Maternal support, a four-item scale (Cronbach's alpha = .85), measured how close the adolescent felt toward the mother. Items included “How close do you feel toward your mother,” with response categories ranging from (1) not at all to (5) very much, and the extent of agreement that “most of the time your mother is warm and loving toward you,” “you are satisfied with the way your mother and you communicate with each other,” and “overall, you are satisfied with your relationship with your mother,” with responses ranging from (1) strongly disagree to (5) strongly agree. Maternal control summed adolescents' yes/no responses to: “Do your parents let you make your own decisions about what time you must be home on weekend nights; the people you hang around with; what you wear; how much television you watch; which television programs you watch; what time you go to bed on week nights; what you eat?”
