Parental psychological control, adolescent self-criticism, and adolescent depressive symptoms: A latent change modeling approach in Belgian adolescents

J Clin Psychol. 2018 Oct;74(10):1833-1853. doi: 10.1002/jclp.22632. Epub 2018 Apr 26.

Abstract

Objective: At the level of both between-person differences and within-person changes across time, parental achievement-oriented psychological control may influence the development of adolescent self-criticism, which in turn may increase vulnerability for adolescent depression.

Method: In a two-wave prospective study of 368 adolescents (age 13-17 years), Latent Change Modeling was used with Belgian adolescents' self-report measures.

Results: For mothers and fathers separately, adolescent self-criticism intervened in associations between achievement-oriented psychological control and adolescent depressive symptoms, at the level of both between-person differences and within-person changes. When investigating parents simultaneously, only maternal parenting was related directly and indirectly to adolescent depressive symptoms.

Conclusions: Our results underscore the importance of personality-related vulnerability in associations between the parenting environment and symptoms of psychopathology during adolescent development.

Keywords: adolescent depressive symptoms; adolescent self-criticism; parenting.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Belgium
  • Depression / psychology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Maternal Behavior / psychology*
  • Parent-Child Relations*
  • Parenting / psychology*
  • Paternal Behavior / psychology*
  • Prospective Studies
  • Self-Assessment*