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The present study aims to examine why parents engage in overprotective parenting in interaction with their emerging adults. Specifically, this study used an Actor-Partner Interdependence Model to examine associations between parental attachment representations (both maternal and paternal attachment anxiety and avoidance), parental separation anxiety, and parental overprotection. Additionally, we examined whether maternal attachment, separation anxiety, and overprotection predicted the emerging adult’s actual living situation (at home / away from home) 1 year later, and maternal negative affect regarding emerging adults’ home-leaving. The sample consisted of Caucasian participants and included 246 adolescents in their final year of secondary school (mean age Time 1 = 17.14) and their parents (242 mothers, 218 fathers). Results showed that both maternal and paternal attachment anxiety related to more maternal and paternal separation anxiety, respectively ( p ’s < .001). In turn, separation anxiety in mothers and fathers related to respectively maternal ( p  < .001) and paternal overprotection ( p  < .05), as perceived by the emerging adult. There was one significant partner-effect between maternal attachment anxiety and paternal separation anxiety ( p  < .05). Further, higher scores on perceived maternal overprotection related to a higher likelihood that the emerging adult would still live at home 1 year later ( p  < .01), as well as to more negative maternal affect related to the process of home-leaving ( p  < .05). In sum, the current study revealed the importance of attachment and separation anxiety as significant parental factors related to parental overprotection.

This study investigated emotion regulation (i.e., emotional integration, suppression and dysregulation) as a transdiagnostic process underlying adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Basic psychological need experiences were investigated as a possible underlying mechanism explaining this association. A heterogeneous sample of non-clinical and clinically-referred adolescents reported upon emotion regulation, basic psychological needs (i.e., need satisfaction and frustration), and both internalizing and externalizing problems. Results indicated that dysfunctional emotion regulation was positively linked to internalizing as well as externalizing problems. Need frustration was a partial mediator in this relation between emotion regulation and psychopathology. The findings suggest that both emotion regulation and basic psychological needs may play a transdiagnostic role in adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing symptoms.

A central tenet of Self-Determination Theory is that the basic psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence represent universal psychological nutriments for adolescents’ functioning. This study contributed to the investigation of this universality claim by examining whether the satisfaction and frustration of basic psychological needs would relate, respectively, to adolescents’ wellbeing and psychological maladjustment across gender, age, and socioeconomic status (SES). Having gathered data in a large sample of Spanish adolescents (N = 1047; M = 14.68, SD = 1.53), through a series of confirmatory factor analyses we began by providing validity evidence for the Spanish child-adapted version of the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (BPNSFS; Chen et al. in Mot Emot 39:216–236, 2015b. 10.1007/s11031-014-9450-1). A 6-first-order factor model, distinguishing the satisfaction and frustration of each of the three needs, better represented the data. In addition, evidence for measurement and structural invariance of the BPNSFS-child version across the three sociodemographic characteristics was largely achieved. Structural equation models further revealed that need satisfaction contributed uniquely to well-being, whereas need frustration contributed uniquely to adolescents’ psychological adjustment problems. Further, multigroup comparisons generally supported invariant patterns of relations across gender, age, and SES groups. Results are discussed in light of the generalizability of need-based dynamics among adolescents.

Based on self-determination theory, this diary study examined associations between adolescents’ daily need crafting and daily fluctuations in their need-based and affective experiences. We also examined the role of daily perceived autonomy-supportive parenting in adolescents’ daily need-crafting. Adolescents (N = 159; Mage = 15.56; 62% female) filled out a diary for seven consecutive days. Multilevel path analyses indicated that need crafting varied on a day-to-day basis, with daily need crafting relating positively to daily positive affect and negatively to negative affect. The benefits of daily need crafting were accounted for by higher daily need satisfaction and lower need frustration. Further, on days adolescents perceived more parental autonomy support, they reported more need satisfaction and less need frustration, an effect that was partially due to higher need crafting that day. Overall, the results suggest that need crafting represents a critical pro-active skill, with resulting benefits for adolescents’ daily need-based experiences and well-being.

Over the last few years, the protective role of parental monitoring on adolescent adjustment (i.e., active parental efforts aimed at setting limits and tracking adolescents’ activities and whereabouts) has been challenged. Recent research has shifted attention to the conditions under which monitoring may be more or less effective. Grounded in Self-Determination Theory, this study investigated the role of parents’ autonomy-supportive and psychologically controlling parenting in effects of parental monitoring on adolescents’ adjustment. It also considered the role of adolescents’ clinical status (i.e., clinically referred vs non-referred). Adopting a person-centered approach, we aimed to identify naturally occurring profiles of monitoring, autonomy-support, and psychological control and to examine differences between these profiles in terms of life satisfaction, positive affect, and internalizing and externalizing problems. Participants included 218 referred (Mage = 14.44, 56% girls) and 218 matched adolescents from a larger sample of 1056 community (Mage = 14.83, 52.9% girls). Multigroup Latent Profile Analyses revealed five parenting profiles which were structurally equivalent in both samples: high monitoring with either high autonomy support or high psychological control, low monitoring with either high autonomy-support or high psychological control, and an average profile. Referred youth were significantly more present in the average profile and in the profiles characterized by high levels of psychological control. As hypothesized, profiles showed a differential association with adolescents’ self-reported adjustment, with the high monitoring—high autonomy support profile yielding the most optimal and the low monitoring—high psychological control profile yielding the worst outcomes. Associations between profiles and outcomes were similar for referred and non-referred adolescents. These findings highlight the importance of considering the parenting climate (i.e., autonomy-supportive versus psychologically controlling) to understand effects of parental monitoring during adolescence.

Excessive infant crying affects approximately 20% of families and can lead to parental distress, anxiety, and strained relationships. Despite its prevalence, many parents report feeling misunderstood and unsupported during these challenging periods. This study aimed to gain in-depth insight into mothers' perceptions of being understood and supported in the context of excessive infant crying, focusing on three key stakeholder groups: partners, the personal network, and health care professionals. Based on these results, the study sought to develop a maternal support framework regarding excessive crying that could guide future research and practice, as well as support strategies. Using a qualitative approach supplemented by quantitative measures, through an online survey, three open-ended questions were included on how mothers would like to be understood and supported by the three stakeholder groups (ideal situation) and six 6-point Likert scales on mothers' current perceived understanding and support regarding the three stakeholder groups (current situation). Descriptive statistics were used to examine current levels of understanding and support, and an inductive thematic analysis was applied to identify the ideal key support elements. Data were collected from 432 mothers (n=238, 55.1% Dutch; n=194, 44.9% Flemish; mean age 33 years, range 21-45 years). Regarding the current situation, mothers rated health care professionals lowest in perceived understanding and support, with 50.6% (n=219) feeling little or no understanding and 47.1% (n=203) reporting little or no support. Similar patterns were found in the personal network (n=184, 42.6%, and n=164, 38%, respectively). Partners were perceived as most supportive, with only 17.6% (n=76) of mothers reporting little or no understanding and 21.8% (n=94) reporting little or no support. Based on the thematic analysis of the qualitative data, the ideal situation was framed in the newly developed maternal support framework. This framework identifies 25 distinct support forms, of which 12 (48%) are common support forms (partner, personal network, health care professionals, eg, listen actively), 6 (24%) are related to partners (eg, be physically present), 6 (24%) concern the support of health care professionals (eg, refer appropriately), and 1 (4%) is specific to the personal network (cope with the crying). This study underscores the need for holistic, family-centered approaches to supporting families with excessively crying infants. The proposed maternal support framework offers a foundation for developing tailored interventions that reflect the diverse roles of partners, personal networks, and health care professionals in maternal well-being.

This study investigated whether mothers’ own perceived parenting history (in their own family of origin) relates to mothers’ self-reported use of psychological control during the toddler period and whether mothers’ emotion regulation capacities play an important underlying role in this regard. A community sample of 150 primiparous mothers participated in a longitudinal study, including both a prenatal and postnatal assessment (2 years after birth). Results of structural equation modeling indicated that mothers’ own retrospectively perceived history of psychologically controlling parenting prior to childbirth related to their psychologically controlling parenting behavior vis-à-vis their toddlers. Mothers’ maladaptive emotional regulation, and dysregulation in particular, was found to play a mediating role in this association. The results highlight that mothers’ perceived parenting history is an important prenatal predictor of mothers’ own (self-reported) use of psychological control in the first years after childbirth, with maternal emotion regulation helping to account for this association.HighlightsEarly developmental origins of psychological control are poorly understood.Intergenerational similarity of psychological control.Emotion regulation helps to explain intergenerational similarity.Emotional dysregulation rooted in parents’ own developmental history.Emotional dysregulation related to more psychological control with toddlers.

This study investigated the protective role of maternal adaptive emotion regulation in applying controlling parenting practices while assisting their toddler in completing two different problem-solving tasks. More specifically, the role of maternal emotion regulation was examined relative to significant situational (i.e., task difficulty) and child-related (i.e., toddlers’ temperamental negative affectivity) risk factors for controlling parenting. Results showed that (1) mothers’ integrative emotion regulation was negatively related to observed maternal control across tasks, (2) mothers were more controlling during a difficult task compared to an easy task, and (3) toddlers’ temperamental negative affectivity related positively to the use of observed maternal control, albeit only during a difficult task. These results highlight the relevance of maternal emotion regulation processes during parenting practices beyond contextual and temperamental correlates. Directions for future research and clinical implications are discussed.

The etiology of borderline personality pathology has consistently been framed as an interactional process between child vulnerability (i.e. emotional sensitivity and reactivity; Linehan, 1993) and invalidating parenting strategies, which evolves into increased emotion dysregulation and disinhibited behavior of the child and in turn activates more parental invalidation. Despite the strong theoretical base in support of these high-risk parent–child transactions, invalidating parenting behaviors have mostly been explored as a cause of child dysregulation and disinhibition, rather than as a result of child-driven effects. Also, most transactional research in this regard focused at differences between families, thereby not addressing potential changes within families across time. The current study therefore examines bidirectional between- and within-family effects of childhood borderline-related traits and maternal invalidation in the sensitive developmental phase of pre-adolescence (n = 574; 54.4% girls) along three assessment points. Cross-Lagged Panel Models and Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Models indicated detrimental parenting effects of invalidation on subsequent development in borderline-related traits of the child both between and within families, and additional child-driven effects for subsequent invalidating parenting strategies within families. Beyond these transactions between borderline-related traits and parenting, the current study also indicates significant differences in the direction of effects when exploring transactions between more common dimensions of child internalizing/externalizing symptomatology and parental invalidation, suggesting a more substantial parenting etiology in the developmental process of borderline traits throughout pre-adolescence. Future longitudinal research may explore to what extent the transactional nature of borderline personality traits during important developmental stages indeed holds unique aspects compared to more common manifestations of symptomatology at young age.