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. 2019 Apr 11;14(4):e0215325.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0215325. eCollection 2019.

Parental acceptance and children's psychological adjustment: The moderating effects of interpersonal power and prestige across age

Miguel Angel Carrasco  1 , Begoña Delgado  2 , Francisco Pablo Holgado-Tello  3
Affiliations

Parental acceptance and children's psychological adjustment: The moderating effects of interpersonal power and prestige across age

Miguel Angel Carrasco et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

The differential contribution of maternal and paternal acceptance-rejection to children's psychological adjustment has been explained by differences in interpersonal power and prestige within families; however, there is not yet enough empirical support for this explanation. This study examines the moderating effects of interpersonal power and prestige on the relationship between perceived parental acceptance-rejection and psychological adjustment across children's sex and age. The sample was composed of 913 children ranging in age from 9 to 16 years. Multiple hierarchical regression analyses in the total sample showed a significant and independent contribution of parental acceptance-rejection and parental power and prestige. No moderating effects of interpersonal power and prestige were found for the total sample. However, when the regression analyses were conducted across different age groups, maternal acceptance had a higher contribution to psychological adjustment in children from nine to ten years old. Interestingly, the moderating effects of interpersonal prestige (not interpersonal power) were also significant in younger participants. Furthermore, the moderating effects of prestige on maternal acceptance-rejection were different in late childhood than in early adolescence. These results suggest how parental prestige may explain the higher contribution of maternal acceptance to younger children's psychological adjustment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Maternal acceptance-rejection predicting psychological maladjustment at varying levels of prestige in the late childhood (9–10 years old).
PAQ = psychological maladjustment (higher scores are indicating maladjustment); PARQM (higher scores are indicating maternal rejection).
Fig 2
Fig 2. Maternal acceptance-rejection predicting psychological maladjustment at varying levels of prestige in early adolescence (11–12 years old).
PAQ = psychological maladjustment (higher scores are indicating maladjustment); PARQM (higher scores are indicating maternal rejection).
Fig 3
Fig 3. Paternal acceptance-rejection predicting psychological maladjustment at varying levels of prestige in late childhood (9–10 years old).
PAQ = psychological maladjustment (higher scores indicate maladjustment); PARQF (higher scores indicate paternal rejection).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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