Question

Many developmental psychologists believe that a number of adjustment difficulties during adolescence involve problems with “control.” Consider the following adjustment difficulties: eating disorders, depression, and suicide. Describe specifically the role of control or lack thereof in each of these adjustment difficulties, and explain why researchers and clinicians might be concerned about adolescents who suffer from each of these adjustment problems.

Answer 1

Cui et al. (2014) studied the fact that psychological control by parents does cast a negative impact on the adjustments of adolescents. High behavioral and psychological control with hardly any responsiveness to the autonomy and demands of a child (as found in the cases of Authoritarian parenting) does make them prone to several issues later on, such as depression, insecurity, immaturity, aggression, adjustment problems, low esteem, etc. However, one's locus of control, at conventional and post-conventional level, may help one to choose if one may succumb to these issues or choose to heal and seek personal development.

As per Erikson's psychosocial stage of development, adolescence is the phase where a teenager is at the stage of curiosity, exploring various choices, and establishing their identity. Parents here might be confused between exercising the right amount of control on their adolescent and the act of letting them go. Dr. Carl E Pickhardt suggests the 'freedom contract' where parents can encourage independent decision-making through seven principles- Believability (where truthfulness is encouraged), Predictability (where one functions on the basis of set agreements), Accountability (owning up for one's choices), Responsibility (taking care of important aspects of life), Mutuality (reciprocal relation with parents), Availability (presence for discussions and communications)

Soenens et al. (2008) revealed in their study that eating disorder may be related to paternal psychological control while Froereich et al. (2016) studied fear of losing self-control in the study sample diagnosed with eating disorder. It can be said that in cases of Anorexia, the control is excessive and there is a desire for perfection in terms of body image while for the cases of Binge-eating the control may be really poor.

A high sense of control in one's personal life (internal locus of control) may help one out of depressive symptoms. Benkidas (2010) studied that higher level of parental control, usually more in case of maternal control, does make one prone to depression. Shek (2007) has highlighted that parental control often marks the internalizing of adolescents and impacts their problems related to mood.

A feeling of lack of control over one's life and its situations may be one of the several causes for suicide. They may show a higher external locus of control. (Evans et al. 2005) Irrationally high parental control and demands may be a reason that leads to an adolescent's loss of  interest towards their livelihood on failure to find them-self valuable or inability to fulfill the set expectations.