The Differential Relations of Maternal and Paternal Support and Control to Adolescent Social Competence, Self-Worth, and Sympathy
Abstract
The goal of this study was to examine how the parenting dimensions of both mothers and fathers independently and together predict adolescent outcomes in three domains: sympathy, self-worth, and social competence. One-hundred eight adolescents completed self-report measures on their perceived relationship with parents, sympathy, social competence, and self-worth. Perceived maternal supportandrigid control were the most consistent predictors of adolescent adjustment. High levels of perceived maternal support and low levels of maternal rigid control were related to adolescents’reports of sympathy, social competence, and self-worth. In contrast, support and control from fathers was generally unrelated to adolescent adjustment. The one exception was in predicting sympathy, where father support interacted with maternal support in predicting sympathy. When perceived support from fathers was high, maternal support was unrelated to sympathy. In contrast, when perceived supportfrom fathers was low, perceived maternal support was a statistically significant predictor of sympathy.
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1. Even though the eigenvalue was less than the traditional 1.0 cutoff, this factor was retained for theoretical reasons because of the Scree Plot and because it was parallel with the maternal rigid control factor.
2. Regression models were also built separately by gender. However, the patterns of relations were interpretably the same.
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