Parental Power and Adolescents' Parental Identification: A Reexamination

Abstract

This paper reexamines the relationship between adolescent perceptions Qf paternal and maternal power and adolescents' identification with parents. The initial research tested a social power theory of parental identification, in contrast to sex-role theories of identification, which argued that the more parental power each parent is perceived to have, the higher the degree of adolescent identification with that parent. Regression analyses supported the theory with differing degrees of strength across the power dimensions. This study is largely a replication of the earlier study, with several additional strengths, including: (1) a larger sample size (N = 296); (2) younger, high school level adolescent respondents; (3) a different region of the country; (4) a rural, rather than urban, area of residence; and (5) internal reconstruction of the questionnaire. Again, regression analysis is utilized and the major hypothesis is generally supported. However, the relationships are evidenced as weaker, in certain respects, in the replication than in the original research. These findings are systematically discussed.