Abstract:

Psychological control is a form of intrusive parenting and refers to parental behaviors that manipulate children’s thoughts and feelings by guilt-induction and love withdrawal. Psychological control has been found to have detrimental effects on children’s psychosocial functioning including increased behavioral problems and diminished autonomy. A large number of cross-cultural studies report that Chinese parents are particularly liable to exert strong psychological control over their children. Social-contextual factors, parents’ personality characteristics, and children’s behavior might be related to the likelihood and impact of psychological control. We propose that future research consider Chinese cultural effects and investigate how factors including multiple caregiver networks and children’s differential susceptibility impact on psychological control.

Key words: parents, psychological control, children and adolescent, psychosocial functioning