(PS3-D100) Resiliency to Internalizing Symptoms in the Context of Psychologically Controlling Parenting

Resilience, the positive adaptation to adversity, is worthy of further exploration and assessment in the treatment of psychopathology in adolescents and emerging adults. Parental psychological control refers to parents’ subtle attempts to manipulate their child’s personal thoughts, feelings, and interests to adhere to the parent’s wishes using threats, criticism, and guilt induction (Barber, 1996). It has been shown to be the parenting practice most strongly associated with internalizing symptoms (i.e., anxiety and depression) in this age group (Gorostiaga et al., 2019; Pinquart, 2017) due to its disruptive impact on their identity exploration and independence (Yap et al., 2014). Resiliency is viewed as a potentially protective factor against such adversity (Phillips et al., 2019). The present study seeks to uncover whether resilience in older youth predicts fewer internalizing symptoms in the context of psychologically controlling parenting. Data were collected from high school and university students enrolled in an introductory psychology course at a large Midwest university. Participants (n = 120; ages 15 – 19, M = 17.7, SD = 1.1) were primarily White (61.5%) and female (73.8%). Following recruitment, participants completed an online survey including questionnaires assessing demographics, resilience (Child and Youth Resilience Measure – Revised [CYRM-R]), perceptions of parenting for their primary parent (Perceived Parental Autonomy Support Scale [P-PASS]), and internalizing symptoms (Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale – Short Version [RCADS-C-25]). The CYRM-R accounts for both personal and caregiver/relational resilience. The P-PASS measures both the positive and negative poles of parental psychological control, autonomy support (AS) and controlling parenting (CP), respectively. Bivariate correlations showed both AS and CP were significantly associated with internalizing symptoms in the expected directions (r = -.40, p < .001 and r = .48, p < .001, respectively). Personal and caregiver/relational resilience were both significantly negatively related to internalizing symptoms (r = -.47, p < .001 and r = -.56, p < .001, respectively). A multiple regression was conducted to investigate the relative impact of parental psychological control (AS and CP) and resilience (personal and caregiver/relational) for predicting internalizing symptoms. Results indicated that the model was a significant predictor of internalizing symptoms, F(4, 116) = 17.73, p < .001, R = .62. Two out of four predictor variables contributed significantly to the model (Controlling parenting, β = .31, t = 3.31, p = .001; Caregiver/relational resilience, β = -.33, t = -2.66, p = .009). Parental autonomy support and resiliency within the individual did not significantly predict internalizing symptoms. These findings demonstrate the importance of considering resiliency in the context of controlling parenting. Moreover, resiliency in terms of the caregiver relationship could potentially mitigate the negative consequences of controlling parenting. Clinically, these findings highlight the utility of assessing resiliency in older youth to either identify potential points of intervention or strengths on which to capitalize.