Associations between Parent and Adolescent General and Domain-Specific Self Control.

Abstract

Adolescent self-control is predictive of many outcomes (e.g., educational, financial, and interpersonal) during adolescence and into adulthood. Despite its importance, few studies report on associations between parental self-control and adolescent self-control, and no studies have considered how these associations may be domain-specific (e.g., teens and parents' self-control are correlated for health behaviors but not for leisure activities). The current study examined how parents' general and domain-specific self-control were related to their adolescent children's self-control. The study included 213 adolescents (M _age = 15.65, SD = 0.49; 53.5% girls) and at least one of their parents (184 = mother-figures; 67 = father-figures) from the Appalachian region of the United States who each reported on general and domain-specific self-control. Results indicated that mothers' general self-control was related to teens reporting higher concurrent general self-control, but fathers' health self-control was related to teens' reports of lower general self-control. Mothers' and fathers' health-related self-control were also related to their teens' concurrent health self-control. When examining teen self-control six months later, mothers' work self-control predicted higher teen academic self-control, mothers' general self-control predicted higher teen health self-control, and fathers' general self-control predicted higher teen money self-control. This study provides novel evidence to support both general and domain-specific models of self-control and suggests domain specificity may be essential to better understand how youth self-control develops.