Journal of East China Normal University(Educational Sciences) ›› 2023, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (1): 25-39.doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5560.2023.01.003

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The Profiles of Parental Control and its Influence on Adolescents’ Adaptation: Based on Latent Transition Analysis

Yan He1, Keman Yuan2, Mingming Zhang2, Yufang Bian2   

  1. 1. Journal of Psychology: Techniques and Applications, Beijing 100089, China
    2. Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment toward Basic Education Quality at Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
  • Online:2023-01-01 Published:2022-12-29

Abstract:

Parental control refers to a relatively stable behavior pattern used by parents to control and manage their children in the process of parenting activities, which has an important and direct influence on the psychological development and social adaptation of children and adolescents. This study explored the profiles of parental control, transformational characteristics and its impact on adaptation among Chinese adolescents based on a longitudinal study and a person-centered approach. The main findings are as follows. First, the parental control of Chinese parents is heterogeneous with three profiles: low-medium control (i.e., low psychological control-medium behavior control, and so on), medium-medium control and high-high control. The proportion of parents in the medium-medium control group was the highest at the two time points, which were about 60 percent and 50 percent respectively. Second, the profiles of parental control change as time passes. From the first grade to the second grade of junior middle school, there were about 70 percent of parental control profiles remaining stable and around 30 percent mainly changing to adjacent profiles. If the profile of medium-medium control is not maintained in the first grade, it will be more likely to become high-high control. Third, the profiles of parental control have significant effects on adolescents’ adaptation (including subjective well-being, Internet addiction and parent-child conflict). Above all, this study lays a foundation for empirical research on the precise intervention of different profiles of parental control.

Key words: parental control, adolescents’ adaptation, latent profile analysis, latent transition analysis