parenting behaviors

maternal childhood

adult attachment

maternal depression

externalizing behavior

negative emotionality

parenting

Journal of Adolescence

Introduction Parental conditional regard involves parents giving or withdrawing affection and approval, depending on children's and adolescents' compliance with parental expectations, to shape behaviors and traits. Research grounded in self‐determination theory suggests parental conditional regard harms psychological development. Using self‐determination theory as a theoretical foundation for investigating outcomes associated with parental conditional regard, the present study consolidated meta‐analytic associations between parental conditional regard and four theoretically important individual difference correlates: introjected self‐regulation, contingent self‐esteem, depressive symptoms, and relatedness. Methods Following PRISMA guidelines, a systematic literature search was conducted using the PsycINFO, ProQuest, and EBSCO databases for English‐language, peer‐reviewed published studies and unpublished studies. Eligible studies reported an association between parental conditional regard and the four theoretically derived correlates or another correlate of interest in pre‐adolescent children, adolescents, or young adults. The results were based on a random‐effects model for meta‐analyses and the Q statistic for moderator analyses. Results Across 31 samples in total, greater parental conditional regard was significantly associated with more introjected regulation ( r = .33), contingent self‐esteem ( r = .29), and level of depressive symptoms ( r = .22); and less relatedness ( r = −.24). Moderator results for parental conditional regard type found parental conditional regard's association with introjected regulation was significantly stronger for studies measuring giving regard (parental conditional positive regard) than withdrawing regard (parental conditional negative regard). The association of parental conditional regard with depressive symptoms was significantly stronger for studies measuring parental conditional negative regard than parental conditional positive regard. Conclusions The meta‐analytic results ...

Parental conditional regard: A meta‐analysis