Warmth and legitimacy beliefs contextualize adolescents' negative reactions to parental monitoring.
This study sought to identify conditions under which parents' monitoring behaviors are most strongly linked to adolescents' negative reactions (i.e., feelings of being controlled and invaded). 242 adolescents (49.2% male; M age = 15.4 years) residing in the United States of America reported parental monitoring and warmth, and their own feelings of being controlled and invaded and beliefs in the legitimacy of parental authority. Analyses tested whether warmth and legitimacy beliefs moderate and/or suppress the link between parents' monitoring behaviors and adolescents' negative reactions. Monitoring was associated with more negative reactions, controlling for legitimacy beliefs and warmth. More monitoring was associated with more negative reactions only at weaker levels of legitimacy beliefs, and at lower levels of warmth. The link between monitoring and negative reactions is sensitive to the context within which monitoring occurs with the strongest negative reactions found in contexts characterized by low warmth and weak legitimacy beliefs.
Department of Psychology, University of New Orleans, LA, USA.
Laura K
LK
LaFleur
Department of Psychology, University of New Orleans, LA, USA.
Yinan
Y
Zhao
Department of Psychology, University of New Orleans, LA, USA.
Megan M
MM
Zeringue
Department of Psychology, University of New Orleans, LA, USA. Electronic address: rlaird@uno.edu.
Robert D
RD
Laird
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010290:Parents; D012933:Social Identification; D012941:Social Responsibility
Authority beliefs; Parental monitoring; Parenting; Privacy; Warmth