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Factors Influencing Adolescents’ Self-control According to Family Structure

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Abstract

We compared factors influencing adolescents’ self-control according to their family structure. Participants were 944 adolescents in five cities in South Korea (115 from single-parent families, 65 from grandparent-led families, and 764 from two-parent families). Data were collected using self-report questionnaires containing items on self-control, stress, parenting attitude, parent–adolescent communication, and family cohesion. Data were analyzed using stepwise multiple regressions with SPSS program. The factors influencing adolescents’ self-control differed across the three family structure groups. For single-parent families, stress and parental attitudes were significantly related to adolescents’ self-control (adjusted R2 = 0.37, p < 0.001). In contrast, for grandparent-led families, family cohesion and parental attitude were significantly related to adolescents’ self-control (adjusted R2 = 0.31, p < 0.01), while for two-parent families, stress, parental attitude, and parent–adolescent communication were related to the outcome (adjusted R2 = 0.24, p < 0.001). Parental attitude was thus a common factor relating to self-control, regardless of family structure. On the other hand, the main factors influencing adolescents with low self-control were gender and stress. Our results confirm that adolescents’ self-control is not only affected by personal factors but also by parental and family factors. It is important to improve individual program to improve adolescents’ self-control according to family structure. The results of study may act as a base for improving individual intervention programs aimed at promoting adolescents’ self-control by factoring in family structure.

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Author Contributions

IYC was responsible for the study conception/design, data collection, data analysis, and preparation and drafting of the manuscript. JSK: collaborated with design, data collection, and data analysis. JOK: critically reviewed for important intellectual content and approved the final version of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nursing, Dong Kang University Kwangju, Kwangju, South Korea

    In Young Cho & Ja Sook Kim

  2. Department of Nursing, Won Kwang Health Science University, Iksan, South Korea

    Ja Ok Kim

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  1. In Young Cho
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  2. Ja Sook Kim
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Correspondence to In Young Cho.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Approval

This study was approved by the Chonnam National University Institutional Review Board (1040198-16075-HR-063-01). All procedures performed involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Cho, I.Y., Kim, J.S. & Kim, J.O. Factors Influencing Adolescents’ Self-control According to Family Structure. J Child Fam Stud 27, 3520–3530 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-018-1175-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-018-1175-4

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