High School and University Students' Reasoning About Decision-Making Autonomy and Parental Authority Legitimacy in Child–Mother Conflicts

Abstract

This study investigated youths' reasoning about personal autonomy and maternal authority in hypothetical emerging adult child–mother conflicts in Türkiye. High school and university students (N = 138, Mage = 19.72 years) from secular and religious schools completed a self-report questionnaire including eight conflict scenarios where the mother opposes her child's decision to marry a non-Muslim or get a tattoo. Maternal opposition in hypothetical scenarios was presented in the forms of maternal advice and maternal use of haram opposition. Haram opposition implies the declaration of maternal accrued rights (a concept deeply rooted in Turkish culture) as haram. The results showed that participants were more likely to subordinate child autonomy to maternal authority when the mother in hypothetical scenarios was depicted as using haram opposition. Authoritative parenting appeared to strengthen this effect. This study has shown that haram opposition is a psychological control mechanism to subordinate child autonomy to maternal authority. © 2025 British Psychological Society.