Presentation

Gardenia Conforme, María Dolores Palacios, Nube Arpi, Juana Morales
University of Cuenca

Psychological control is a parental practice in the context of child raising; thus, such a theoretical construct has received attention from the scientific community. Psychological control refers to the manipulative behaviors that parents use through guilt, shame, and withdrawal of love in order to put pressure into their sons and daughters and get them to do what they want (Barber , 1996). This study described the psychological control exerted by parents from Cuenca, based on the perception of their sons and daughters. A quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional approach was used with a sample of 1056 adolescents from 18 institutions in Cuenca between the ages of 14 and 18. The Psychological Control Scale ( PCS-YSR ) ( Barber , 2012) was applied . The data shows that psychological control is a frequent parental practice; there were significant differences: manipulation tactics (M m.tm =1.56, =DTmtm=0.39, Z=-7.041, p=.00001 d=0.19) were superior to disrespectful behaviors (Mp.tm=1.49, DTptm=0.4, Z=-6.815, p=.00001, d= 0.22); and psychological control reported higher scores in mothers than in fathers. The study concludes that parents from Cuenca utilize psychological control as a practice to educate their children

Keywords:parental practices, psychological control, adolescents