Parental challenge: Developing and validating a measure of how parents challenge their adolescents

Baumrind's (1966, 1980) description of the authoritative parenting style included the notion of challenge through providing a stimulating environment; however, research has not largely focused on how parents challenge their children. The current work argues parental challenge should be assessed as a separate component of parenting style. Analyses of a new measure, developed across three studies, showed parental challenge can be distinguished from other parenting components. Further, parental challenge made unique contributions in predicting late-adolescents' psychosocial development beyond variance explained by parental support, behavioral control, and psychological control. As such, examining challenge as a separate component of parenting style may provide additional insights regarding the relationship between parenting behaviors and adolescent development.