In plain language
Moving to a new school — starting middle school, entering high school, or leaving high school for work or further study — is one of the most stressful things young people go through. This study asked whether parents who support their teenager's autonomy (listening to their child's perspective, offering choices, and encouraging them to act on their own values rather than controlling them) help young people come through these transitions with better mental health.
The researchers analysed three Finnish longitudinal studies, each of which measured adolescents before and after a major educational transition: the move into middle school (760 students), into high school (214 students), and out of high school (858 students). They tested whether perceived autonomy support from mothers and fathers predicted changes in depressive symptoms, self-esteem, life satisfaction, and school burnout across each transition — and also whether the influence ran in the other direction, from the teen's well-being to the parenting they received.
Across all three transitions, adolescents who felt their parents supported their autonomy showed fewer depressive symptoms after the transition, and in the two later transitions they also showed higher self-esteem. Mothers and fathers mattered equally, and the protective effect on depression grew stronger as young people got older. The findings suggest parents remain important well into emerging adulthood — and that supporting a teenager's autonomy is not the same as letting go.
Key findings
- Perceived parental autonomy support predicted fewer depressive symptoms after the transition, and this effect replicated across all three educational transitions (into middle school, into high school, and out of high school).
- Autonomy support also predicted higher self-esteem, but only across the high school and post-high-school transitions.
- Maternal and paternal autonomy support were of equal importance — neither parent's support mattered more than the other's.
- Evidence of coregulation emerged: adolescents with more depressive symptoms before the high school and post-high-school transitions reported receiving less autonomy support afterwards.
- The protective effect of autonomy support on depressive symptoms increased as children developed, suggesting parents remain important through high school and into emerging adulthood.
- The study drew on three Finnish longitudinal samples totalling more than 1,800 young people, each measured before and after a major transition.
How to cite
APA
Duineveld, J. J., Parker, P. D., Ryan, R. M., Ciarrochi, J., & Salmela-Aro, K. (2017). The link between perceived maternal and paternal autonomy support and adolescent well-being across three major educational transitions. Developmental Psychology, 53(10), 1978–1994. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000364
BibTeX
@article{duineveld2017link,
author = {Duineveld, Jasper J. and Parker, Philip D. and Ryan, Richard M. and Ciarrochi, Joseph and Salmela-Aro, Katariina},
title = {The link between perceived maternal and paternal autonomy support and adolescent well-being across three major educational transitions},
journal = {Developmental Psychology},
year = {2017},
volume = {53},
number = {10},
pages = {1978--1994},
doi = {10.1037/dev0000364}
}
Related work
- All publications by Joseph Ciarrochi (searchable, with free PDFs)
- Process-Based Therapy & Idionomic Analysis
Author: Joseph Ciarrochi (ORCID 0000-0003-0471-8100). Free copy hosted with permission for scholarly use. Please cite the published version via the DOI above.