Relationship between Emotional Autonomy and Behaviour Problems Among Adolescents: Moderating Impact of Gender

The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between emotional autonomy and externalizing and internalizing behaviour problems along with the moderation of this relationship by gender among adolescents. The sample for this research included 215 adolescents, aged between 16 to 18 years, boys (n = 85) and girls (n = 130), from the educational institutions of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The measures used to access emotional autonomy and behaviour problems were the Emotional Autonomy Scale (Steinberg and Silverberg, 1986) and the Child Problems Checklist (Tariq and Hanif, 2007) respectively. Positive relationship between emotional autonomy and externalizing as well as internalizing behaviour problems was observed as shown by results. Boys were found to be more emotionally autonomous while girls were high on internalizing behaviour problems. The adolescents belonging to public sector institutions were high on emotional autonomy. The effect of emotional autonomy on externalizing behaviour problems was moderated by gender. However, the results for behaviour problems (overall) and internalizing behaviour problems were nonsignificant.