Confirming the multidimensionality of psychologically controlling parenting among Chinese-American mothers

Keywords

Chinese-American parenting, guilt induction, love withdrawal, psychological control, shaming

Abstract

Despite the theoretical conceptualization of parental psychological control as a multidimensional construct, the majority of previous studies have examined psychological control as a unidimensional scale. Moreover, the conceptualization of shaming and its associations with love withdrawal and guilt induction are unclear. The current study aimed to fill these gaps by evaluating the latent factor structure underlying 18 items from Olsen et al. (2002) that were conceptually relevant to love withdrawal, guilt induction, and shaming practices in a sample of 169 mothers of Chinese-American preschoolers. A multidimensional three-factor model and bi-factor model were specified based on our formulated operational definitions for the three dimensions of psychological control. Both models were found to be superior to the unidimensional model. In addition, results from the bi-factor model and an additional second-order factor model indicated that psychological control is essentially empirically isomorphic with guilt induction. Although love withdrawal and shaming factors were also fairly strong indicators of psychological control, each exhibited important additional unique variability and mutual distinctiveness. Implications for the conceptualization of love withdrawal, guilt induction, and shaming as well as directions for future studies are discussed.

Original Publication Citation

Yu, J., Cheah, C. S. L., Hart, C. H., Sun, S., & Olsen, J. A. (2015). Confirming the multidimensionality of psychologically controlling practices among Chinese-American mothers: Love withdrawal, guilt induction, and shaming. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 39, 285-292.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2014-12-16

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/5426

Publisher

international Journal of Behavioral Development

Language

English

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Sociology

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

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