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Divergent Mechanisms Linking Parental Psychological Control to Perfectionism Among Adolescents: The Longitudinal Role
1Institute of Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
Abstract:
Parental psychological control is theoretically posited as a vital antecedent of perfectionism, yet empirical research connecting them remains limited, with the underlying mechanisms being particularly underexplored. Specifically, it remains unclear whether parental psychological control is associated with the maladaptive (evaluative concerns) and adaptive (personal striving) facets of perfectionism through convergent or divergent pathways. Three-wave longitudinal design (T1-T3) with six-month intervals was conducted with 1432 adolescents (Mage = 14.60, SD = 1.66, 54% girls) to investigate the direct and indirect effects. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling, complemented by a random-intercept mediation model to disentangle trait versus state-level effects. Results revealed a distinct pathway linking parental psychological control to perfectionism dimensions via need frustration that is linked to both higher maladaptive and lower adaptive perfectionism. While T1 parental psychological control predicted frustration of all three basic needs in T2, the downstream pathways diverged. Relatedness and competence frustration mediated the link to increased T3 evaluative concerns, whereas autonomy frustration mediated the link to decreased T3 personal striving. Supplementary analysis using a random-intercept mediation model indicated that the overall mediation process was primarily influenced by stable trait-level differences rather than within-person deviations. Findings highlight that parental psychological control differentially predicted perfectionism facets through specific need frustration, with the overall indirect process reflecting primarily a stable, trait-level mechanism.
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