Young people perceive too much parental control negatively
November 13th, 2009 - 6:55 pm ICT by ANIWashington, Nov 13 (ANI): Trying to have too much control over your children’s lives may not be a good idea, for they tend to take it negatively, says a new study.
The study, conducted in the United States by researchers at Orebro University in Sweden, looked at how adolescents view and react to parental control.
Parental control falls into two categories: behavioural control (when parents help their children regulate themselves and feel competent by providing supervision, setting limits, and establishing rules) and psychological control (when parents are manipulative in their behaviour, often resulting in feelings of guilt, rejection, or not being loved).
It’s thought that behavioural control is better for youngsters’ development.
However, when parents are very controlling, young people no longer make this distinction and view both types of parental control negatively.
The study, which asked 67 American children (7th and 8th graders, as well as 10th and 11th graders) to respond to hypothetical scenarios involving both kinds of control, found that the youths put a negative spin on both types of control when the parents in the scenarios exercised a lot of control.
Specifically, when parents showed moderate levels of control, they saw psychological control more negatively than behavioural control, but when parents were very controlling, they viewed both types of control negatively.
Specifically, the youths interpreted high levels of control as intrusive and as indicating that they mattered less as individuals.
Intrusiveness is a hallmark of psychological control, according to the researchers, and both high levels of psychological control and feeling that you don’t matter have been linked to poorer adjustment.
“Under some conditions, such as when personal choice is restricted, adolescents view behavioural control as negatively as psychological control. Such negative interpretations may mean that adolescents would respond as poorly to highly restrictive behavioral control as they do to psychological control,” the authors said.
The study appears in the November/December 2009 issue of the journal Child Development. (ANI)
- Negative stereotypes can lead to teen misbehaviour - Oct 18, 2009
- Western parents more dominating than East Asian counterparts - Nov 06, 2009
- Positive parenting helps prevent obesity in kids - Feb 07, 2012
- Adult-supervised drinking in teens may up alcohol use - Apr 29, 2011
- Obese girls show greater poise when happy with their shape - Apr 30, 2012
- Unhealthy family relationships lead to behavior problems in kids - Jul 18, 2010
- Is joyful parenthood overrated? - Mar 03, 2011
- Financial woes upset parent-child bond - Dec 08, 2011
- Divorce not problematic, but its poor handling is - Jan 18, 2012
- Anxiety affects friendships - Sep 04, 2011
- Chinese kids left behind by migrant parents suffer psychologically - Apr 13, 2011
- Not genes, negative parenting fosters aggressiveness - Dec 03, 2010
- When let down, girls feel more anger, sadness than boys - Nov 22, 2011
- Faster growth during puberty triggers anxiety - Sep 02, 2011
- Family acceptance protects LGBT youth against depression, suicide - Dec 07, 2010
Tags: adolescents, distinction, feelings of guilt, hallmark, hypothetical scenarios, moderate levels, negative interpretations, parental control, parents, personal choice, psychological control, rejection, supervision, united states, university in sweden, youngsters