A Meta-analysis Relating Parental Psychological Control with Emotion Regulation in Youth

This meta-analysis examines the relation of parental psychological control with youth emotion regulation and tests variables that moderate the strength of this relation. After systematic searches of PsycINFO, Medline, and Social Services Abstracts, cited references, and table of contents, our final sample included 25 articles with 23 unique samples from nine countries (N = 10,010 participants; 52.47% female; M age = 13.49). The overall weighted mean effect size was small but significant ( r = −0.18, p < 0.001), indicating that more frequent use of parental psychological control was associated with worse emotion regulation abilities in youth. There was significant variability in effect sizes [ Q (21) = 109.85; p < 0.001] that was explained by several moderators. We found that effect sizes were weaker in youth samples including more individuals from historically minoritized racial groups. Effect sizes varied based on the type of emotion being regulated, with the mean effect size for sadness regulation being significantly smaller than the mean effect sizes for anger regulation and the regulation of unspecified emotions (which were not significantly different from each other). Effect sizes also varied based on informant of psychological control, with the mean effect size for parent reports being significantly smaller than mean effect sizes for observer and child reports. Youth age, youth gender, and user of psychological control were not significant moderators of effect sizes. We discuss implications of our findings for future research and prevention efforts focused on enhancing the well-being of children and adolescents.