Maladaptive perfectionism as an intervening variable between psychological control and adolescent depressive symptoms: a three-wave longitudinal study.
Maladaptive perfectionism has been postulated as an intervening variable between psychologically controlling parenting and adolescent internalizing problems. Although this hypothesis has been confirmed in a number of cross-sectional studies, it has not yet been examined from a longitudinal perspective. Findings from this 3-wave longitudinal study show that parental psychological control (as indexed by parent and adolescent reports) at age 15 years predicted increased levels of maladaptive perfectionism 1 year later. Maladaptive perfectionism, in turn, predicted increased levels of adolescent depressive symptoms again 1 year later and acted as a significant intervening variable between parental psychological control at Time 1 and depressive symptoms at Time 3. Multigroup analyses show that the model tested was consistent across gender for paternal psychological control but not for maternal psychological control. Suggestions for future research are outlined.
Department of Developmental, Social, and Personality Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium. Bart.Soenens@UGent.be
Bart
B
Soenens
Koen
K
Luyckx
Maarten
M
Vansteenkiste
Patrick
P
Luyten
Bart
B
Duriez
Luc
L
Goossens
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D003193:Compulsive Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires