Parental ethnotheories and psychological control behaviors among Turkish parents

Official URL: https://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b2748987_(Table of contents)

The adverse effect of parental psychological controlling behaviors has been extensively documented. However, the ethnotheoretical antecedents (socialization goals and parenting beliefs) of psychological control have been relatively unexamined. This study aims to explore the associations between ethnotheories and psychological control behaviors among Turkish parents. First, qualitative data was used to develop culturally relevant measures which were later applied to parents in a quantitative study. Participants were 414 parents with 3 to 18-year-old children. Results showed that parents’ socialization goals and parenting beliefs varied based on the parents’ level of education and socioeconomic status (SES). Parents with higher education and SES reported more benign, and less dysfunctional parenting beliefs. The most common psychological control strategy was overprotection, and the least common was guilt induction. Parents who promoted interdependent socialization goals reported higher psychological control. Benign parental beliefs predicted lower levels, and dysfunctional parental beliefs predicted higher levels of psychological control. The association between ethnotheories and culturally relevant psychological control strategies such as overprotection and guilt induction were stronger compared to the limiting self-expression dimension of psychological control. Results suggested a multidimensional conceptualization of culture-specific psychological control, which is systematically associated with specific parenting goals.