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Parent–Child Relationships, Parental Psychological Control, and Aggression: Maternal and Paternal Relationships

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Abstract

Few studies have examined both maternal and paternal parenting practices in the prediction of child outcomes despite evidence that underscores the salience of fathers throughout their children’s development. This study examined the role of the quality of mother–child and father–child relationships in buffering the influence of ineffective parenting practices on subsequent adolescent aggression. Measures of parental psychological control, the quality of the parent–child relationship, and youth aggressive behavior were completed by 163 (49 % female) mostly White and Asian adolescents and their parents during the eighth and ninth grades. Paternal psychological control predicted aggression when adolescents perceived low-quality relationships with their mothers. Similarly, maternal psychological control predicted aggression when adolescents perceived low-quality relationships with their fathers. Maternal psychological control was also associated with lower levels of aggression among adolescent males who reported a high-quality relationship with their father. These findings indicate that, when one parent exerts psychological control, the low-quality relationship the adolescent shares with the opposite gender parent increases risk for adolescent aggression. The findings also suggest that, as mothers exert psychological control, the high-quality parent–child relationship a son shares with his father decreases risk for adolescent aggression.

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Acknowledgments

The research reported in this manuscript was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant #MH58116 to Kenneth H. Rubin.

Author contributions

KWM conceived of the research questions, performed the statistical analysis, contributed to the interpretation of the data, and drafted the manuscript. KD contributed to statistical analysis and was responsible for critical revisions of the manuscript. KR contributed to refine the research questions and hypotheses. KR and CBL designed and conducted the study that provided the data, participated in the interpretation of data, and were involved in revising of the manuscript. SKW helped to draft the manuscript. KWM, KD, and SKW contributed to the study while a doctoral student (KWM), Postdoctoral Fellow (KD), and undergraduate student (SKW) at the University of Maryland College Park. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, Ruth H. Young Center for Families and Children, University of Maryland Baltimore, 525 West Redwood Street, Baltimore, MD, 21201, USA

    Kantahyanee W. Murray

  2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 370 L’Enfant Promenade, SW, Washington, DC, 20447, USA

    Kathleen M. Dwyer

  3. Department of Human Development, University of Maryland College Park, 3304 Benjamin Building, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Kenneth H. Rubin & Sarah Knighton-Wisor

  4. University of Washington, Seattle, CHDD, 106 South Building, Box 357920, Seattle, WA, 98195-7920, USA

    Cathryn Booth-LaForce

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  1. Kantahyanee W. Murray
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Correspondence to Kantahyanee W. Murray.

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Murray, K.W., Dwyer, K.M., Rubin, K.H. et al. Parent–Child Relationships, Parental Psychological Control, and Aggression: Maternal and Paternal Relationships. J Youth Adolescence 43, 1361–1373 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-013-0019-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-013-0019-1

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