Adolescent self-handicapping, depressive affect, and maternal parenting styles

Most research on self-handicapping has focused on adults. Only a few studies have examined self-handicapping in adolescents or the particular characteristics of the family environment that are associated with self-handicapping. Adolescents (N = 141) and their mothers completed a series of questionnaires assessing adolescent self-handicapping adolescent dysphoria, and parenting variables in mothers, including parenting styles (care and overprotection) and parenting stress due To situational variables, parent-child dysfunctional interactions, and behavioral characteristics of the child. Results showed (a) that self-handicapping was positively related to age in girls, but not in boys, (b) that there was a strong relation between self-handicapping and dysphoria in both boys and girls, (c) that mother-rated cave negatively predicted self-handicapping in girls beyond the effects due to girls' dysphoria, and (d) that maternal care moderated the relationship between self-handicapping and dysphoria in boys. Maternal cave and depressive affect in young persons are independently related to self-handicapping behaviors in adolescents. Results are discussed in terms of implications for the hypothesized etiology of self-handicapping.