“If you really love me, you will do/be…”: Parental psychological control and its implications for children's adjustment

Scharf, Miri; Goldner, Limor

doi:10.1016/j.dr.2018.07.002

Cited by 114 publications

(146 citation statements)

References 138 publications

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“…In line with our expectations, parental psychological control directly predicts negative emotional reactivity to the pandemic, which supports the evidence that individuals under higher psychological control reported higher negative emotions ( Cui, Morris, Criss, Houltberg, & Silk, 2014 ). The unhealthy self-concept, nonadaptive emotional regulation, inadequate coping abilities and poor volitional functioning might weaken one's ability to exhibit adaptive forms of emotional reactivity to this coronavirus pandemic ( Scharf & Goldner, 2018 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Self-determination theory (SDT) proposes that parental psychological control fails to satisfy one's basic psychological needs for experiencing autonomy, competence, and relatedness, which are considered to be essential for the realization of human potential ( Deci & Ryan, 2008 ; Feeney & Collins, 2015 ; Ryan & Deci, 2000 ). The association between parental psychological control and adjustment problems, such as depression, anxiety, and social problems, were established by accumulative studies ( Scharf & Goldner, 2018 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The role of empathy in the mechanism linking parental psychological control to emotional reactivities to COVID-19 pandemic: A pilot study among Chinese emerging adults

Wang

2021

Personality and Individual Differences

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The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its worldwide spread have brought economic, social and personal stress. To better understand human adjustments to this public health emergency and its underlying mechanism, the relationship between perceived parental psychological control in emerging adults and individual's emotional reactivity to COVID-19 as well as the role of empathy was examined. The study was conducted among 445 emerging adults using questionnaires measuring parental psychological control, empathy, and emotional reactivities in the initial stage of COVID-19. Results revealed that parental psychological control conferred risks for individual's increased negative emotional reactivity to this pandemic. Moreover, our findings shedlight on personal distress as a mechanism through which parental psychological control induces negative emotional reactivities. Although no direct effect between parental psychological control and positive emotional reactivity was found, personal distress and perspective taking mediate the association in an opposite way. Findings have implications for predicting and intervening mental health problems in COVID-19 pandemic and future public health emergency.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of empathy in the mechanism linking parental psychological control to emotional reactivities to COVID-19 pandemic: A pilot study among Chinese emerging adults

Wang

2021

Personality and Individual Differences

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“…This ‘bias’ is coupled with the fact that boys usually display more non‐conforming behaviours than girls (Duchesne & Larose, ), which, in turn, is likely to evoke parents’ increased use of psychologically controlling behaviours. Most previous studies failed to examine this gender difference (see Scharf & Goldner, , for a review), or otherwise masked the possible moderating role of gender on the interpersonal dynamics of parental psychological control.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parental psychological control and academic functioning in Chinese high school students: A short‐term longitudinal study

Dai

Liu

et al. 2019

British J of Dev Psycho

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The present study aimed to examine the reciprocal relationship between parental psychological control and students’ academic functioning in urban China. Participants were 731 Chinese high school students in grade 10 (356 boys; Mage = 15.64 years, SD = 0.68). Two waves of 1‐year longitudinal data were collected using student reports of parental psychological control and academic‐related beliefs, strategies, and behaviours. Results showed that parental psychological control at Time 1 significantly triggered an increase in students’ maladaptive academic functioning at Time 2; and students’ adaptive academic functioning at Time 1 significantly predicted parental psychological control at Time 2. Limitations of the present study and implications for practice are discussed. What is already known on this subject? According to self‐determination theory, parental psychological control has been found to be harmful on students’ academic learning in Western societies. We know little about the relation between parental psychological control and academic functioning (adaptive vs. maladaptive) in Eastern societies such as China. What does this study add? Parental psychological control increased maladaptive academic functioning, and adaptive academic functioning decreased parental psychological control, suggesting a more fluid, dynamic parenting–child interaction over time. The predicted relations between parental psychological control and academic functioning of high school students hold across gender. More urbanized adolescents had a high tendency to perceive their parents as psychological controlling, suggesting a change in culture regarding the importance of personal autonomy for more urbanized adolescents.

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“…Parents use more psychological control when they face environmental risks, threats, and stressors (Cheah et al, 2016;Ungar, 2009). The current COVID-19 pandemic is a highly stressful event in which parents may be pressured to be decisive in protecting their children and apply urgent, emergency mode parenting strategies (Scharf & Goldner, 2018). Therefore, parents may be 5 more inclined to engage in psychologically controlling parenting such as fear induction with their children to achieve desirable socialization outcomes quickly under such time urgency and low-resourced situations.…”

Section: Parent Fear Induction During the Covid-19 Pandemicmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Constantly consuming virus-related information may add to parents' feelings of uncertainty, anxiety, and fear at the start of the crisis (Kreuter & Strecher, 1995;21 Maunder et al, 2003). Therefore, these parents may use more fear induction socialization to control their children and ensure their children's health and safety (Scharf & Goldner, 2018).…”

Section: Statistical Powermentioning

confidence: 99%

The Cost and Benefit of Fear Induction Parenting on Children’s Health during the COVID-19 Outbreak

Ren¹,

Cheah²,

Liu³

2021

Preprint

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Objective. The outbreak of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was an unprecedented global public health emergency with a significant psychological toll. This study aimed to understand how specific COVID-19 related stressors contributed to Chinese parents’ fear induction practices, and how these practices, in turn, contributed to their children’s disease prevention practices during the outbreak and depressive symptoms after the outbreak. Method. Parents (N=240, Mage=38.50 years, 75% mothers) with elementary-school-aged children (Mage=9.48 years, 46% girls) in Wenzhou, one of the most impacted cities in China, reported on the presence of confirmed or suspected cases in their communities, their frequencies of consuming COVID-19-related information, fear induction practices, and their children’s trait anxiety and disease prevention practices during the outbreak (January 28 to 30, 2020). Child-reported depressive symptoms were collected between March 7 and 11, 2020, during which there were very few remaining cases and no new confirmed cases or deaths. Results. Parents’ higher frequency of virus-related information consumption but not the presence of community infection was associated with their engagement in more fear induction practices, which was in turn associated with children’s greater engagement in prevention practices during the outbreak, but more post-quarantine depressive symptoms. Child trait anxiety exacerbated the association between parent fear induction and child depressive symptoms. Conclusion. Using fear induction parenting may promote children’s willingness to cooperate and participate in disease prevention practices during the crisis but at the cost of children’s long-term mental health.

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“If you really love me, you will do/be…”: Parental psychological control and its implications for children's adjustment

Cited by 114 publications

References 138 publications

The role of empathy in the mechanism linking parental psychological control to emotional reactivities to COVID-19 pandemic: A pilot study among Chinese emerging adults

The role of empathy in the mechanism linking parental psychological control to emotional reactivities to COVID-19 pandemic: A pilot study among Chinese emerging adults

Parental psychological control and academic functioning in Chinese high school students: A short‐term longitudinal study

The Cost and Benefit of Fear Induction Parenting on Children’s Health during the COVID-19 Outbreak

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