The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between parenting factors and Hispanic adolescent substance use and depression. Specifically, the study examined the relationship between parental support, parental knowledge, and parental psychological control among Hispanic adolescents' use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, hard drugs and depressive symptoms. The sample included 839 Hispanic (primarily Mexican) 9th – 12th graders from west Texas area school districts who were given a self-reported survey to assess parental behaviors, substance use, and adolescent depression. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), findings indicated that higher levels of maternal support were related to lower levels of depressive symptoms for both males and female adolescents. Maternal knowledge was found to be significantly associated, for both adolescent genders, with decreased levels of substance use. Paternal knowledge was significantly associated with decreased depressive symptoms in male adolescents. Maternal and paternal psychological control was found to be significantly associated to increased levels of depressive symptoms in female adolescents, whereas only paternal psychological control was found to be significantly associated to increased levels of depressive symptoms in male adolescents. Age was not significantly related to depressive symptoms or substance use. Results are discussed along with implications for therapists working with Hispanic populations.

The current study considers Russian parenting (psychological control) and child relational aggression across a decade. We used parent and child driven path analyses to test whether peer-directed and romantic relational aggression is associated with psychological control both concurrently as well as longitudinally. Using AMOS, parent and child driven models were compared and the parent driven models were found to have more significant concurrent and longitudinal linkages. Maternal psychological control was significantly stable over time; relational aggression was also stable over time for girls. Maternal psychological control at Time 1 was associated with relational aggression for girls at Time 1 and with peer-directed and romantic relational aggression for boys and girls at Time 2. Paternal psychological control was also associated with relational aggression for boys and girls at Time 2. Consistent with previous research, psychological control is particularly associated with relational aggression.

Given potential risk factors in the lives of adolescents, parents are usually motivated to monitor and protect their adolescents. There is a need to better understand what combinations of parental dimensions and practice best influence an adolescent's propensity to disclose or conceal personal information with their parents. This paper examines how parenting dimensions (warmth, psychological control, and harsh punishment) and the parenting practice of solicitation influence an adolescent's propensity to disclose or conceal information. Adolescents in 106 families (53 females; predominantly Caucasian) reported on their mothers' and fathers' parenting dimensions as well as their parents' effort to solicit information. Factor analysis was conducted on the measure typically used for disclosure to test whether the items measured only disclosure or if two distinct adolescent outcomes of disclosure and concealment were more appropriate. Results supported our contention that disclosure and concealment might be considered separately. Other results indicated a positive association between adolescents' disclosure and the positive parenting dimension warmth and parental solicitation. There was a negative association between disclosure and harsh punishment in the father-son dyad. Psychological control was positively associated with concealment for both adolescent boys and girls. With a few exceptions, same gendered dyads (father-son, mother-daughter) showed the most associations between parenting dimensions and practices and disclosure or concealment.

Parental psychological control has been found to be associated with both internalized and externalized problems for youth and adolescents. Research contributing to an understanding of the possible antecedents of parental psychological control is both limited and of need; specifically regarding parents' psychological attributes. This study sample included 323 two-parent families and an identified target child from each family. Bowen's theory of family systems, [chronic] stress, and differentiation of self and its relation to parental psychological control was examined. Differentiation of self was hypothesized to mediate the relationship between chronic stress and parental psychological control. Differentiation was conceptualized and measured using two subscales assessing emotional reactivity and emotional cutoff. Fathers and mothers were included in the same model to assess for potential partner influences as well possible gender differences. Parental age, parental education, and family income were also included as control variables. Study analyses included bivariate correlations, independent T-tests, and structural path models; all based on study variables constructed in a structural equation measurement model. To test for mediation by differentiation of self, an initial structural model examining the relationship between levels of parental chronic stress and parental psychological control was utilized. Only paternal chronic stress and paternal education predicted child-reported levels of parental psychological control. Parent-reported levels of differentiation of self, when included in a structural path model, did not mediate the relationship between chronic stress and psychological control but did have a significant indirect effect on this relationship. Both maternal and paternal chronic stress significantly predicted individual parental levels of emotional reactivity and emotional cutoff. Systemically, maternal levels of emotional cutoff predicted paternal levels of parental psychological control and paternal levels of emotional reactivity predicted maternal levels of parental psychological control. No control variables other than paternal education had a salient, significant, or interpretable effect on endogenous study variables (differentiation of self and parental psychological control). Paternal and maternal levels of emotional reactivity appeared to partially mediate the relationship between paternal education and maternal psychological control. Interpretation for results, study limitations and future directions, and clinical implications are discussed.

The current study examined the relationship of parental support, parental psychological control, and best friend support among Latino adolescents and loneliness using self-esteem as a mediating variable. The sample included 839 Hispanic (primarily Mexican) 9th – 12th graders from west Texas area school districts who were given a self-reported survey to assess parental behaviors and adolescent depression. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), findings indicated that neither maternal nor paternal support was found to be significantly related to loneliness in girls. Only maternal support was found to be significantly related to loneliness in boys. On the other hand, neither maternal nor paternal support was found to be significantly related to self-esteem in boys, while maternal support was found to be significantly related to self-esteem for girls. Results also indicate an interesting cross-gender relationship for loneliness with maternal psychological control significantly related to loneliness for boys but not for girls, and paternal psychological control significantly related to loneliness in girls but not for boys. Best-friend (peer support) was found to be significantly related to loneliness for girls but not for boys. Results indicate that maternal psychological control was significantly related to self-esteem for boys and girls. Results also indicate that paternal psychological control was significantly related to self-esteem for boys and girls. Results also indicate that family structure was found to be significant for girls and its relationship with loneliness. Results are discussed along with implications for therapists working with Latino populations.

As we examined research on the effects of parental psychological control and support on adolescents, we noted that these variables have not been widely studied in relation to academic achievement. Using Flourishing Families data, we examined a subsample of females and males who reported parental psychological control and support as well as school engagement variables from adolescents, fathers and mothers. We also used observed variables of grade point average (GPA). Structural equation modeling was used to determine whether parental psychological control and support would negatively or positively relate with academic achievement outcomes of GPA and school engagement. Psychological control and support processes significantly related with GPA and school engagement for both boys and girls. Therapists who work with parents should not only recognize the effects of psychological control on individual academic achievement, but should also recognize the importance of support from both parents and the importance of cross-gender parent-child relationships.

Prior research has established that a portion of depressive symptoms in adolescents is predicted by parenting behaviors. The purpose of this study was to identify the moderating role of hope on the relationship between two parenting variables (warmth and psychological control) and adolescent depressive symptoms. Participants included 459 adolescents ages 13 to 14 years and their families from waves 3 and 4 of the Flourishing Families Project. Path analysis was utilized to answer the proposed hypotheses and research questions. Multiple group analysis was utilized to determine if results were different for boys and girls. Significant results indicated that in low-hope girls, depressive symptoms increased as maternal warmth increased but decreased as paternal warmth increased. Mother’s psychological control had a minimal effect on child’s depressive symptoms in high-hope children. Father’s psychological control predicted an increase in depressive symptoms in high-hope children. Findings suggest that father’s warmth is particularly important for low-hope girls, maternal warmth may have inadvertent negative effects among low-hope girls, and paternal psychological control is of notable concern for high-hope children. These parenting behaviors as well as hope and depressive symptoms should be assessed for and addressed in clinical practice with parents and adolescent children.

This study investigated the relationship of parents' achievement-oriented and self- development goals (for their children) on youth reported anxiety, while taking parents' psychological control and responsiveness into account as possible mediating factors. More specifically, the purpose of this study was to further investigate the direct/indirect effects of (a) parents' reported achievement-oriented goals on youth anxiety via parental psychological control in two types of schools (key school for more academically advanced students and typical school for students with lower academic achievement); and (b) parents' reported self-development goals on youth anxiety via parental psychological control in key and typical schools. The current study also introduced parents' responsiveness as a new mediator and single-child family/ multiple- child family (family type/size) as a new moderator to investigate their effect on the overall model as related to youth anxiety. is study included 1,044 participants, reflecting 522 dyads (student and primary caregiver) from an urban city in Eastern Mainland China. Participating students were enrolled in the 11th grade in senior high school. Due to the high correlations of parents' achievement- oriented goals and parents' self-development goals (r = 0.975, p < 0.001), we combined and created one new variable--parents' achievement/self-development goals. Therefore, in the final multigroup SEM analyses we used this new variable in place of the previously hypothesized two goal-related variables. Additionally, rather than the initially proposed two types of schools, due to constricting limitations in the data, we were limited to making comparisons between single- child and multiple-child families. In our data analyses, no indirect effects were found among the identified variables. However, data analyses indicated a direct effect from parents' psychological control on youth anxiety in the key school regardless of family composition (single-child or multiple-child families), and in youth attending the typical school and from a single-child family. In general, the data analyses identified two major findings: (a) We found a positive relationship between parents' psychological control and youth anxiety for youth attending a typical school and living in a single-child family and for youth attending a key school, regardless of family type/size (single-child or multiple-child family); and (b) A marginally significant relationship (p = 0.053) was identified between parents' reported achievement/self-development goals and youth reported parent responsiveness. Some concerns were voiced among research team members about cultural sensitivity to one of the parents' survey questions. For example, one question referred to students being interested in and joining extracurricular activities. Students in China may or may not have had opportunities to participate in these types of activities. Data were reanalyzed after seven items were removed. In post hoc exploratory analyses, a new variable was defined and created, parents' reported achievement goals. Parents' reported achievement goals were found to be youth reported parents' psychological control only in (a) the typical school and single child family model and (b) the key school and multiple-child family model. Youth reported parents' psychological control is positively related to youth anxiety in all the models. Indirect paths were found from parents' achievement goals on youth anxiety via youth reported parents' psychological control were only found in (a) the multiple child model, (b) the multiple child and key school model, and (c) the single child and typical school model. We acknowledge that our data were collected in China during the COVID-19 global pandemic. During this pandemic, professionals note that youth, including youth in China, reported significantly higher levels of anxiety, making our current data more difficult to compare with pre-COVID-19 data collected in China. Future research should further explore the development of youth anxiety across time (longitudinal studies). To inform prevention and intervention efforts targeting youth anxiety, researchers must consider numerous variables that may directly or indirectly mitigate or exacerbate youth anxiety. Future research may consider and investigate the following variables: family composition; parenting styles and cultural factors that are embedded in parenting styles; parents' goals for and expectations of their children's academic achievement; family composition, including sibling relationships; and the type of school youth attend.

Late adolescence and early emerging adulthood are important developmental time periods during which transitions to adulthood begins including independence from one's parents. While adolescents spend more time away from their homes, especially as they start attending college, the influence of their parents is still salient. Parental psychological control has been shown to impact adolescents' developmental outcomes, including their engagement in relational aggression. While past research has focused mostly on children and young adolescents, the current study seeks to explore the bidirectional associations between parental psychological control and relational aggression among late adolescents and early emerging adults. It also seeks to explore adolescent sex as a potential moderator. Using the Flourishing Families Project data, the results revealed that across ages 16-19, there were significant bidirectional associations. However, there were no sex differences. Several important implications as well as suggestions for future studies are drawn.

Exposure to relational aggression in various contexts has been found to predict relationally aggressive behavior in adolescents. Past research has examined socializing factors of relational aggression separately. The current study expounds upon this research by looking at three important contexts for socialization of relational aggression during adolescence together: media relational aggression, parental psychological control, and couple relational aggression. Specifically, this study looked at how these different socializing factors combine to predict relational aggression. Participants consisted of 423 adolescents and their parents. A person-centered approach was used to determine different profiles. Latent profile analysis found three profiles, including "average" (78%), "high psychological control" (18%), and "high couple relational aggression" (4%). The "high psychological control" group significantly predicted relational aggression in adolescents. Adolescents may be learning from their parents that it is appropriate to treat others in a relationally aggressive way. Parents need to promote a family culture of love and warmth rather than aggression.