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Parenting Dimensions and Internalizing Difficulties in Italian and U.S. Emerging Adults: The Intervening Role of Autonomy and Relatedness

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Abstract

The present study examined the associations between emerging adults’ perceived parental psychological control and autonomy support, and their autonomy, relatedness and internalizing difficulties in Italy and the U.S. The participants included 494 Italian and 414 U.S. college students, between 18 and 28 years of age (Mean = 21.58, SD = 2.18). Our findings showed that dependency-oriented psychological control had no significant direct associations with autonomy, relatedness or internalizing difficulties. Moreover, the association between parental autonomy support and internalizing problems was fully intervened by autonomy and relatedness, whereas the association between achievement-oriented psychological control and anxiety and depressive symptoms was partially intervened by autonomy and relatedness. Finally, although parental psychological control and autonomy support had similar effects on maladjustment across the two countries, relatedness appeared to play a more central role as an intervening variable for anxiety in the Italian group than in the U.S. group. Overall, our findings highlighted the importance of examining parents’ contributions to emerging adults’ internalizing problems via autonomy support and psychological control across cultures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological, Educational and Training Sciences, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy

    Cristiano Inguglia, Sonia Ingoglia, Alida Lo Coco, Maria Grazia Lo Cricchio & Pasquale Musso

  2. Department of Human and Social Sciences, Università degli Studi di Messina, Messina, Italy

    Francesca Liga

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Charissa S. L. Cheah & Hui Jun Lim

  4. Central New Mexico Community College, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Mindy R. Gutow

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  1. Cristiano Inguglia
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  2. Sonia Ingoglia
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Correspondence to Cristiano Inguglia.

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Inguglia, C., Ingoglia, S., Liga, F. et al. Parenting Dimensions and Internalizing Difficulties in Italian and U.S. Emerging Adults: The Intervening Role of Autonomy and Relatedness. J Child Fam Stud 25, 419–431 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-015-0228-1

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