Parenting in Emerging Adulthood: An Examination of Parenting Clusters and Correlates

Abstract

The changing nature of the transition to adulthood in western societies, such as the United States, may be extending the length of time parents are engaged in "parenting" activities. However, little is known about different approaches parents take in their interactions with their emerging-adult children. Hence, this study attempted to identify different clusters of parents based on the extent to which they exhibited both extremes of control (psychological control, punishment, verbal hostility, indulgence) and responsiveness (knowledge, warmth, induction, autonomy granting), and to examine how combinations of parenting were related to emerging adult children's relational and individual outcomes (e.g. parent-child relationship quality, drinking, self-worth, depression). The data were collected from 403 emerging adults (M age = 19.89, SD = 1.78, range = 18-26, 62% female) and at least one of their parents (287 fathers and 317 mothers). Eighty-four percent of participants reported being European American, 6% Asian American, 4% African American, 3% Latino, and 4% reported being of other ethnicities. Data were analyzed using hierarchical cluster analysis, separately for mothers and fathers, and identified three similar clusters of parents which we labeled as uninvolved (low on all aspects of parenting), controlling-indulgent (high on both extremes of control and low on all aspects of responsiveness), and authoritative (high on responsiveness and low on control). A fourth cluster was identified for both mothers and fathers and was labeled as inconsistent for mothers (mothers were above the mean on both extremes of control and on responsiveness) and average for fathers (fathers were at the mean on all eight aspects of parenting). The discussion focuses on how each of these clusters effectively distinguished between child outcomes.

Helicopter Parenting and Emerging Adult Self-Efficacy: Implications for Mental and Physical Health

“…Findings of this study are consistent with previous research that found that psychologically controlling or adverse family environments (need-frustrating environments) can be detrimental to children's and emerging adults' need to feel efficacious and competent (Reed et al 2015;Soenens and Vansteenkiste 2010). Psychological control is a parenting technique in which parents attempt to control the child's autonomy development through negative emotional interactions (Barber et al 2005), which has been found to be associated with a variety of adverse outcomes, such as difficulty coping with stressful situations, the use of avoidant coping behaviors (Abaied and Emond 2013), lowered self-worth, depression (Nelson et al 2011;Kenny and Sirin 2006), and anxiety (Nelson et al 2011). …”

Inflexible Parents, Inflexible Kids: A 6-Year Longitudinal Study of Parenting Style and the Development of Psychological Flexibility in Adolescents

“…Research by Finkenauer et al (2005) and by Moilanen et al (2010) suggests behavioral control may not be not an important contributor. However, other studies have shown that authoritative parenting, which combines behavioral control with warmth, continues to benefit young people in later adolescence and emerging adulthood (Heaven and Ciarrochi 2008b;Liem et al 2010;Nelson et al 2011). In summary, the low warmth and intrusive control characteristic of authoritarian parenting have been linked with maladaptive self regulation.…”

“…Behavioral control involves limit-setting, monitoring and structure (Barber 1996). Parental warmth (also called acceptance, involvement or responsiveness) and control are two dimensions that have influenced parenting research since the early 1970s (Baumrind 1991;Nelson et al 2011). Authoritative parenting, which has consistently been shown to be the most effective style (Steinberg 2000(Steinberg , 2001, is a combination of high warmth with high control.…”

Daughters’ Anger towards Mothers and Fathers in Emerging Adulthood

“…Nelson et al (2011) surveyed 403 young adults and at least one of their parents, and they found that during this stage of development mothers displayed more warmth and involvement with their children than did fathers. The study also demonstrated fathers engaged in more controlling behaviors with their young adult children than did mothers.…”

“…Nelson et al (2011) inquired into parenting styles during emerging adulthood by surveying 403 college students and one of their parents. A cluster analysis of the data indicated four parenting styles.…”