychological control. Correlational and regression analyses were conducted to test hypothesized relationships and models. Parent-reported emotional and cognitive self-regulatory control variables were found to mediate the relationship between utilization of aspects of both parent and adolescent-reported parental psychological control and parent-reported adolescent somatization. Additionally, lower parent-adolescent Asian values agreement level was found to predict higher parent-reported somatic complaint occurrence. Results suggest that multiple aspects of self-regulation serve as mediating mechanisms by which parenting styles may influence adolescent somatic complaint occurrence. Findings have implications for understanding of pathways to somatization (and mental health outcomes overall) in the Asian-American youth population.

Fysisk bestraffning och psykologisk kontroll som utförs av föräldrar är exempel på problematiska föräldrabeteenden som kan orsaka depressiva symptom hos ungdomar. Studiens syfte är att undersöka om det finns skillnader i depressiva symptom mellan ungdomar som har utsatts för fysisk bestraffning och ungdomar som har utsatts för psykologisk kontroll över tid. Studien använder sig utav sekundärdata från ett forskningsprojekt, bestående av enkätsvar som har samlats in från ungdomar mellan 13-15 år i en mellanstor svensk stad. Studien visade inga skillnader i depressiva symptom hos ungdomarna när symptomen av fysisk bestraffning och psykologisk kontroll jämfördes över tid. Dock var sambanden mellan fysisk bestraffning och depressiva symptom svagare än mellan psykologisk kontroll och depressiva symptom. / Corporal punishment and psychological control exercised by parents are examples of problematic parental behaviors that can cause depressive symptoms in adolescents. The study aims to investigate whether there are differences in depressive symptoms among adolescents who have experienced physical punishment and adolescents who have experienced psychological control over time. The study used secondary data from a research project, consisting of survey responses collected from adolescents in the ages between 13-15 years old in a medium-sized Swedish city. The study showed no differences in depressive symptoms in adolescents over time when the symptoms of physical punishment and psychological control were compared. However, the relationships between physical punishment and depressive symptoms was weaker than between psychological control and depressive symptoms.

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Self-determination theory states that people need autonomy, competence, and relatedness in an area to facilitate intrinsic motivation and growth. Parents play a major role in the development of these three psychological needs. The current study examines whether there is a relationship between parental behavior and whether this relationship is mediated by autonomy, competence and relatedness in their sport. Undergraduate participants (n=189) were recruited from varsity athletic teams and asked to complete surveys about perceived parental control and the three psychological needs. Results showed the parental behavior can predict satisfaction of psychological needs, but only one partial mediation was found, between perceived parental autonomy support and leadership role occupancy through competence. A subset (n=8) participated in semi-structured interviews delved deeper into parental influence. Common responses showed that athletes felt that they benefitted from autonomy support, were hurt by psychological control, and that satisfaction of the needs of relatedness and competence contributed to deciding to play and keep playing their sport in college. The results provide examples of positive parental behaviors, and show that these behaviors can predict the satisfaction of the basic psychological needs needed for intrinsic motivation.

The current study examined the relation between parental empathy, parenting aggression and child maladjustment in a group of parents who perpetrated child abuse and neglect. Twenty parents who were court mandated to receive a parenting intervention program at the Nest Center for Women, Children, and Families participated in this research study. Information about parental dispositional empathy, parent-child specific empathy, parenting aggression and child internalizing and externalizing symptoms were collected through an interview with the parents. Parents in this study reported high levels of dispositional empathy, but exhibited low to moderate levels of empathy in a parent-child relationship rated by coders. Parents also reported low levels of parenting aggression across psychological aggression, corporal punishment and psychological control. Examining the relation between parental empathy and aggressive parenting revealed that parent-child specific empathy, but not dispositional empathy, was negatively associated with parental psychological control. In a subsample of older children in middle childhood and adolescence, parental affective dispositional empathy was negatively associated with child externalizing symptoms. The current study links parental empathy to parental psychological control and emphasizes the importance of examining empathy in a specific relationship in addition to dispositional empathy.