Parental psychological control and the role of basic psychological needs: Are families with a child with atypical development at greater risk?

The parent-child relationship can often be punctuated by moments of friction and discom-fort. Being a parent can be an arduous task, parenting strategies adopted are in fact critical for children's development, sometimes becoming risk factors for unhealthy children's out-comes. Self-determination theory has postulated the existence of three basic psychological needs whose satisfaction can be a guarantee of well-being and also seems to be associated with the adoption of more functional parenting strategies. The present study, which targets a sample of mothers with typically developing children and mothers with atypically develop-ing children, aims to investigate the use of psychological control and the relation with the basic psychological needs satisfaction. Results are discussed in light of their implications for improving services for families with typical and atypical development.