Individual differences in early adolescents' beliefs in the legitimacy of parental authority.

Abstract

Adolescents differ in the extent to which they believe that parents have legitimate authority to impose rules restricting adolescents' behavior. The purpose of the current study was to test predictors of individual differences in legitimacy beliefs during the middle school years. Annually, during the summers following Grades 5, 6, and 7, early adolescents (n = 218; 51% female, 47% African American, 73% in 2-parent homes) reported their beliefs regarding the legitimacy of parents' rules that restrict and monitor adolescents' free time activities. Cross-lagged analyses revealed that legitimacy beliefs were bidirectionally associated with independent decision making, psychological control, antisocial peer involvement, and resistance to control. Legitimacy beliefs declined more rapidly during the middle school years for boys than for girls and for adolescents who were older relative to their classmates. More independent decision making in Grades 5 and 6 predicted larger than expected declines in legitimacy beliefs in Grades 6 and 7. In sum, legitimacy beliefs weaken developmentally, and weaker legitimacy beliefs relative to same-grade peers are anteceded by premature autonomous experiences, psychological control, and adolescent attributes.

Mother–adolescent monitoring dynamics and the legitimacy of parental authority

“…Given the apparent importance of legitimacy beliefs for understanding whether or not adolescents facilitate parental monitoring efforts, an expansion of current work (e.g., Darling, Cumsille, & Martínez, 2008;Kuhn & Laird, 2011;Smetana & Asquith, 1994) is needed to understand the origins of these individual differences in adolescents' legitimacy beliefs.…”

“…Adolescents differ in the extent to which they believe that parents have legitimate authority to monitor or restrict adolescents' leisure time behavior (Kuhn & Laird, 2011;Smetana, 2011) and such beliefs may enhance or hinder the reciprocal monitoring process. Youth who more strongly endorse the legitimacy of parents' authority typically believe they should comply with parents' monitoring efforts and that they are obligated to disclose information about their activities (Cumsille et al, 2010).…”

“…This scale was based on the assessment of legitimacy and obligation beliefs developed by Smetana and colleagues (Smetana & Daddis, 2002;Smetana et al, 2006), but items were written to focus on parental restriction of unsupervised activities and peer relationship experiences (Kuhn & Laird, 2011). For five topics (e.g., being at a friend's house when no adult is there), adolescents reported whether it is "OK" for parents to make a rule about the particular issue (coded 0 ¼ no, 1 ¼ yes).…”

‘This is our culture!’ or is it? Second generation Asian Indian individuals’ perceptions of parents’ socialization messages

“…A second area of research follows the framework of Social Domain Theory, (SDT) (Crockenberg & Litman, 1990;Cumsille, Darling, Flaherty, & Martínez, 2006;Darling, Cumsille, & Martínez, 2008;Darling & Steinberg, 1993;Kuhn & Laird, 2011;Smetana, 1988aSmetana, , 1988bSmetana, , 1989Smetana, , 1995aSmetana, , 1995bSmetana, , 1999Smetana, , 2000Smetana, , 2006Smetana & Asquith, 1994;Smetana & Daddis, 2002), which focuses on children's assessment of legitimacy of parental authority. Social Domain Theory proposes that individuals have varied domains of social knowledge and that they categorize issues into moral (pertaining to others' rights and welfare), conventional (social norms), prudential (related to important consequences) and personal issues (affect only the individual and considered to be beyond regulation or moral concern).…”

A família como contexto de desenvolvimento moral para crianças e adolescentes com Transtorno do Déficit de Atenção e Hiperatividade

“…Além dos estudos realizados por Smetana e seus colaboradores, outros pesquisadores têm relacionado a legitimidade da autoridade parental à outros assuntos, tais como: a variabilidade na obediência dos adolescentes (Darling, Cumsille & Martínez, 2007); a percepção dos adolescentes sobre a legitimidade dos pais de controlar comportamentos acadêmicos dos filhos (Bernardo, 2010); as diferenças individuais nas crenças sobre a legitimidade da autoridade parental em pré-adolescentes (Kuhn & Laird, 2011); autonomia, piedade, crenças sobre a autoridade parental e obediência (Liu, 2013); interferência da legitimidade da autoridade parental sobre o comportamento do adolescente no tempo de lazer (Keijsers & Laird, 2014); as reações e sentimentos dos filhos referente ao controle e monitoramento dos pais e sua relação com a legitimidade da autoridade parental (LaFleur et al, 2016), entre outros.…”