| The present study reconceptualized parental psychological control as a manipulative type of control that creates an environment in which love and unconditional positive regard of the child is contingent on child behaviour. Past researchers held the view that parental psychological control and autonomy supportive parenting were opposite ends of the same continuum where a parent was autonomy supportive if s/he was not psychologically controlling. A new measure of parental psychological control, independent from autonomy supportive parenting items, was created to measure withholding love, guilt- and shame-induction, and controlled praise that is not confounded by items measuring autonomy supportive parenting. Support was found for the idea that psychological control and autonomy supportive parenting are not dimensions of one continuum. A model that looks at the influence of parental psychological control and autonomy supportive parenting on child outcomes (i.e., symptomatology and adjustment in school) through child self-process variables such as perceived ability to meet perceived parental expectations and self-concept was tested using both child (8-12-years old) and mother reports. In the child report of parenting model, child self-process variables mediated the negative relationship between psychological control and child outcome variables and the positive relationship between autonomy supportive parenting and all child outcome variables. |
