The Relation of Connection, Regulation, and Support for Autonomy to Adolescents'Functioning

Abstract

How is adolescent functioning related to experiences of connection, regulation, and supportfor autonomy at home, in school, and with peers? Using datafrom the Maryland Adolescent Growth in Context (MAGIC) study (an ongoing longitudinal study of 1,387 African Amenrican and European American adolescents and theirfamilies), it was found that: (a)family demographic characteristics helped predict only academicperformance; (b) although positive experiences on one indicator predicted positive experiences on the other two, each of the three types of experience explained a unique amount of variance in adolescentfunctioning (e.g., regulation related most strongly to externalizing behaviors; in contrast, supportfor autonomy related to all aspects offunctioning); (c) although adolescents with positive interactions in one context were likely to have positive interactions in the other contexts, characteristics of each context explained unique amounts of variance infifuctioning (e.g., experiences with siblings emerged as uniquely important predictors of mental health).

Attachment and Autonomy During Adolescence

“…Petit et al). Conversely, self -report studies have indicated that parents ' granting of psychological autonomy is linked with a range of positive emotional and behavioral outcomes, including less depressed affect and fewer externalizing problems both concurrently and longitudinally (Barber & Olson, 1997 ;Eccles, Early, Frasier, Belansky, & McCarthy, 1997 ;Herman, Dornbusch, Herron, & Herting, 1997 ;Silk et al, 2003 ). Similarly, observations of behavior promoting of cognitive/verbal autonomy while also maintaining relatedness during a family discussion have been linked to lower levels of adolescent depression over time, as rated by observers during a clinical interview (Allen et al, 1994a ).…”

“…Research on parental monitoring, behavioral control and behavioral autonomy has indicated consistent links between high levels of monitoring and firm/consistent behavioral control and low levels of problems behaviors during adolescence (Barber et al, 1994 ;Galambos, Barker, & Almeida, 2003 ;Eccles et al, 1997 ;Gray & Steinberg, 1999 ;Hayes et al, 2004;Herman et al, 1997 ;Pettit, Laird, & Dodge, 2001 ). With regard to behavioral autonomy, adolescents appear to benefit from parenting that supports their participation in family decision making, but overly high levels of adolescent behavioral autonomy (as often occur with permissive and/or neglectful parenting) tend to be maladaptive for teens Steinberg, Lamborn, Darling, Mounts, & Dornbusch, 1994 ).…”

“…With regard to attachment relationships, methods of assessment tend to focus on adolescents ' overarching attachment models, and such methods supersede an examination of relationships with each parent separately. Similarly, one drawback to much of the selfreport literature on autonomy development is that studies often assess adolescents ' ratings of their relationships with both parents at once, rather than assessing the mother -adolescent and father -adolescent relationships separately (Eccles et al, 1997 ).…”

Adolescent Work, Vocational Development, and Education

“…Within parent-adolescent and teacher-student relationships, the support of autonomy (e.g., decision-making, personal goal selection), warmth and support, and interactions that promote feelings of competence (e.g., praise, awards and other recognition) foster adolescent engagement, competence and self-regulation (Eccles et al, 1997;Gray & Steinberg, 1999;Skinner et al, 1998). These relationship qualities might also be beneficial when experienced in the workplace.…”

L’influence du style parental, de la dépression et des troubles du comportement sur le risque d’abandon scolaire

“…Il faut cependant mentionner que la mesure de la dépression utilisée dans cette étude ne compte que peu d'items limitant ainsi l'interprétation des résultats. Eccles et al (1997) trouvent que l'encouragement à l'autonomie a un effet sur la dépression, peu importe le sexe, alors que l'encadrement parental n'aurait pas d'effet significatif et l'engagement parental influerait sur la dépression des filles uniquement. Concernant les troubles du comportement, l'engagement et l'encadrement parental seraient des facteurs importants.…”