PERCEPTIONS OF PARENTAL CONTROL AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDECISION AMONG LATE ADOLESCENT FEMALES

Late adolescent females (N = 86; M age = 19.1 years) completed reliabl e and valid self-report measures on their perception of both parents' authority style (authoritarian, authoritative, permissive) and their o wn tendency toward decisional procrastination. Households where daught ers perceived both parents as high authoritarian (n = 32) were signifi cantly more likely to raise daughters with strong indecision tendencie s than were parents perceived as low authoritarian (n = 23). Mothers a nd fathers perceived as high (n = 22) or low (n = 22) authoritative, a nd high (n = 32) or low (n = 24) permissive, did not produce significa nt differences in daughters' self-reported decisional procrastination. Results suggest that parental authority characterized by stern inflex ibility and overcontrol has the greatest influence on daughters who de velop chronic indecision tendencies.