The Role of Child Personality in Effects of Psychologically Controlling Parenting: An Examination at the Level of Daily Fluctuations


Mabbe E., Vansteenkiste M., Van der Kaap-Deeder J., Dieleman L., Mouratidis A., Soenens B.

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, vol.32, no.4, pp.459-479, 2018 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 32 Issue: 4
  • Publication Date: 2018
  • Doi Number: 10.1002/per.2156
  • Journal Name: EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.459-479
  • Keywords: psychological control, personality, parenting, diary, ADOLESCENT DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS, SELF-DETERMINATION THEORY, RELATIONAL AGGRESSION, INTRINSIC MOTIVATION, NEED SATISFACTION, PROBLEM BEHAVIOR, ASSOCIATIONS, METAANALYSIS, PERCEPTIONS, ADJUSTMENT
  • TED University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Research increasingly demonstrates the detrimental effects of psychologically controlling parenting on children's adjustment. An important and practically relevant question is whether some children are more vulnerable for the effects of psychologically controlling parenting. In the current diary study, we investigated whether daily psychologically controlling parenting relates to children's daily externalizing and internalizing problems and whether these associations depend on child personality. A total of 206 children (M age=9.93years; 46.6% female) along with their mothers and fathers (M age=40.30 and 42.40years) participated in this multi-informant diary study. All three family members filled out a diary each day for seven days. Multilevel analyses indicated that daily maternal and paternal psychological control were positively related to daily externalizing and internalizing problems, a pattern that was fairly consistent across informants. Out of the 35 interactions tested, only three turned out to be significant. Overall, the limited number of interactions suggests that psychologically controlling parenting is generally detrimental to children's daily functioning. Still, children differ somewhat in their susceptibility to the effect of psychologically controlling parenting. (c) 2018 European Association of Personality Psychology