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Perceived Maternal and Paternal Psychological Control: Relations to Adolescent Anxiety Through Deficits in Emotion Regulation

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Abstract

The current study compared the differential effects of early adolescents’ perceived maternal and paternal psychological control (as well as their discrepancy) on adolescent anxiety. It also tested whether psychological control leads to deficits in youths’ ability to regulate their negative emotions, and if, in turn, such deficits lead to anxiety. Sixth- and seventh-grade students (n = 214; 59 % girls; 60 % Caucasian) completed measures of perceived psychological control, regulation of negative emotions, and anxiety symptoms. The discrepancy between perceived mothers’ and fathers’ control was also calculated. Although perceptions of mothers’ control, fathers’ control, and their discrepancy were each bivariately related to adolescent anxiety, when considered together, only a larger discrepancy in parents’ psychological control was uniquely associated with higher self-reported anxiety. Further, adolescents’ dysregulation of negative emotions partially explained the relation of both maternal psychological control and the discrepancy in parental control to anxiety. Implications for understanding family-based etiological correlates of anxiety are discussed.

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Notes

  1. A series of Bonferroni-corrected (α = .05/8 = .006), one-way ANOVAs was conducted to test if differences emerged across classrooms on primary variables. Of the 8 variables tested, a significant omnibus F test emerged for only one variable: anxiety scores, F(4, 209) = 4.34, p = . 002, η 2 p  = .08. A Tukey’s post hoc test indicated that the mean anxiety score for one of the 7th grade classrooms (M = 37.16, SD = 25.87) was significantly higher than the other 7th grade classroom (M = 21.64, SD = 13.63). Neither of these scores was significantly different from the remaining three classrooms, all of which were 6th grade. Given this single difference and the small magnitude of the effect, analyses suggested that differential participation across classrooms was likely not impactful on any primary construct. As such, this issue is not considered further in primary analyses.

  2. Given the wide age range, primary analyses were conducted with and without these five youth included to assess whether this small group of youth constituted outliers given their potential developmental differences compared to younger students in these grades. No differences were found and as such, these youth are included in analyses presented in text.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Miami University, 90 N. Patterson, Oxford, OH, 45056, USA

    Aaron M. Luebbe, Kari A. Bump, Lauren M. Fussner & Kathryn J. Rulon

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  1. Aaron M. Luebbe
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  2. Kari A. Bump
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  3. Lauren M. Fussner
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  4. Kathryn J. Rulon
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Correspondence to Aaron M. Luebbe.

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Luebbe, A.M., Bump, K.A., Fussner, L.M. et al. Perceived Maternal and Paternal Psychological Control: Relations to Adolescent Anxiety Through Deficits in Emotion Regulation. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 45, 565–576 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-013-0425-3

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