| The purpose of the study was to address key gaps and controversies in the empirical research on emotional autonomy and to extend previous empirical investigations by surveying an understudied population, rural African American youth. The study extended previous work by re-examining the psychometric properties of the most commonly used measure of emotional autonomy the Emotional Autonomy Scale. Second, the study examined potential developmental changes in emotional autonomy. Third, potential curvilinear relationships between emotional autonomy and adolescent internalizing and externalizing behaviors were investigated. Fourth, the study tested whether maternal family processes (closeness, support, and conflict) moderated the relationship between emotional autonomy and adjustment measures. Data for this study were collected from (N = 620; 46% males, 54% females) students from a rural public school (grades 7 through 12) in the Black Belt of Alabama. Students responded to demographic questions (age, sex, home situation, and socioeconomic status), an emotional autonomy measure, three family process measures (maternal closeness, support, and conflict), internalizing behaviors (anxiety and depression), and externalizing behaviors (alcohol use, drug use, school misconduct, and total deviance). Results indicated that after dropping four negatively worded items of the EAS, the multidimensional (4 factors: individuation, deidealization, nondependency, parents as people) structure of the measure was supported in the current sample. They also indicated that although previous research has found evidence of developmental changes in emotional autonomy, in the current study, little evidence was found. Additional analyses testing for curvilinear effects by emotional autonomy on measures of internalizing and externalizing behaviors indicated that low and high levels of emotional autonomy were associated with higher levels of internalizing behaviors; few linear or curvilinear effects were found between measures of emotional autonomy and externalizing behaviors. Finally, there was some indication that family processes moderated the relationship between emotional autonomy and adjustment measures. In conclusion, findings indicated that additional conceptual work as well as operational definitions of autonomy are necessary to address the positive relationship transformation that takes place in the parent-adolescent relationship. In addition, future work also needs to address how the cultural context of youth and families impacts the meaning of emotional autonomy as well as its effect on measures of adjustment. |
