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Exploring the family origins of adolescent dysfunctional separation–individuation

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Abstract

Objectives

This study aimed to explore family origins of adolescent dysfunctional separation-individuation. We tested the fit of a theoretical model in which mothers’ parenting stress and adolescents’ perceived maternal psychological control were specified as mediators between mothers’ marital satisfaction and adolescent dysfunctional separation–individuation.

Methods

Participants were 276 adolescents (aged 12–15 years old) and their mothers. Adolescents completed measures of perceived maternal psychological control and dysfunctional separation–individuation, and mothers completed measures of marital satisfaction and parenting stress.

Results

The association between mothers’ marital satisfaction and adolescents’ dysfunctional dependence was both direct and serially mediated through mothers’ parenting stress and adolescents’ perceived maternal dependency-oriented psychological control (β = −0.02, p < 0.05, 95% CI = [−0.04, −0.002]). Parenting stress was associated with dysfunctional dependence through perceived dependency-oriented psychological control (β = 0.06, p < 0.05, 95% CI = [0.01, 0.10]) while being associated with dysfunctional independence through perceived achievement-oriented psychological control (β = 0.05, p < 0.05, 95% CI = [0.01, 0.10]). Parenting stress also served as the mediator in the association between marital satisfaction and perceived dependency-oriented psychological control (β = −0.06, p < 0.05, 95% CI = [−0.11, −0.01]), and in the association between marital satisfaction and perceived achievement-oriented psychological control (β = −0.06, p < 0.05, 95% CI = [−0.11, −0.001]).

Conclusions

The current study extended past findings by identifying mothers’ marital satisfaction as a contributor to adolescent dysfunctional separation–individuation, and parenting stress and adolescents’ perceived maternal psychological control as mediating mechanisms.

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Data Availability

We have joined the Peer Reviewers’ Openness Initiative and made our study data open and transparent. Please see https://doi.org/10.17632/dp4gjf4rht.1.

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Author Contributions

SXi: designed and carried out experiments, analyzed experimental results, created database, conducted data analyses, wrote the paper. YLi: collaborated with the design, writing and data analysis of the study. YLu: collaborated with the design, carried out experiments, assisted with the creation of the database. LB and SXu: assisted with literature review, carried out experiments, assisted with the creation of the database.

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2012WYB16) and the MOE Project of Key Research Institutes of Humanities and Social Science at Universities (16JJD880007).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Developmental Psychology, School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

    Shiyuan Xiang, Yan Liu, Yitian Lu, Lu Bai & Shenghan Xu

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  1. Shiyuan Xiang
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  2. Yan Liu
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  3. Yitian Lu
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  4. Lu Bai
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Correspondence to Yan Liu.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics Approval

All participants were treated according to APA ethical standards, and this study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University.

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Informed consent was received from every adolescent’s mother included in the study.

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Xiang, S., Liu, Y., Lu, Y. et al. Exploring the family origins of adolescent dysfunctional separation–individuation. J Child Fam Stud 29, 382–391 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-019-01644-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-019-01644-w

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