Associations Between Parent and Adolescent General and Domain‐Specific Self Control

ABSTRACT Adolescent self‐control is predictive of many outcomes (e.g., educational, financial, and interpersonal) during adolescence and into adulthood. Despite its importance, few studies report on associations between parental self‐control and adolescent self‐control, and no studies have considered how these associations may be domain‐specific (e.g., teens and parents’ self‐control are correlated for health behaviors but not for leisure activities). The current study examined how parents’ general and domain‐specific self‐control were related to their adolescent children's self‐control. The study included 213 adolescents ( M age = 15.65, SD = 0.49; 53.5% girls) and at least one of their parents (184 = mother‐figures; 67 = father‐figures) from the Appalachian region of the United States who each reported on general and domain‐specific self‐control. Results indicated that mothers’ general self‐control was related to teens reporting higher concurrent general self‐control, but fathers’ health self‐control was related to teens’ reports of lower general self‐control. Mothers’ and fathers’ health‐related self‐control were also related to their teens’ concurrent health self‐control. When examining teen self‐control 6 months later, mothers’ work self‐control predicted higher teen academic self‐control, mothers’ general self‐control predicted higher teen health self‐control, and fathers’ general self‐control predicted higher teen money self‐control. This study provides novel evidence to support both general and domain‐specific models of self‐control and suggests domain specificity may be essential to better understand how youth self‐control develops.