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Predicting Adolescent Autonomy from Parents: Relationship Connectedness and Restrictiveness
Author(s) -
Peterson Gary W.,
Bush Kevin R.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
sociological inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.446
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1475-682X
pISSN - 0038-0245
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-682x.1999.tb00880.x
Subject(s) - restrictiveness , social connectedness , autonomy , sociology , social psychology , psychology , political science , law , linguistics , philosophy
This study examined the extent to which adolescents’behavioral autonomy was predicted by several aspects of the parent‐youth relationship that are encompassed by the general constructs connectedness and restrictiveness. Both of these general relationship constructs are composed of more specific social‐psychological predictors consisting of parental behaviors, parent‐adolescent authority dimensions, and indicators of family ties. A total of 657 adolescents (mean age = 16.3 years) and 753 parents responded to self‐report questionnaires. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses from both the adolescents’and parents’perspectives in separate models. Many of the predictions were confirmed, indicating that adolescent behavioral autonomy often develops within contexts of relationship connectedness, such as continuing parent‐youth authority and supportiveness. Moreover, as expected, youthful autonomous behavior was inhibited by such aspects of relationship restrictiveness as punitive behavior and the perceived coercive abilities of parents.