1. Objectifs

Intentions :
« This study explores particular aspects of the parent-adolescent relationship. The general purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between behavioral and emotional factors of parental practices and psychological distress among adolescents. [...] This research had two main goals: first, to develop a theoretically sound directional model to help explain the impact of parenting practices on psychological distress; second, to test the theoretical model against empirical data gathered from adolescents. The ultimate purpose of this research was to expand the understanding of the contribution of parental factors in adolescent psychological distress such that it would be useful in the development of prevention and intervention techniques for families coping with psychological distress adolescents. » (p. 1)
Questions/Hypothèses :
« It is hypothesized that :
1) parents who are rated as giving a low amount of supervision will have adolescents who report being more psychologically distressed.
2) parents who imposed few limits will have adolescents who rate higher on measures of psychological distress.
3) adolescents with parents who adopt an authoritarian or physically punitive approach will be more psychologically distressed than those who are more communicative with their children.
4) adolescents with a closer relationship to their parents will be less psychologically distressed.
5) a closer relationship with the parents will have an effect on disciplinairy practices. Specifically, parents who are closer to their children are hypothesized to be rated as imposing more limits, supervising more closely, and adopting less severe forms of punishment, given their greater involvement in their adolescent’s life.
6) adolescents who have a closer relationship to their parents will be less psychologically distressed.
7) adolescents who experience more conflict with their parents will be more distressed.
8) adolescents experiencing greater levels of conflict with their parents will have a more difficult relation expressed through higher measures of punishment and less supervision.
9) girls will have more supervision and limits imposed on them than boys.
10) female adolescents will score higher on measures of psychological distress than will male adolescents.
11) adolescents from homes in which there has been a separation of divorce will have a less structured family environment, reflected in fewer limits and less supervision.
12) adolescents from homes in which there has been a separation or divorce will score higher on measures of psychological distress.
13) parents born outside of Canada will be stricter in their practices towards their adolescents- that they will imposed more limits, supervise more closely and be more severe in their punishments. » (pp. 38-40)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
The sample was composed of 334 subjects, 141 girls and 192 boys (and 1 that did not indicate the gender). Subjects were recruited from three Montreal-area French language high schools (Curé-Labelle, Brébeuf, Monseigneur Richard). Subjects were in secondary 5 and the average age was 17 years, 1 month.

Instruments :
- Canadian socio-professionnal scale (Blishen, Carrol & Moore, 1987);
- A questionnaire based on Parker’s (1990) Parental Bonding Instrument was used to examine the levels of closeness;
- Issue Checklist by Prinz et al. (1979);
- A questionnaire based on the works of Dishion & McMahon (1998) to measure parental supervision;
- Set of questions related to parental limit-setting (Claes, 1996);
- Questionnaire based on the scale developed by Papps et al. (1995) to evaluate parents’ reactions in a variety of situations;
- Questionnaire of psychological distress (Préville, Boyer, Potvin, Perrault & Légaré, 1992).
Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

« Les recherches indiquent que les parents jouent un rôle de première importance dans le développement psychologique de leur adolescent. Cette étude examine la présence de liens entre les pratiques parentales et la détresse psychologique chez l’adolescent. Les pratiques parentales sont définies en terme de mesures disciplinaires, de proximité affective et de conflits. Les mesures disciplinaires sont divisées en trois composantes soit, les limites permises, la supervision et les conséquences faisant suite à un comportement non acceptable. Des hypothèses fondées sur des variables telles que la démographie et la détresse psychologique parentale sont incluses dans le modèle. Les données ont été recueillies à partir des résultats de questionnnaires administrés à un groupe de 334 étudiants francophones de 5e secondaire. Les données ont été analysées à l’aide d’un modèle d’équation structurale, et ce, tant pour le groupe en entier que pour les filles et les garçons séparément. Les conflits parentaux sont relevés comme étant le prédicteur le plus significatif de la détresse psychologique tant chez les filles que chez les garçons. On remarque que l’absence de proximité avec le père est le second indicateur menant à la détresse psychologique chez les filles. Les variables démographiques ainsi que la structure familiale influencent le type de pratiques disciplinaires n’a pu être lié [sic] comme menant à la détresse psychologique. Les résultats de cette recherche suggèrent que les liens affectifs entre l’adolescent et ses parents ont une plus grande importance que les pratiques disciplinaires, dans la prédictibilité de la détresse psychologique chez l’adolescent. Cette étude propose quelques pistes pouvant guider les interventions familiales dans le cas de détresse psychologique chez l’adolescent. » (p. iii)