| Abstract: | We examined the relationship among perceived parental psychological control (PPC), self‐concept, and empathy, from adolescence to emerging adulthood. Child Development Project longitudinal data analyses indicate that, when adolescents notice PPC at age 13, they have poor self‐concept (less competence) at age 16, and they show less empathic concern (EC) toward others at age 24. The indirect effects of self‐concept at age 16 are significant for EC, but not for perspective taking (PT). Moreover, perceived PPC at age 13 does not directly predict their EC at age 24, but it does their PT at age 24, and these results were found regardless of the gender of the parents and adolescents. Our results shed light on poor self‐concept in adolescence as a mechanism by which PPC impairs healthy emotional development from adolescence to emerging adulthood. |
