February 23, 2015Child Development
Rebels With a Cause? Adolescent Defiance From the Perspective of Reactance Theory and Self-Determination Theory
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Implication
Multi-sample investigation uncovers how controlling parenting drives reactance and psychological problems in adolescents, highlighting autonomy need frustration as a key mechanism.
Key Points
- Evaluate how controlling parenting styles relate to autonomy need frustration, psychological reactance, and adolescent behavioral and emotional difficulties.
- Evaluated across four studies comprising community and clinical samples (total N = 1,472, aged 12 to 21 years), incorporating multi-informant reports and a vignette-based experiment.
- Controlled for parental responsiveness and rule setting while assessing associations between parenting style, autonomy frustration, reactance, and behavioral outcomes.
- Controlling parenting positively related to autonomy need frustration (experienced pressure) and psychological reactance across samples.
- Higher psychological reactance was associated with elevated externalizing and internalizing problems among adolescents.
Cite This Study
Petegem et al. (2015) studied this question.