Adolescent Autonomy Satisfaction and Parental Support to Autonomy in Mexico

Based on cross-sectional data from a national survey of Mexican adolescents aged 14 to 17 years, we analyzed parents' support to their autonomy and their satisfaction. Acknowledging independence and volitional functioning as two dimensions of autonomy, we approached the following questions: whether adolescents were satisfied with the autonomy granted by their parents; whether parents supported both dimensions of autonomy; which variables predict such satisfaction; and whether there were differences according to the sex of the parents and the adolescents. We carried out two ordinal logit regression models and odds ratio for each parent and found that adolescents were satisfied with their parent's support to autonomy, except to being out of home alone; there are strong gender differences in autonomy satisfaction, as girls are 50% less likely to be satisfied; predictors also differ according to the sex of parent, either in their level of contribution or in the area where support is provided. Being out alone and choosing friends were predictors in both parents' models. Choosing dressing-style predicts autonomy satisfaction in the mother's model while choosing romantic partners predicts it in the father's. In the volitional dimension, the variables of what is right or wrong in the mother's model and trust in adolescent's abilities in decision-making in the father's model contributed more to satisfaction. We discuss these findings in terms of the distribution of jurisdictional areas of decision-making between parents and adolescents.