Types of parental psychological control and rural and urban Chinese adolescents’ psychological well‐being and academic functioning

Abstract The present study took a differentiated perspective on parental psychological control to examine its impact on adolescent adjustment among urban ( n = 349, females: 53%) and rural ( n = 293, females: 54%) Chinese adolescents ( M age = 12.14 years). Four times over the first 2 years of Junior High school (from October, 2016 to April, 2018), adolescents reported on parental psychological control, their psychological well‐being (life satisfaction and depressive symptoms), and academic relative autonomy. Adolescents’ grades also were obtained. The findings show generally negative effects of social comparison shame, love withdrawal and harsh psychological control (but not shared shame or parental relationship‐oriented guilt induction) on adolescents’ psychological well‐being, and negative effects of social comparison shame on adolescents’ academic functioning.