Parental Control And Youth Aggression

Negative parental control refers a series of compulsive behaviors that parents take to disregard children’s thought in order to allow children to act according to their wishes.Negative controlling parents try to give their children leverage by manipulating their emotions or dominating their behavior.The purpose of negative parental control tend to let their children learn to restrain themselves and reduce aggressive behavior.If only one parent played the role of negative controller and the other parent played the role of warm comforter,how would this affect the adolescents’ parental authority and aggressive behavior? Based on the above considerations,the current study examined the mediating roles of parental authority on the relation between negative parental control in the context of positive parenting and adolescents’ aggression by testing four moderated mediating models.Since the questionnaire on adolescent parental authority has not been used in China,it is revised with the permission of the author.Four hundred and fifty seven middle school students from grade 6 and 7 were recruited as participants,and the structural validity,internal consistency reliability and correlation validity of parental authority questionnaire were tested.Based on study 1,study 2 explored the relationship between parental negative behavior control and adolescents’ aggression,study 3 probed into the association between parental psychological control and adolescents’ aggression.Given the differences and complementarities of parenting roles,study 2 sought to clarify whether the impact of harsh fathering(harsh mothering)on adolescent perception of paternal(maternal)authority could be buffered by maternal(paternal)warmth,further reducing the likelihood of adolescent aggression;study 3 sought to clarify whether the impact of paternal psychological control(maternal psychological control)on adolescent perception of paternal(maternal)authority could be buffered by maternal(paternal)autonomy-support,further reducing the likelihood of adolescent aggression.Results demonstrated that:(1)It was revealed that the questionnaire on adolescent parental authority has appropriate reliability and validity,which guarantees the follow-up use of this questionnaire.(2)The perception of paternal authority partially mediated the relationship between harsh fathering and adolescents’ aggression,maternal warmth could moderate the mediated path via paternal authority,such that this indirect effect was weakened for adolescents with high levels of maternal warmth.(3)The perception of maternal authority partially mediated the relationship between harsh mothering and adolescents’ aggression,paternal warmth could moderate the mediated path via maternal authority,such that this indirect effect was weakened for adolescents with high levels of paternal warmth.(4)The perception of paternal authority partially mediated the relationship between paternal psychological control and adolescents’ aggression,maternal autonomy-support could moderate the mediated path via paternal authority,such that this indirect effect was weakened for adolescents with high levels of maternal autonomy-support.(5)The perception of maternal authority partially mediated the relationship between maternal psychological control and adolescents’ aggression,paternal autonomy-support could moderate the mediated path via maternal authority,such that this indirect effect was weakened for adolescents with high levels of paternal autonomy-support.In conclusion,both harsh parenting and psychological control could increase the risk of adolescents’ aggression by weakening their perception of their parental authority,while parental warmth or autonomy-support could buffer the negative effects of negative parental control on the perception parental authority of adolescents.Parents should consciously forbear from aversive disciplinary practices such as harsh discipline or psychological control because power assertive disciplinary tactics does not lead adolescents to accept parental authority,but increases the risk of aggression.Educational professionals can provide parents with more effective parenting skills,such as reasoning and induction,which may be beneficial to reduce the negative effects of parental negative control on adolescents’ adjustment.