Pre-Registration
*Template was borrowed from AsPredicted.
1. Name Give a title for this AsPredicted pre-registration
The title for the study is “The Relationship Between Perceived Parental
Psychological Control and The Quality of Young Adult's Romantic Relationship”.
2. Data Collection. Has any data been collected for this study already?
The data is currently being collected through Qualtrics. The participants
responding to the survey are first year psychology students recruited from the
Glendon Participant Pool. The data collection process will stop on April 1st 2022.
3. The goal of the study and the Hypothesis
The study seeks to understand the relationship between parental psychological
control (PPC) and the quality of romantic relationships, emotional regulation and
autonomy of young adults. Research indicates that PPC can negatively impact
romantic relationships as it is linked to psychological intimate partner abuse and
increased jealousy. In addition, PPC is also positively correlated with attachment
anxiety and avoidance in romantic relationships (Díez et al., 2019).
Moving forward, PPC is also said to be a predictor of poor emotional
regulation and can interfere with the development of young adult’s emotional
autonomy. Lastly, studies also reveal that parents who engage in PPC are less likely
to support their children’s autonomy, individual expression and decision making
capabilities. Based on the literature, It is hypothesised that increased levels of PPC
will decrease the quality of young adults’ romantic relationships through its influence
on emotional regulation and autonomy.
4. Independent and Dependent variables: Below is a description of how the
independent and dependent variables and how they will be measured.
First, the independent variable of the study will be parental psychological
control (PPC). PPC is defined as intrusive parenting techniques that emotionally
manipulate children to obey their parents. PPC relies on the use of emotional
manipulation that includes the following tactics: withdrawing affection, containing
verbal expression, instilling guilt and shame and invalidating feelings.
The dependent variable of the study is the quality of romantic relationships.
The quality of romantic relationships is determined by its association with high levels
of well-being through reinforcement of self-worth.
It should be noted that the study will have two mediator variables: emotion
regulation and autonomy. Emotional regulation is defined as initiating, avoiding,
suppressing, sustaining internal feeling states, emotion-related physiological states,
attentional processes, and motivating emotional states in order to achieve personal
objectives . Lastly, autonomy will be defined as the right to self-governance and
responsibility for one's own life.
The study is using the following questionnaires: Parental Psychological
Control Scale , Psychological Autonomy Granting Scale, Emotional Regulation
Survey, The Need Satisfaction Scale and the Family Assessment Device. It should be
noted that participants will respond to the Parental Psychological Control Scale for
both their parents separately.
5. Conditions: How many conditions will participants be assigned to?
There will be no conditions in this study. All participants will be responding to
the same questionnaires in the same order.
6. Analyses Specify exactly which analyses you will conduct to examine the main
question/hypothesis.
Regression analysis will be used to analyse all of the data collected from the
scales. Regression analyses are used to investigate the relationship between the
dependent variable and a specific independent variable. The regression analysis will
be used in this study to investigate the relationship between the quality of romantic
relationships (the dependent variable) and PPC (the independent variable). It should
be noted that two regression analyses will be done, one for PPC (for mothers) and the
quality of romantic relationships and one for PPC (for fathers) and the quality of
romantic relationships.
7. Outliers and Exclusions: Describe exactly how outliers will be defined and
handled, and your precise rule(s) for excluding observations.
As previously stated, the study is interested in analysing the relationship of
PCC and the quality of romantic relationships of young adults. The inclusion criteria
are that participants must indicate that they are currently in a romantic relationship or
have had a romantic relationship in the last four years. Additionally, participants must
be between the ages of 18-25. Participants who fail to meet the inclusion criteria will
be excluded from the study.
8. Sample Size How many observations will be collected or what will determine
sample size?
It is estimated that the study will be able to recruit over 70 participants. It is
also important to note that the response number might change since some responses
might be excluded from the study if they fail to meet the inclusion criteria determined
beforehand.
