Culture beats gender? The importance of controlling for identity‐ and parenting‐related risk factors in adolescent psychopathology☆

Abstract

This study analyzed the unique effects of gender and culture on psychopathology in adolescents from seven countries after controlling for factors which might have contributed to variations in psychopathology. In a sample 2259 adolescents (M = 15 years; 54% female) from France, Germany, Turkey, Greece, Peru, Pakistan, and Poland identity stress, coping with identity stress, maternal parenting (support, psychological control, anxious rearing) and psychopathology (internalizing, externalizing and total symptomatology) were assessed. Due to variations in stress perception, coping style and maternal behavior, these covariates were partialed out before the psychopathology scores were subjected to analyses of variance with gender and country as factors. These analyses leveled out the main effect of country and revealed country-specific gender effects. In four countries, males reported higher internalizing and total symptomatology than females. Partialing out the covariates resulted in a clearer picture of culture-specific and genderdependent effects on psychopathology, which is helpful in designing interventions.Adolescence is regarded as a window of vulnerability for developing psychopathology, due to the many changes with which adolescents have to cope. Of central concern are identity issues, as identity formation is a core developmental challenge for adolescents (Erikson, 1968). Of note, the construct of identity has been integrated as a central diagnostic criterion for personality disorders in the DSM-5, and identity conflicts contribute to many adolescence-typical disorders such as eating disorders, self-harming behavior or depression (OPD-CA-2 Task Force, 2017). Rapid social and technological changes, the increasing plurality of norms and values, and a growing structural uncertainty at the societal level have made identity formation more difficult for adolescents across the world (Kroger & Marcia, 2011). Further, there is some indication that in some Western countries dysfunctional parenting adds to the difficulty in establishing a separate identity, thereby contributing to an increased symptom level of the adolescent (Barber, 2002;Lemoyne & Buchanan, 2011).Given the increasing diversity in Western countries as well as the increasing globalization, it seems important to analyze what

Emerging Adults’ Psychopathology in Seven Countries: The Impact of Identity-Related Risk Factors

“…These regression analyses yielded regression residuals for the two psychopathology variables for which the three covariates were partialed out. By using this procedure (see Seiffge-Krenke et al, 2018), we could analyze the effects of stress level, coping style, and maternal behavior, which were expected to be considerably different across countries (Barber, 2002; Persike & Seiffge-Krenke, 2015). Such differential influences cannot be modeled in an analysis of covariance.…”

The psychometric qualities of a short version of the multidimensional overprotective parenting scale

“…Overprotective parenting is assumed to relate negatively to parental autonomy support and responsiveness and positively to psychological control because it reflects a lack of parental attunement to children's needs (Van Petegem et al, 2020). This assumption was generally confirmed for anxious overprotection, whereas the picture was more mixed for egoenhancing overprotection, where results also depend upon the informant (e.g., Kins & Soenens, 2013;Seiffge-Krenke et al, 2018;Titova et al, 2021). In terms of associations with developmental outcomes, past research showed that parental overprotection -and anxious overprotection in particular -relates to adolescents' and young adults' maladjustment, including lowered self-esteem and more depressive and anxiety symptoms (Kins & Soenens, 2013;Van Petegem et al, 2021).…”

Activities and relationships with parents as key ecological assets that encourage personal positive youth development

“…To explain the relationships between family activities and life satisfaction for Peruvian boys, we can only attempt a hypothesis. This would refer specially to the collectivist nature of the Peruvian culture, with a high level of family envolvement (Seiffge‐Krenke et al, 2018; Weitkamp & Seiffge‐Krenke, 2019). In this group of boys, these values would be represented by family activities.…”

“…For example, family unemployment might affect boys more than girls. Seiffge‐Krenke et al (2018) performed a cross‐cultural study on family factors and behavioral problems in adolescents. They found that the interaction between culture and sex are important in some countries, for example in Peru, one of the countries analyzed in our study.…”