Issues and Challenges in Studying Parental Control: Toward a New Conceptualization.

 




Although investigators have long considered parents’ exertion of control over children as a central part of the socialization process, the study of control has been marked by conceptual and empirical confusion. This article outlines some of the history of the construct of control in the context of parenting, delineating the development of the contemporary approach that distinguishes among multiple forms of control. It proposes a refinement of this approach such that only parenting characterized by pressure, intrusion, and domination should be considered control, whereas parenting frequently labeled control but characterized mainly by guidance should be considered structure. This article highlights the benefits of distinguishing between these two dimensions of parenting rather than multiple forms of control.

The delineation of different forms of control has been an important advance in theory and research on parenting. At the same time, however, distinguishing among multiple forms of control has its drawbacks. The distinction we have introduced between parental control and structure is one way to move the field forward to more advanced theory and research that can potentially yield a clearer set of conclusions to not only investigators but also the public. This is a particularly important endeavor as scholars attempt to understand the role of parents in the socialization process among families of diverse cultural backgrounds for whom parenting may not only take different forms than among families of European backgrounds but also be experienced differently by children. The aim of this article is to encourage construction of a parsimonious approach to conceptualizing and operationalizing parenting along the two dimensions at the article’s center. Such innovation will serve to significantly organize the field, thereby setting important directions for future theory and research and allowing sound applications of the findings.

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