Effect of Parental Conditional Regard on Parent-Adolescents Relationship Quality: Emotional State as Moderator

Received 15 Jul, 2013

Accepted 17 Dec, 2014

Published 31 Dec, 2014

The present study was aimed to investigate the relationship between parental conditional regard and parent-adolescents’ relationship quality; where emotional state (i.e., positive affect and negative affect) played role as moderating variable. Questionnaires were administered on a sample of 646 late adolescents aged 18-24 years (M = 20.35, SD = 1.65) including 49.7 % boys and 50.3% girls taken from various public and private universities of five major cities of Pakistan. The findings revealed that conditional regard by father has a significant negative impact on relationship quality of both parents. The findings also revealed that emotional state played a significant moderating role in relationship of parental conditional regard and relationship quality. Further, gender differences were also explored. Altogether, the result supported the hypothesized moderation model. The findings are discussed in particular reference to Pakistani family dynamics and socialization practices.

Adolescents’ behavioral development is predisposed by a number of societal constituents like parent attachment, parenting styles, family system, moral values, societal approach either collectivistic or individualistic, prevalence of violent doings, law enforcement situations, opportunities, etc. Human development is a complex, steady, and gradual process and is influenced by an abundance of dynamics since childhood. As children develop, they acquire awareness, skills, and abilities to help them in their expedition for growth and survival. The most important association in childhood is with parents and caregivers. Parents play vital role in development of their children such as rearing and nurturing; giving them efficient care, serving themselves as a role model from whom they learn independent and self-regulating functioning. Hence, parent-child attachment is concomitant with the accomplishment of different functioning at different level throughout their development, such as tenderness and intimacy; decision making; societal collaboration; self-esteem and self-efficacy; and many more (Shaffer & Kipp, 2010).

Previous literature recommended that the parent-child relationship quality in their early childhood has great impact on their later life (Scaramella & Leve, 2004). Adolescence is the stage of life in which individuals face stressful situations. Different emotional changes including maladjustment, stress, mood flux, and shyness are also the part of this age. Adolescence is the phase of transition during which the physical growth and energies are at the peak (Rosenfeld & Nicodeemus, 2003).

Parental conditional regard is one of the approaches of socialization which encompasses parents’ giving more warmth to the child when he/she takes part in parent’s demanded behaviors or hold back their love and warmth when the demanded behavior is not enacted. Parental conditional regard mainly expresses a temporary approval of parental direction or demanded behaviors in which parents make their love contingent on the enactment of the demanded behavior. This type of giving and withholding of warmth and love by parents would create a state of conflict within the children and adolescents because, on one hand, they have a feeling of trustworthiness for parents and feelings of compression and bitterness as well, on the other hand (Assor, Roth, & Deci, 2004). Parental conditional regard motivates children to exhibit desirable behaviors by making parental affection contingent on their good or bad behavior (Barber, 2002; Roth, Assor, Niemiec, Ryan, & Deci, 2009). Individuals liked by others for what they achieve, instead of what they actually are, create defensiveness in result of having detrimental effects on conditional self-esteem (Schimel, Arndt, Pyszczynski, & Greenberg, 2001).

People in relationships with others often try to influence them by showing their respect and affection conditional on other's portrayal of specific behaviors. Agents' usage of parental conditional regard to force others to act in a particular way can provoke undesirable emotional state toward the agent and undermine relationship quality. Specifically, the use of parental conditional regard may instigate rage and hatred toward the agent, as it weakens the sagacity of independence, since, it indicates that the agent does not trust or does not believe that one will behave in a desired way out of his or her own volition (Assor et al., 2004).

Keeping in view, the significance of difference of socialization practices in Pakistani society, the parental conditional regard seems to be a leading factor to relationship quality of adolescents with their parents. Number of changes happens in parent-adolescents relationship from infancy to adolescence; mostly are linked closely with maturational changes. For instance, the changes in the relationship come when children become able to talk about their issues and show concerns regarding their independence and autonomy. This type of transformation mostly happens at the age of puberty (Steinberg, 2004).

Adolescents need proper means or channels to express their potentials and energies in a right direction and face a crucial time when they want autonomy (Roth & Assor, 2010), which is socially approved (Pahuja, 2004). If these energies are not channelized socially, these can lead to the development of destructive behaviors and maladjustment. In other words, adolescence is a period in which an individual faces stress and tension, which may results in problems (Furst, 1998; Pahuja, 2004). Fathers have more authoritative control over their families and their level of coaching their children has effective role in their relationship and emotional development while mothers have low influence over the emotional states of their children (Bowie et al., 2013). Gender differences also exists regarding adolescents emotional responses. Girls show more reappraisal of their emotions than boys and the emotional states are more particularly influenced by father’s regard (Chaplin, Pamela, & Zahn-Waxler, 2005).

Parental conditional regard as one of the approaches of socializing practice is important to study in collectivistic culture to examine its impact on adolescence. By keeping the Pakistani context in mind, it’s important to consider role of parents, as according to Gahny (2008), every country passing through various phases of a business cycle such as expansion, recession, depression, and recovery. Due to this reason parents are concerned about career choices and enactment of desired behaviors. Therefore, present focus in research is to study effects of parental conditional regard by highlighting role of parent in collectivist culture. It seems important to pay attention to the circular role of parents in the life of adolescents, as adolescents drive their transitional phases of development (Wagner, 2008). The purpose of focusing on the adolescence is just because they are responsible for the future of Pakistan and should be taken into consideration.

Hypotheses

Following hypotheses were formulated in present study:

1.	Parental conditional regard decreases the relationship quality among adolescents
2.	Emotional state (positive affect and negative affect) moderates the predictive relationship between parental conditional regard and parent-adolescents’ relationship quality among adolescents
3.	Negative affect increases as the parental conditional regard increases among adolescents

METHOD

Sample
Questionnaires were administered on a sample of 646 late adolescents aged 18-24 years (M = 20.35, SD = 1.65); 321(49.7 %) boys and 325 (50.3%) girls were taken from various public and private universities of five major cities of Pakistan. Literature suggested that late adolescence is the transition from adolescence to adulthood period of life and parental conditional regard may affect relationship quality during this phase (Assor & Roth, 2007). The age range was selected as suggested by Woollaston (2013). The sample was collected on the basis of convenient sampling. Only willing participants were included in the study.

Instruments
Domain-specific Perceptions of Parental Conditional Regard Scale (DSPCRS). It was developed by Assor et al. (2004) to measure parental conditional regard (12 items for mothers and 12 for fathers) in four domains. Items 1, 2, and 3 measure Prosocial domain that is being caring and helping toward others. Items 4, 5, and 6 measure Sports domain that is how one is besieged for sports. Items 7, 8, and 9 measure Emotion-control domain that caters the subdual of annoyance, fear, and blues. Items 10, 11, and 12 measure Academic domain that is being involved and doing well at school. Items are rated on a 7-point Likert scale (strongly agree- strongly disagree). No negative item is present in the scale. High score on each of the subscales mean more the individual performed desired behavior more they will get the conditional regard from their parents. Four domain having Cronbach alphas for mothers and for fathers were all above .79 (Assor et al., 2004).

Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). It was developed by Watson, Clark, and Tellegen (1988) comprising 20 items rated on 5 point-Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5 (very slightly – extremely). Items 1, 3, 5, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 17, and 19 measure Positive Affect that mean the individual is experiencing pleasurable engagements; while, items 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 13, 15, 18, and 20 measure Negative Affect that mean the individual is experiencing un-pleasurable engagements. No reverse scoring item is present in the scale. High score represent high affect in respective domain. Alpha reliability for Positive Affect is .66 and for Negative Affect is .77 (Watson et al., 1988).

Parent Adult-Child Relationship Questionnaire (PACRQ). It was developed by Peisah, Brodaty, Luscombe, Kruk, and Anstey (1999). PACRQ is a 26-item self-report questionnaire that measures the relationship between adults and their parents as perceived by the adolescents including 13 items for mother (Items no. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13) and 13 items for father (Items no. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26) rated on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 1 to 4 (very true- not true at all). No negative item is present in the scale. High score on the scale means that individual has healthy relation with respective parent. The coefficient alphas ranged from .74 to .87 (Peisah et al., 1999).

Procedure
The sample was approached at their academic institutes. They were briefed about the research and willing participants were included. After explaining the aim of the study, booklet of questionnaires was handed over to them. Along with written instructions regarding booklet of questionnaire and informed consent, the participants were also verbally instructed to read each item carefully and respond to the items as honestly as possible and mark the appropriate one which was closest to them; and was assured about the confidentiality of the results. The average time taken to complete the booklet of questionnaire was 15 minutes.

RESULTS

Descriptive statistics of the scale was checked to see the alpha coefficients of the scale and also its values of skewness and kurtosis is computed to check the assumptions of normality.

Table 1:	Descriptive Statistics for Domain Specific Perceived Parental Conditional Regard Scale, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and Parent Adult-Child Relationship Questionnaire (N = 646)
Note. n represents number of items

Table 1 shows the alpha coefficients, mean, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis. Findings show good reliability estimates, which suggested that all the measures are internally consistent and reliable measures of the constructs; they are supposed to measure. Means and standard deviations of the scales shows the average and the variability of the scores, respectively, that the study participants attained on the study variables. Conditional regard in Academic domain by both parents is reflected more; positive affect is also more prevalent than negative affect. Relationship quality of mother is reflected more in the sample. Results also reveal that skewness and kurtosis values are falling within acceptable range i.e., -1 to +1.

Table 2:	Correlation of Domain Specific Parental Conditional Regard Scale-Mother, Domain Specific Parental Conditional Regard Scale-Father, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and Parent Adult-Child Relationship Questionnaire (N = 646)
Note. The diagonal above shows correlation coefficients for mother and the diagonal below shows correlation coefficients for father *p < .05. **p < .01

Table 2 shows the correlation matrix of all the scales. Conditional regard provided by mother in Academic domain has significant relationship with negative affect. While, conditional regard in Prosocial domain by father has significant positive relationship with positive affect. Positive and negative affect has significant positive relationship with conditional regard in Academic domain by father. Conditional regard in Prosocial domain has positive relationship with positive affect. Relationship quality between father and adolescent has significant negative relation with conditional regard in Emotion-control and Academic domain.

Moderation analysis was carried out to see the effect of emotional states on relationship between parental conditional regard and parent-adolescents’ relationship quality. An interaction between the predictor variable (parental conditional regard) and moderator variable (emotional states) was studied for an outcome variable (parent-adolescents’ relationship quality) that may change the direction of the relation between the two variables. The issue of multi-collinarity was addressed by centering the mean of sample for variable scores and then the relevant interaction term was computed. After computing the interaction terms, multiple regression analysis was conducted to investigate the moderation. Here, only significant results are reported.

It was found that only negative affect had significant interaction effect with conditional regard in Emotion-control domain on mother-adolescent relationship quality (Table 3).

Table 3:	Moderating Effect of Negative Affect on Parental Conditional Regard-Mother and Adolescent’s Relationship Quality-Mother (N = 646)
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001

Table 3 shows the moderating effect of negative affect in relationship between parental conditional regard provided by mother in Emotion-control domain for mother-adolescents relationship quality. The interaction effect of negative affect and parental conditional regard provided by mother in Emotion-control domain has significant moderating effect along with explaining 29% to 48% variance in relationship with adolescents (ß = .18**, p < .01, ∆R² = .20). Figure 1 presents significant interaction effect.

Modgraph (Figure 1) shows that for individuals with high negative affect, there is positive relationship between conditional regard by mother in Emotion-control domain and mother-adolescents relationship quality, which indicates that increase in conditional regard by mother in Emotion-control increases relationship quality. Contrary to this, if individual is low on negative affect, there is slight increase in relationship quality (mother). As far as fan effect (see Jose, 2013) in the modgraph is concerned, at low level of conditional regard in Emotion-control domain by mother, there is decrease in relationship quality and at high level of negative affect there is increase in relationship quality.

Fig. 1: Moderation by negative affect between parental conditional regard in Emotion-control domain and adolescent relationship quality with mother

Positive affect had significant interaction effect with conditional regard in Prosocial domain on father-adolescent relationship quality (see Table 4).

Table 4:	Moderating Effect of Positive Affect on Parental Conditional Regard-Father and Adolescent’s Relationship Quality-Father (N = 646)
*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001

Table 4 shows the moderating effect of positive affect in relationship between parental conditional regard provided by father and father-adolescents relationship quality. The interaction effect of positive affect and parental conditional regard provided by father in prosocial domain has significant moderating effect along with explaining variance 21% to 37% in relationship with adolescents (ß = -.24**, p < .01, ∆R² = .15). The modgraph (Figure 2) further explains interaction effect.

Fig. 2: Moderation by positive affect between parental conditional regard-father in Prosocial domain and adolescent’s relationship quality with father

Figure 2 shows that for individuals with high level of positive affect, there is negative relationship between conditional regard in Prosocial domain by father and father-adolescent relationship quality, which indicates that increased conditional regard in Prosocial domain decreases relationship quality. Contrary to this, if there is low or minimum conditional regard in Prosocial domain by father, there is positive relationship. As far as fan effect (see Jose, 2013) in the modgraph is concerned, at high level of positive affect there is decrease in relationship quality.

Table 5 indicates the significant gender differences. Boys get more conditional regard in Sports domain (for both father and mother conditional regard) and Emotion-control domain (only father’s conditional regard) than girls. Cohen’s d was calculated to check the effect size among boys and girls on the study variables.

Table 5:	Means, Standard Deviations, and t-values along Gender on Domain Specific Parental Conditional Regard-Mother Domain Specific Parental Conditional Regard-Father Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and Parent Adult Child Relationship Questionnaire (N = 646)
Note. CI = Confidence Interval; LL = Lower Limit; UL = Upper Limit. < .05 **p < .001

DISCUSSION

The results of the study show that the practice of parental conditional regard as a socializing practice has detrimental effects on the development of adolescents. Control parenting in the form of parental conditional regard leads the adolescents to internalize the desired/demanded behaviour; which ultimately effects their emotions and also has ambivalence and negative inclination towards their parents. In the present study the focus was on four domains that are prosocial, sports, emotion control and academic in which adolescents perceived their parents as providing conditional regard. Empirical evidences also supports this phenomenon that conditional regard effects the parent-adolescents relationship. The present study was aimed to see the predictive role of parental conditional regard on parent-adolescents relationship quality, where emotion state was taken as the moderator in predicting the relationship between parental conditional regard and parent-adolescents relationship quality.

As late adolescence is a transition phase into adulthood, so their psychological development should be strong, so that they can perform well in their practical life and excel out in their fields to make their country prosperous. So, it is important to study the phenomena of parenting in the form of conditional regard and to see its effects in the adolescents. In the present study, perceived parental conditional regard was assessed via self-report questionnaires to check either parental conditional regard lead to an internalization of parental demands which actuate enactment of the parental desired behaviours to gain their affection with having ambivalence towards their parents or not (Assor et al., 2004).

In present study, the psychometric properties of the measures were established. All the Cronbach alphas of the measures used in the present study are above .70 indicating that measures are suitable and reliable for the present study and can be used for further analyses.

Correlation coefficients were calculated for all the measures to explore the relationship between the study variables. The correlation matrix showed distinct significant positive and negative relationships among study variables. Conditional regard provided by mother has nonsignificant relationship with relationship quality of adolescent with mother but has negative relationship with relationship quality of adolescent with father while conditional regard provided by father has significant negative relationship with the relationship quality of adolescent with father. The finding of negative relationship between conditional regard provided by father and relationship quality of adolescent with father is consistent with the previous literature (Assor & Roth, 2007), while conditional regard provided by mother has nonsignificant impact on relationship quality of adolescents with mother is according to our cultural values. As mother is believed to be more attached throughout the lives from infancy to adolescent and their role is more about care and nourishment rather than authority (Roth et al., 2009). Parental conditional regard also has significant positive relation with negative affect as existing literature shows that conditional regard given by parents has affective cost and give rise to ambivalence toward parents (Assor & Roth, 2007; Roth et al., 2009).

Mean differences were calculated to see the gender differences; significant gender differences were depicted by the result. Conditional regard given for sports domain by both parents perceived is more internalized by boys than girls, as boys assume responsibility and actively get involved in exploration in who they are and what they want out of life (Arnett, 2004); socialization practices in collectivistic culture also paid more emphasis in outdoor activities. Results also showed that boys significantly differed in receiving conditional regard in Emotion-control domain as they have more control over their Emotional states (Chaplin, et al., 2005), and providing conditional regard in emotional-control for boys offers choice to cultivate decision making skills and having control over their emotional states and display of affection (Joussemet, Landry, & Koestner, 2008).

The hypothesis that relationship quality decreases as parental conditional regard increases has been supported by findings. Parental conditional regard undermines the adolescent’s skills and aptitude and try to suppress their autonomy, as a result adolescent develop ambivalence toward their parents; hence, it affects the quality of their relationship (Assor & Roth, 2007; Shavit-Miller & Assor, 2003). The results revealed that findings are consistent with the existing literature. The parental conditional regard instigate the feelings of unworthiness when child or adolescent does not achieve the desired or preferred behaviour; in return to get more love and attention they internalize the preferable behaviour and undermines their self-esteem, as a result ambivalence arose and leads the anger and resentment toward their parents. In this way, their relationship gets quality gets badly effected (Assor et al., 2004; Ryan & Deci, 2000).

Negative affect also has significant result; its interaction term with parental conditional regard provided by mother in Emotion-scontrol domain has significant moderating effect along with explaining 29% to 48% variance; the findings are consisting with the previous literature (Assor & Roth, 2007). Holding of the love and warmth because of doing undemanded behavior may create worry and anxiety; as a result restoration of gratifying and soothing social inspiration leads to behavior modification which lessens the anxiety and brings a positive affective state. Aronfreed’s (1968) explanation of anxiety as a significant inspiring element that fallouts from contingent warmth and care; provide no suggestion that such a process might have not deliberate negative effects. Conversely, a solicitous contemplation of anxiety as a prime instigator of moral or prosocial behavior proposes that it might have relatively problematic emotional consequences.

CONCLUSION

The findings of present study are consistent with the previous substantial literature. The findings revealed that parental conditional regard as one of the approaches of socialization process has deleterious effects on adolescent’s behavior development. This socializing practice also has negative outcomes and correlates in collectivistic culture like Pakistan, as individualistic cultures have (Assor et al., 2004). Further, this practice of parental conditional regard may be instigating factor to develop the sense of worthiness in adolescents because they get warmth and affection in result of enactment of demanded behavior i.e., contingent enactment. Moreover, parental conditional regard has contradictory effects on parent-adolescents relationship quality because adolescents perceive that they are loved when they do or enact demanded behavior rather than what they are.

LIMITATIONS

The present study is conducted with only self-report measures. So it shows only one sided picture of this phenomenon. The age range of the sample taken in the present study is restricted to just late adolescents, so the results cannot be generalized. In present study, only four domains were catered for the measurement of parental conditional regard. It did not measure the whole domains of life in which parental conditional regard can be perceived. In current study, only the phenomenon of the parental conditional regard is explored, while leaving the types of parental conditional regard that is positive parental conditional regard and negative parental conditional regard, so findings did not give clear picture that which type of parental conditional regard has more effective outcomes. Another limitation of the present study is research design i.e., cross-sectional research design.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Although the study was exploratory in nature, this study contributes to the body of literature regarding conditional regard. In view of the results of the present study, it is recommended that in future researches along with self-report measures, data can also be obtained from parents to further validate the results. The sample can be taken from different age groups to generalize the results. In future, types of the parental conditional regard should also be incorporated to see which effects more i.e., positive conditional regard or negative conditional regard. It is also recommended that the research design should be longitudinal for the better understanding of the phenomenon of the parental conditional regard.

IMPLICATIONS

This study contributes indigenously regarding the parental conditional regard. It can help the parents to accept their children as what they are. It provides the evidence that parents should not impose on their children rather they can provide that environment which facilitate their children’s abilities and skills. It is important to explore possible antecedents of children’s emotional abilities, together with the investigation of alternative parental practices that might result in greater emotional competence, such as autonomy and support.

REFERENCES

1. Arnett, J. J. (2004). Emerging adulthood: The winding road from the late teens through the twenties. New York: Oxford University Press.
2. Aronfreed, J. (1968). Conduct and conscience: The socialization of internalized control over behavior. New York: Academic Press.
3. Assor, A., & Roth, G. (2007). The harmful effects of parental conditional regard. Scientific Annals of the Psychological Society of Northern Greece, 5, 17-34.
4. Assor, A., Roth, G., & Deci, E. L. (2004). The emotional costs of perceived parents' conditional regard: A self-determination theory analysis. Journal of Personality, 72, 47-89.
5. Barber, B. K. (Ed.). (2002). Intrusive parenting: How psychological control affects children and adolescents. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
6. Bowie, B. H., Carrere, S., Cooke, C., Valdivia, G., McAllister, B., & Doohan, E. A. (2013). The role of culture in parents' socialization of children's emotional development. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 35, 514-533.
7. Chaplin, T. M., Pamela, M., & Zahn-Waxler, C. (2005). Parental socialization of emotion expression: Gender differences and relations to child adjustment. Emotion, 5, 80-88.
8. Furst, S. S. (1998). A psychoanalytic study of aggression. Psychoanaytical Study Child, 53, 159-178.
9. Gahny, A. (2008). Macro-economics. Lahore: History of Political Economy, 219-222.
10. Jose, P. E. (2013). Modgraph-1. A programme to compute cell means for the graphical display of moderational analyses: The internet version, Version 3.0. Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.
11. Joussemet, M., Landry, R., & Koestner, R. (2008). A self-determination theory perspective on parenting. Canadian Psychology, 49(3), 194-200.
12. Pahuja, N. P. (2004). Psychology of learning and development. New Dehli, India: Anmol Publications.
13. Peisah, C., Brodaty, H., Luscombe, G., Kruk, J., & Anstey, K. (1999). The Parent Adult-Child Relationship Questionnaire (PACQ): The assessment of the relationship of adult children to their Parents. Aging & Mental Health, 3(1), 28-38.
14. Rosenfeld, R. G., & Nicodeemus, B. C. (2003). The transition from adolescence to adult life: Physiology of the 'transition' phase and its evolutionary basis. Palo Alto, CA: Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health.
15. Roth, G., & Assor, A. (2010). Parental conditional regard as a predictor of deficiencies in young children's capacities to respond to sad feelings. Infant and Child Development, 19, 465-477.
16. Roth, G., Assor, A., Niemiec, C. P., Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2009). The emotional and academic consequences of parental conditional regard: Comparing conditional positive regard, conditional negative regard, and autonomy support in parenting practices. Developmental Psychology, 45(4), 1119-1142.
17. Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68-78.
18. Scaramella, L. V., & Leve, L. D. (2004). Clarifying parent-child reciprocities during early childhood: The early childhood coercion model. Clinical Child & Family Psychology Review, 7(2), 89-107.
19. Schimel, J., Arndt, J., Pyzczynski, T., & Greenberg, J. (2001). Being accepted for who we are: Evidence that social validation of the intrinsic self reduces general defensiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 35-52.
20. Shaffer, D. R., & Kipp, K. (2010). Developmental psychology: Childhood and adolescence (8^th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
21. Shavit-Miller, A., & Assor, A. (2003). The experience of conditional parental regard and its effects on development: A study of gender differences. Paper Presented at the 10^th European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI), Padua, Italy.
22. Steinberg, L. (2004). Risk-taking in adolescence: What changes and why? Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1021, 51-58.
23. Wagner, K. V. (2008). Attachment theory: An overview of attachment theory. New York: Guildford Press.
24. Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063-1070.
25. Woollaston, V. (2013). An adult at 18? Not any more: Adolescence now ends at 25 to prevent young people getting an inferiority complex. Associated Newspapers Ltd.