Parental psychological control, autonomy support and Italian emerging adult’s psychosocial well-being: a cluster analytic approach

According to a person-oriented approach, the study was addressed to inquire the existenceofdifferentgroupsofemergingadults(EAs)eachcharacterizedbydistinct configurations of parental psychological control and autonomy support conceptualized in terms of promotion of volitional functioning (PVF) and in terms promotion of independence (PI). At the study participated 476 Italian undergraduate students following the academic track in several south Italian universities. Results showedtheexistenceoffourprofiles:1.theModerateVolitionalDependencecluster; 2. the Moderate Controlling Independence cluster; 3. theVolitional Independence cluster; 4. the Controlling Dependence cluster. In line with the study conducted in Belgium context, these findings confirmed that the lack of independence may or maynotco-occurwithpsychologicalcontrol.Differently,itseemedthatPCandPVF donotappeartobequiteincompatible.Infact,notinallthefourgroupsidentified, scoresofPCandPVFwhereinoppositedirectionshowingthatItalianfamiliestend to engage in practices that reflect the ‘autonomous relatedness’ model in which volitional goals are encouraged along with strong ties and interdependence. Differences between cluster in terms of EAs’ adjustment were investigated. The implications of the findings for future empirical investigation and clinical intervention were discussed.