Change in Democratic Parenting during the Transition to Adolescence: The Role of Young Adolescents' Noncompliance and Mothers' Perceived Influence

This study assessed the direct relation between young adolescents' regulated noncompliance and democratic parenting as well as the potential mediating role of mothers' perceived influence during the transition to adolescence. Three years of self-report data were gathered from 166 mothers and their firstborn children (55% female), ages 9 - 11 years at time one. Structural equation models indicated a total effect between adolescents' regulated noncompliance and higher maternal democracy. In addition, the total effect was mediated by mothers' perceived influence, such that adolescents' regulated noncompliance at time one was associated with greater perceptions of influence at time two, which, in turn, was associated with greater maternal democracy at time three. This suggests that mothers with young adolescents who resist in a relatively mature, regulated manner tend to have more positive perceptions of their influence on their emerging adolescents' behavior. In turn, mothers expecting to maintain their influence despite normative adolescent resistance tend to be more likely to use democratic parenting strategies, granting their adolescents more input in decisions that affect them.