Duane Rudy

Psychological control, maternal emotion and cognition, and child outcomes in individualist and collectivist groups

SUMMARY This article presents data that explores the phenomenon of psychological control in a group of mothers from individualist backgrounds (West-European) and a group of mothers from collectivist backgrounds (Middle Eastern and South Asian). It is argued that measures of psychological control may reflect maladaptive processes in individualist groups, but they do not necessarily reflect maladaptive processes in collectivist groups. In this study, the collectivist group scored higher on psychological control than the individualist group. However, the collectivist group did not exhibit elevated levels of maladaptive maternal emotions and cognitions, or maladaptive child outcomes (school grades and self-esteem). Finally, psychological control was associated with maladaptive maternal cognitions in the individualist, but not the collectivist group.

Family Processes and Children's Representations of Parentification

SUMMARY This study investigated relationships between interparental conflict, parental responses to childrens emotions, and representations of role-reversal and vulnerability in childrens family drawings. As predicted, more frequent interparental conflict and more child involvement in inter-parental conflict were associated with drawings rated higher in role-reversal and maternal satisfaction with conflict strategies was associated with drawings rated lower in vulnerability. For younger children, efficacy of conflict resolution was also related to higher ratings of role-reversal. Further, thematic content of conflict associated with role-reversal and vulnerability was examined. Mothers whose childrens drawings were rated high in both role-reversal and vulnerability reported higher levels of problems in several areas than did other mothers. The findings support family systems models emphasizing the relationship between problems in the marital subsystem and problems in parent-child subsystems. Implications of these findings for clinicians using family drawings in assessment or treatment are discussed.

Undergraduates’ Perceptions of Parental Relationship-Oriented Guilt Induction Versus Harsh Psychological Control Does Cultural Group Status Moderate Their Associations With Self-Esteem?

In this study, we examined whether culture moderates the correlates of psychological control as a function of the type of measure used. We administered two measures of parental psychological control to university undergraduates from India (n = 166) and the United States (n = 177), as well as a measure of participants’ self-esteem. One measure assessed harsh psychologically controlling tactics; the other relationship-oriented guilt induction. We argued that while relationship-oriented guilt induction might be deemed inappropriate in the United States, Indian parents might more frequently use this technique to promote familial interdependence, a culturally specific value. Harsh psychological control, on the other hand, is unlikely to be used for benign purposes in either group. We had the following hypotheses: (a) across groups, harsh psychological control would be more strongly associated than relationship-oriented guilt induction with lower levels of reported self-esteem; (b) reports of relationship-oriented guilt induction and harsh psychological control would be more strongly associated in the United States than in India; (c) reports of relationship-oriented parental guilt induction would be more strongly associated with lower levels of self-esteem in the United States than in India; and (d) the negative associations between relationship-oriented guilt induction and self-esteem for students from the United States would become non-significant when controlling for harsh parental psychological control. Support was found for all hypotheses. Unexpectedly, in the Indian group, relationship-oriented guilt induction was positively associated with self-esteem. The implications for the measurement of psychological control are discussed.

Who Chooses Best? Explaining the Interactive Effect of Culture and Decision Maker on Children’s Intrinsic Motivation

In previous research, Asian Americans had higher levels of intrinsic motivation than European Americans when their mothers made choices for them. However, European Americans had higher levels of intrinsic motivation than Asian Americans when they made choices for themselves. We attempted to explain this effect by examining cultural differences in social perceptions of the choice situation in two studies. Study 1 found that feelings of closeness with parents and beliefs about who has better long-term foresight mediated the predicted group differences in intrinsic motivation in a parent-choice condition when comparing Indian and Chinese undergraduates with European American undergraduates. However, perceptions of how acceptable it is for the decision maker to make the choice mediated group differences in intrinsic motivation in a personal-choice condition. Although there were some exceptions, Study 2 generally replicated these findings in a comparison of Indian and European American undergraduates, and showed that cultural differences in beliefs about how accurately the decision maker knows and takes into account the participants’ immediate preferences played an additional mediating role in the personal-choice condition, as did personal foresight. These studies suggest that cultural differences in how children construe decision making affect the relationship of such decision making to resultant intrinsic motivation.

Longitudinal Relationships Among Marital Conflict, Maternal and Paternal Warmth and Control, and Preschoolers’ Socioemotional Outcomes in South Korea

This longitudinal study examined spillover effects of marital conflict on subsequent parenting and preschoolers’ outcomes in South Korea. Data came from the Panel Study on Korean Children. Participants were 1,826 South Korean fathers, mothers, and their preschool children (M age = 3 years at Time 1; 51.5% boys). Path analysis was conducted to examine longitudinal relationships among marital conflict, fathers’ and mothers’ parenting behaviors (i.e., warmth and strict control), and preschool children’s emotional maladjustment and peer relationships. Marital conflict when children were age 3 predicted lower levels of warmth for mothers and fathers, but not levels of strict control, when children were age 4. Maternal reports of lower warmth and higher strict control when children were age 4 predicted preschoolers’ later emotional maladjustment, but not peer relationships at age 5. Paternal reports of warmth and control at age 4 predicted preschoolers’ subsequent peer relationships, but not their emotional problems at age 5. Direct effects of marital conflict at age 3 on children’s outcomes at age 5 were also found. The model fits equally well for boys and girls. The study suggests that different socialization processes may have been affected for mothers and fathers by marital conflict, which in turn selectively affected different outcomes in children.

Chinese and European American Undergraduates’ Perceptions of Maternal Warmth and Negativity as Predictors of Self-Esteem and Life Satisfaction

This study examined whether culture moderated the associations between Chinese and European American undergraduates’ perceptions of parental warmth and negativity, and how these perceptions predicted undergraduates’ levels of self-esteem and subsequent life satisfaction. Participants consisted of 207 undergraduates (95 female, 112 male) from Wuhu, Anhui, China, and 129 (75 female, 54 male) European American undergraduates from Columbia, Missouri, the United States. Path analyses were conducted to examine the mediating role of self-esteem in the associations between parental warmth and negativity and young adults’ life satisfaction. Maternal warmth and negativity were more strongly negatively associated in the European American group than in the Chinese group; moreover, both warmth and negativity predicted self-esteem in the Chinese group, but only negativity predicted self-esteem in the European American group. Self-esteem significantly predicted life satisfaction in both groups, but the association was significantly stronger in the European American group. The results suggest cultural differences in the links between parental warmth and negativity, self-esteem, and subsequent life satisfaction. Therefore, it is important to consider parental warmth and negativity as separate constructs, because their associations with each other and with children’s levels of adjustment may vary across cultures.

Relations Between Videogame Play and 8th-Graders' Mathematics Achievement

This study explores whether any relationships exist between math performance scores on the Missouri Assessment Plan MAP, its subscales and time spent playing the childs favorite videogame given the games spatial content and cognitive complexity. Relationships between gender and math scores were also examined. Findings indicate no main effect of time spent playing, spatial content, or level of complexity of games on math performance. However, several math scores interacted with time spent playing ones favorite video game, such that higher levels of math performance occurred when participants played games high in spatial content at low amounts of time. A similar interaction occurred when examining complexity of the game and time spent playing. The study provides preliminary evidence that it may be important to consider the spatial or complexity content of videogames in addition to time spent playing when addressing the relationship between videogame play and adolescent math performance.