Abstract

Research has demonstrated a link between children's internalizing problems and parental control. More specifically, parental overprotection has been associated with children's anxiety. The purpose of the current study was to develop and evaluate a new questionnaire measuring parental overprotection, and to compare it with other parenting measures. A second purpose was to evaluate the efficacy of the measure for predicting children's internalizing problems. Mothers and fathers completed the New Friends Vignettes (NFV), a new measure of overprotective parenting thoughts and behaviours, an existing measure of parental protection and an index of family cohesion. Mothers and teachers provided measures of children's internalizing and anxiety problems, and dependence. The NFV demonstrated adequate internal reliability for overprotective parenting, although the reliability was higher for behaviours than for thoughts. Overall, parents' overprotective scores were not related to parental protection or family cohesion. Mothers' overprotective behaviours predicted higher levels of anxiety and dependence in their children. Fathers' overprotective behaviours were not related to children's problem behaviours, although fathers' protection and family cohesion were related to children's internalizing problems. Results show that parenting is not only related to children's behaviour within the home, but to their behaviours at preschool and daycare. Implications for children's interactions outside the home, including their relationships with peers and teachers are discussed.