An examination of determinants and developmental outcomes of psychological control using system approach: A multilevel modeling

The primary objective of the present research is to examine the psychological control in detail. There are two studies with different focus in the research to achieve this objective. The focus of the Study1 is to examine the determinants of perceived psychological control, and the focus of the Study2 is to examine the developmental consequences of psychological control. In the first study, the characteristics of parents, adolescents, and the family context have been examined as the antecedents of psychological control through modeling. The sample of the research consists of 307 families residing in 17 different cities, in Turkey. A total of 1228 individuals including mothers (M = 41.30, N = 4.24), fathers (M = 45.01, N = 4.58), older siblings (M = 16.17, N = 1.60), and younger siblings (M = 12.54, N = 1.70) have participated to the study. The results of the multilevel analysis revealed that the predictors of psychological control in the mother's model were birth order, problem behaviors, and academic functioning as well as maternal maladaptive perfectionism. The predictors for the father's model were the birth order, problem behaviors, and the household chaos. In the second study, it has been focused on investigating the role of psychological control on the problem behaviors of siblings through modeling. The research model has examined the relationship between both ambient and differential psychological control and problem behaviors, considering the characteristics of the adolescents and the family context. The study sample was the same as the first study, but it consisted of 303 families due to scrubbing. The results of the multilevel analysis indicated that in the mother model, differential and ambient psychological control, and household chaos were predictors of externalizing problems. In the father model predictors were differential psychological control and household chaos. For both parent model, the predictors of internalizing problems were the gender of the sibling and family income. Study1 reveals that (i) the adolescent's maladjustment is an important antecedent of psychological control, (ii) it is necessary to examine the antecedents for both parents. Study 2 demonstrates the importance of examining the outcomes of psychological control by (i) differentiating family-wide and child-specific aspects of parenting, (ii) both for mothers and fathers, (iii) along with other features of the family system. Keywords: Psychological control, the antecedents of parenting, behavioral problems, multilevel analysis, adolescence