Longitudinal Association between Maternal Autonomy Support and Controlling Parenting and Adolescents’ Depressive Symptoms

Abstract

Most studies on autonomy support and controlling parenting rely on children’s perceptions, despite the limitations of this approach. This study investigated congruency between autonomy support and controlling parenting reported by mothers and adolescents and their association with adolescents’ depressive symptoms via basic psychological needs satisfaction. Participants included 408 Japanese mother–adolescent (Mage = 13.73, SD = 0.90, 52% female) pairs who completed a questionnaire at two time points four months apart. Results demonstrated low to moderate levels of mother–adolescent agreement. Cross-lagged regression models revealed that mothers’ reported autonomy support positively predicted adolescents’ basic psychological needs satisfactions, which was negatively associated with depressive symptoms. The independent roles of parenting reported by mothers and adolescents for adolescents’ well-being were discussed.

Transmission of Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction Between Parents and Adolescents: The Critical Role of Parental Perceptions

“…This study was also part of a larger study examining parental effects on adolescents' motivation, and a list naming all scales included in the questionnaires is available in our online Supplementary Materials (https://osf.io/utr8s/?view_only=41d16a307a17 480c841e1ab00fb84290). The data set used in this study is also used in another study by Tanaka et al (2023) to investigate adolescents' depressive symptoms. The questionnaires included in this study are the same as in Study 1, with the addition of scales about autonomy-supportive and controlling parenting practices (used to test the mediation hypotheses in our Supplementary Materials).…”

“…This study was also part of a larger study examining parental effects on adolescents' motivation and a list of all scales included in the questionnaires is available in our online Supplementary Materials (https://osf.io/utr8s/?view_only=bdd2546afdc745248b4bab4c6cb7f2c1). The dataset used in this study is also used in another study by Tanaka et al (2021) to investigate adolescents' depressive symptoms.…”

Exploring Parenting Styles Patterns and Children’s Socio-Emotional Skills

“…the findings regarding the "highly authoritative parenting style" as the least connected to children's internalizing or externalizing problems should be approached with caution. There may be other confounding factors not considered in the analysis that could influence these associations, such as autonomy support and controlling parenting [135,136] or child-parent communication [137]. We also used parents' self-perceptions of their parenting styles.…”