When Do Adolescents Accept or Defy to Maternal Prohibitions? The Role of Social Domain and Communication Style.
Drawing upon both Social-Cognitive Domain Theory and Self-Determination Theory, the goal of the present multi-informant study was to test whether the correlates of maternal prohibitions depend on what is prohibited (i.e., the content of the social domain involved), thereby contrasting moral with friendship prohibitions, as well on how the prohibition is communicated, thereby contrasting an autonomy-supportive with a controlling communication style. In a sample of adolescents (N = 196; mean age = 13.9 years; 63 % female) and their mothers (N = 185; mean age = 44 years), we first examined mean-level differences between the two domains in terms of mothers' degree and style of prohibition, as well as on a number of developmental outcomes (i.e., adolescents' legitimacy perceptions, internalization, and oppositional defiance). Both adolescents and mothers reported more maternal involvement in the moral domain (e.g., higher scores for degree of prohibition and controlling communication style). In addition, adolescents reported greater perceived legitimacy and less oppositional defiance in the moral domain (as compared to the friendships domain). Second, we tested whether associations between degree and style of prohibition and the developmental outcomes were moderated by social domain. Whereas associations between degree of prohibition and developmental outcomes either were non-significant or moderated by domain, the associations with communication style were more domain-invariant, with an autonomy-supportive style generally yielding an adaptive pattern of correlates and with a controlling style relating to maladaptive outcomes. The discussion focuses on similarities and differences in the characteristics and correlates of both types of prohibitions.
Family and Development Research Center (FADO), Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland. Stijn.VanPetegem@unil.ch.
Stijn
0000-0001-9956-0363
S
Van Petegem
Department of Developmental, Personality and Social Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Maarten
M
Vansteenkiste
Department of Developmental, Personality and Social Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Bart
B
Soenens
Family and Development Research Center (FADO), Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Grégoire
G
Zimmermann
Family and Development Research Center (FADO), Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Jean-Philippe
JP
Antonietti
Family and Development Research Center (FADO), Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Sophie
S
Baudat
Department of Developmental, Personality and Social Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Elien
E
Audenaert
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends; D006801:Humans; D009014:Morals; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D012930:Social Dominance
Defiance; Internalization; Legitimacy; Parenting; Prohibition; Self-determination theory; Social-cognitive domain theory