The relationship between parental psychological control and preschoolers’ social-emotional competence

Abstract

The present research investigated the concurrent associations between maternal and paternal psychologically controlling parenting and preschoolers’ social-emotional competence in terms of anger-aggression, anxiety-withdrawal, and social competence, or positive social adaptation. The sample consisted of 136 mothers of preschoolers, 124 fathers, and teachers. Preschoolers’ age ranged from 48 to 78 months (Mage = 66.32 months, SD = 7.97 months, 51.5% boys). Considering the cultural debate of universalist and culture-specific perspectives in the literature regarding the adverse effects of psychological control, maternal as well as paternal psychological control are examined both as a global construct, and as distinct forms of relational and hostile psychological control. Results revealed that maternal global psychological control was significantly related only with preschoolers’ decreased social competence skills, and increased anger aggression, whereas paternal global psychological control was not related to children’s social-emotional competence. When psychological control was examined as distinct forms, relational psychological control did not have significantadverse relations with children’s social-emotional competence, while hostile psychological control was negatively related to children’s social competence, and positively related to their anger aggression. In general, the findings of the study have provided evidence supporting the culture-specific perspective on psychologically controlling parenting.