We’re excited to share our new paper published in the Journal of Child and Family Studies! In this study—led by Frederik De Spiegeleer in collaboration between Ghent University and ULB—we used a person-centered approach to examine how adolescents cope with overprotective parenting.
Rather than looking at coping strategies in isolation, we identified five distinct coping profiles: flexible, rigid, passive, active, and low coping. Each profile showed a different pattern in how overprotective parenting relates to frustration of psychological needs and internalizing problems, such as anxiety or depressive symptoms. Adolescents with a flexible profile were less affected by overprotection—they reported lower psychological need frustration and fewer internalizing problems. In contrast, those with rigid and passive profiles showed the highest levels of need frustration and emotional difficulties. These findings highlight the importance of looking at how coping strategies cluster together when trying to understand adolescents’ responses to difficult parenting.