The role of emotional and instrumental support from parents on facets of emerging adult impulsivity

Supportive systems during emerging adulthood play an important role in assisting emerging adults with emotion regulation and decision-making processes. The current study examined the influence of parent (i.e., maternal and paternal) emotional and instrumental support on different facets of impulsivity (i.e., positive urgency, negative urgency, sensation seeking, lack of premeditation, and lack of perseverance) in the context of gender differences. Results of path analysis suggested maternal instrumental support related to improved cognitive control systems (i.e., negatively related to lack of perseverance and premeditation) in women and improved socioemotional systems (i.e., negatively related to positive and negative urgency) in men. Paternal instrumental support related to improved cognitive control systems (i.e., negatively related to lack of perseverance and lack of premeditation) in emerging adult men. Instrumental support, rather than emotional support, of emerging adult children may be particularly important to facilitating cognitive control and socioemotional development.