Effects of gender, age and diagnosis on perceived parental care and protection in adolescents.

To assess whether perceived parental care and protection varied according to age and gender of the child and whether they were associated with psychiatric diagnoses, these constructs were measured with the Parental Bonding Instrument in a cohort of non-referred adolescents (n = 762), in a clinically referred cohort (n = 1299), and in a group of adolescents from the referred cohort (n = 365) for whom DSM-III diagnoses were available. Significant differences in parental care and protection according to clinical status, age, gender and diagnosis were found. However, perceived parental affectionless control was not associated with emotional disorders in adolescents, contrary to reports in adult subjects, but with clinical status.