Conveptions of parental authority and the roles of parent-adolescent conflict and parental control practices on adolescent adjustment

Abstract

The main purpose of the current study is to understand Turkish mothers’ and adolescents’ conceptualizations of the parental authority in terms of their legitimacy beliefs as well as their conflict perceptions over moral, prudential, personal and social conventional domains within the framework of social domain theory. The secondary purpose of this study is to illustrate the mediator roles of adolescents’ general legitimacy beliefs and their perception of conflict frequency in the relation between their perception of parental behavioral and psychological control and their adjustment (depressive symptoms and selfesteem) in order to elaborate this direct relation by determining possible underlying mechanisms. This study was conducted through two steps (semi-structured interviews and questionnaires) with a sample of 151 mothers and their adolescent children (Mage = 13.91, Sage = 1.54) who were from low and middle-high SES in Ankara. Results indicated that mothers viewed more legitimate parental authority over social conventional domain than did adolescents. Mothers and adolescents also reported highest conflicts over social conventional domain. Findings also indicated that psychological control was related with high depressive symptoms and low self-esteem both directly and indirectly via conflict frequency. Behavioral control was indirectly related with low depressive symptoms and higher self-esteem via legitimacy beliefs and conflict frequency. It is concluded that investigating domain specific legitimacy beliefs of parental authority enhanced our understanding of parent-adolescent relationship as well as adolescents’ adjustment.