Achievement-oriented and dependency-oriented parental psychological control: An examination of specificity to middle childhood achievement and dependency-related problems

Middle childhood is considered a sensitive phase for the development of both dependency and achievement-related problems. In order to target efficient prevention and treatment, it is necessary to identify unique associations with possible precursors. This study hypothesized that children’s dependency-related problems (i.e., separation anxiety and generalized anxiety) would uniquely relate to parental dependency-oriented psychological control and that children’s achievement-related problems (i.e., extrinsic motivation and maladaptive perfectionism) would uniquely relate to parental achievement-oriented psychological control. The study included 180 elementary school children. Results showed that higher levels of children’s separation anxiety uniquely related to more parental dependency-oriented psychological control, while higher levels of children’s extrinsic motivation uniquely related to more parental achievement-oriented psychological control. Contrary to the expectations, higher levels of children’s maladaptive perfectionism were associated with both dimensions of parental psychological control, and children’s generalized anxiety was not associated with any dimension. Study implications are discussed.