Adolescent Parental Authority Cognition And Its Relationship With Attachment And Self-concept

Conceptions of parental authority mean conceptions of parents'rules and discipline. The study examined the development of conceptions of parental authority during adolescence, and its relationship with attachment and self-concept. The research method combined quantitative research and qualitative research. Quantitative research examined the development of conceptions of parental authority during adolescence and its relationship with attachment and self-concept on the whole. Moreover, qualitative research explored the internal mechanism of the three at a micro level. The quantitative research used three questionnaires:Conceptions of Parental Authority, Song-Hattie Self-concept Scale and Adolescent Attachment Inventory.580 middle school students were tested and the data was analyzed, then we got the development regulation and relationships of the three. Furthermore, Semi-structured interviews were conducted in qualitative research. The researcher interviewed 4 teenagers in three topics:conceptions of parental authority, attachment and self-conception. After recording and analyzing the interviews, the researcher discovered the development features and the internal mechanism of the three. The results are as follows:1. There were significant differences in adolescents' conceptions of parental authority between moral and personal domain. Their scores of conceptions of legitimate parental authority and obedience obligation about moral issues were higher than personal issues. Similarly, there were differences about adolescents'conceptions of parental authority in different grades. Their scores of conceptions of legitimate parental authority and obedience obligation declined with age, but conceptions of personal jurisdiction increased on the contrary. Moreover, there were interactions not only between domains and grades, but also between domains and genders.2. We found that self-concept had positive correlation with conceptions of legitimate parental authority and obedience obligation, while had no significant correlation with conceptions of personal jurisdiction. Besides, self-concept had positive correlation with affinity attachment, dependency attachment, and anxiety attachment, while it had negative correlation with negativity attachment. Furthermore, there were different correlations between different dimensions of attachment and conceptions of parental authority.3. Self-concept played a part intermediary role between affinity attachment and conceptions of legitimate parental authority and obedience obligation, as well as between negativity attachment and conceptions of obedience obligation.4. The conclusions of qualitative research are as follows:firstly, there were differences of adolescents' conceptions of parental authority in different domains. There were several factors influencing on conceptions of parental authority, including adolescents' understanding of intention of parental authority, self-development, and the parenting style. Secondly, the parenting style had an influence on adolescents' attachment; the development of self-awareness and significant others had an influence on adolescents' self-concept. Finally, adolescents' attachment had an influence on self-concept and conceptions of parental authority, besides, self-concept had integration function.Conclusions are as follows:Firstly, There were several factors influencing on conceptions of parental authority, including domain, grades, adolescents'understanding of intention of parental authority, self-development, and the parenting style. Secondly, Self-concept and attachment related to parental authority. Finally, adolescents'attachment had an influence on self-concept and conceptions of parental authority, besides, self-concept had mediate function.