Are discrepancies in perceptions of psychological control related to maladjustment? A study of adolescents and their parents in Turkey

The current study examined whether adolescent-parent discrepancies in the perception of psychological control are associated with adolescent maladjustment. The sample consisted of 552 Turkish adolescents attending high school and their parents. Half of the adolescents had similar scores to their parents, while the remaining half thought differently. The results of the polynomial regression with response surface analysis showed that the incongruence between reports was positively associated with having deviant friends for males, and feelings of loneliness for females. Results suggested that reports of low levels of psychological control for father-adolescent pairs were associated with fewer deviant friends for males and lower levels of loneliness for females. Moreover, the possibility of having deviant friends was higher when males and their mothers were congruent in reporting high levels of psychological control. These findings highlight the importance of consideration of perceptual differences in parental practices in relation to adolescent maladjustment.