Longitudinal study on profiles and transition of parental psychological control among Chinese adolescents: associations with mental health problems and children’s gender

Variable-centered studies have revealed how parental psychological control impacts adolescents’ mental health, but person-centered research on the subgroups of parental psychological control and the relations of the subgroups with mental health over time is limited, particularly for non-Western cultures. This two-wave study aims to identify the subgroups of parental psychological control for Chinese adolescents over a year using Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) and Latent Transition Analysis (LTA), and to examine symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress across the subgroups. A total of 906 adolescents (60.04% for female; M_age = 13.59, SD = 0.73) participated in and completed two surveys. The results showed three profiles and nine transition patterns of parental psychological control between Time1 and Time2. Girls were more likely to be present in Low-Control group than boys. The control growth groups and the control decline groups experienced asymmetrical changes in symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression. The findings suggest the importance to recognize the early signs of parental psychological control for implementing the prevention and intervention as early as possible.